"We are rich."
Translation:Nous sommes riches.
323 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
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The adjectives accord in gender and number with the name that carries them.
"Riche" is the same for masculine and feminine form, but when it's plural, it takes an "s".
Je suis riche / Il est riche / Elle est riche / Nous sommes riches / Ils-Elles sont riches
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unitatos- I don't understand what you mean. riche is the same for plural, feminine and masculine. riche(s)
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untied- with vous : vous êtes riche for you formal, one person. vous êtes riches for many persons.
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mimin- very wrong, riche is a masculine adjective and is also feminine, riche. l'homme est riche, la femme est riche. Richesse is a noun, which means wealth, you'right on that point , but it isn't the feminine of riche, riche can be both genders.
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I'm also a proud French learner, and even at 11 years old I still don't need to be told to study.
The person it is conjugated to. Sont belongs with Ils/elles=They and sommes belong with Nous=We.
Please, try to learn person and verb form as a unit, not just separate words. That is, try to learn "je suis"="I am", not "je"="I" and "suis"="am" because otherwise it will be difficult to tell all the "ares" apart!
je suis=I am
tu es= you are
il est=he/it is
elle est=she/it is
on est=one is
nous sommes=we are
vous êtes=you are
ils sont=they are
elles sont=they are
When I pressed the button to show to forms of "sommes" which was indicate as the translation of "are", I got as a result the forms of both the words "sommer" and "e^tre". But when I looked on the internet the word "sommer" actually means something like "add up to; urge; admonish", which doesn't have anything to do with the word "are". Am I missing some connection or is it an error?
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s-learner- you seem to forget that not all suggestions are correct. Only a choice of answers.
The difference between «sommes» and «sont» is the person (the subject of the phrase). In French, the conjugation of the verb (être -- to be) has the forms «nous sommes» (that is, "we are") and «ils sont» ("they are"). "We" and "they" are the subjects of the phrases.
Think of it like English, where we have "I am, you are, he is", where the subjects are "I", "you", and "he". There's no easy-to-understand reason for the verb to change so much and in such an unusual way, based on the subjects, they just do. It's pretty irregular.
In both languages, the verbs -- "to be", in English, or «être», in French -- are actually called "irregular verbs" (or «verbes irréguliers»), because they don't follow the "normal" rules.
You'll get it with practice, just like you did with English. Hang in there!
Somme means (a) sum. But here it is about the verb être=to be. All French verbs have six different forms for each tense, depending on the person acting the verb out.
For être in present tense indicative, these persons and their respective verb form are:
je suis=I am
tu es=you are
il/elle/on est=he/she/it/one is
nous sommes=we are
vous êtes=you are
ils/elles sont=they are
Please try to learn these as units instead of separate words! For example, try to learn that "je suis"="I am", not "je"="I" and "suis"="am".
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I mean for the verb to be . Sommons is from the verb SOMMER. and has nothing to do with the verb être.
Nous sommes riches et on est riches are just 2 different ways to say the same thing. "on" is particular, and you don't need to bother with it until you get it in a lesson, but if you really want to know, "on" is a familiar form for "we" (and it has other roles, as in the translation of the passive form) the only diffence between "on" and "we" is that "on" carries the same conjugate form that "elle" and "il". So you never say: on sommes, but the correct form is "on est" even if the sens is "nous sommes", that's really particuliar, and you don't need to remember it right now if you're a beginner.
There are two different verbs, être="to be", and sommer="to sum" that both have the verb form sommes. In this, and most, cases être is the correct verb choice. Être is an irregular verb and does not follow the general pattern or verb endings, while sommer is a regular -er verb that do follows the pattern.
All verb forms of être in present tense indicative:
je suis=I am
tu es=you are
il/elle/on est=he/it/she/it/one is
nous sommes=we are
vous êtes=you are
ils/elles sont=they are
All verb forms of sommer in present tense indicative:
je somme=I sum / I am summing
tu sommes=you sum / you are summing
il/elle/on somme=he/it/she/it/one sums / he/it/she/it/one is summing
nous sommons=we sum / we are summing
vous sommez=you sum / you are summing
ils/elles somment=they sum / they are summing
In real life there will be no confusion as to which verb is used.
All French verbs have six verb forms for each tense while English normally have only two - the exception is to be which in its present tense have three forms: I am, you/we/they are and he/she/it is.
It is thus a good idea to learn each French verb form together with its pronoun since the two languages do not treat verbs the same way, and since all verb forms only are used together with their respective pronoun or something that can act as such a pronoun.
The verb être=to be in present tense indicative:
je suis=I am
tu es=you are (informal singular you)
il/elle/on est=he/it/she/it/one is
nous sommes=we are
vous êtes=you are (formal singular you or informal/formal plural you)
ils/elles sont=they are* (ils for all masculine or mixed gender they, elles for all feminine they)
This means that vous is always and only used with êtes (when using être in present tense), sont is always used with ils, elles or something that can act as a substitute for ils/elles, es is always and only used together wit tu, and nous is always and only used together with sommes (when using être in present tense).
You have encountered different sentences, one where the adjective is in a singular form and one where it is in a plural form, that is all.
All adjectives (rich=riche/riches is an adjective) have to adapt to both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular and plural) in French. This means that there are four different forms for each adjective in French: one masculine singular form, one feminine singular form, one masculine plural form and one feminine plural form.
Normally you add an e to a masculine form to make the feminine form, and an s to a singular form make a plural form: vert (masculine singular form of green), verte (feminine singular form of green), verts (masculine plural form of green) and vertes (feminine plural form of green).
But when the masculine singular form already ends with an e, is no extra e added. Instead do the masculine and feminine singular forms look the same and the masculine and feminine plural forms look the same. This is the case with riche and calme: riche, riche, riches, riches (calme, calme, calmes, calmes).
The chosen teaching method of Duolingo is a method many of its students have never encountered before. It works like this:
Duolingo gives us a phrase to work with. We do our best to do what is asked for. Then Duolingo tells us if it was correct or not correct.
Next we are supposed to analyse the task and our answer, to see if we understand them.
If we do not understand them, then we turn to the discussion page to see if there is some kind of explanation, and if not, or if there is no one satisfactory enough, do we ask about it.
Then we wait for some of our fellow students to explain the difficulty for us.
Sometimes we have to turn to some resource outside of Duolingo, like a book or another web site, to get an explanation we understand.
We are supposed to redo this process until we do understand the issue properly.
This means that Duolingo do give us tasks we might not know how to solve. We are just supposed to do our best, no matter if our solution is right or wrong. But that does not matter since the whole process is the teaching/learning method. And by the explanation we find here, or elsewhere, is what we learn from. So, it is by purpose that Duolingo do not first explain and then asks about it.
In this phrase, is the thing that the adjective is describing is nous=we, which is plural. Then so has the adjective to be, and in writing that is marked by an ending s. Je suis riche et tu es riche - nous sommes riches !
All adjectives (rich=riche/riches is an adjective) have to adapt to both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular and plural) in French. This means that there are four different forms for each adjective in French: one masculine singular form, one feminine singular form, one masculine plural form and one feminine plural form.
Normally you add an e to a masculine form to make the feminine form, and an s to a singular form make a plural form: vert (masculine singular form of green), verte (feminine singular form of green), verts (masculine plural form of green) and vertes (feminine plural form of green).
But when the masculine singular form already ends with an e, is no extra e added. Instead do the masculine and feminine singular forms look the same and the masculine and feminine plural forms look the same. This is the case with riche and calme: riche, riche, riches, riches (calme, calme, calmes, calmes).
Bet you anything sommer is used when you're talking about a temporary condition as opposed to etre. For example, I am 'sick', you'd use sommer instead of etre, but I could be wrong.
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You can read AasaLundin's posts above. He explains very detailed about the verb Être/to be and also how to use adjectives in singular and plural forms.
Does it accept "on"? If not, is there a way to request this as an answer for all "we" questions? I've come to understand "nous" is NEVER used in normal conversation, and constantly having it ingrained seems like a waste of time. If there's a reason why it's here I'd love to know, but for normal conversation I feel "on" should be represented more often. Sorry if it was already asked! I just want to sound as natural as possible even while learning, what better time to form habits!
To ejiro from Kelechi. Do you know duo lingo French for English speakers any way if you do then I must tell you what happened today I wrote exactly what the answer was and I got it wrong how is that fair to anyone just because it is just for French beginners they told me I was wrong my other friends told the same complain about duo lingo French and do not show anyone in you family
im cleaning my keyboard dwsqglktebshmnf nwjedm vjdsnlkghvfcgdtyukjlkjhvgcfxdzdxgfhgj;jknbhmvgcfhxdgswretyuijljkhgfdzsgdxhfcjgkhl pojhgfxzdbhjkyvh sjifrkdkkjgtjywxc;okffc ncxdyier45o6p7p[i'l;,vcqw[p4ty7=cv.b,g;,rsdcmkcbgijfokdg.sg,m bnjroslk mvljdsdwert;lyju,korjijkkkkljhjugyhgfdfxcgvhbjnkml;lhgfzdxcgvhbjnkmlkjhugyfthdresgdxfcgvhbjkolpl'k;jlihkujgyftdxcfgvbhjnkml,;.'/ /":?.,jkhghgfsDzfxghjiok;jgfdxfhjlkfcfijlcxghjkbvcvbn
in the options it said u didn't have to put the s so I didn't and then they marked it wrong there so dumb u need to fix this immediately oh and this website is terrible have a good day :( I'm not sad but theres no mean pictures other then that so don't think that I am gonna be sad over your stupid website fix it now actually Idc cause its stupid and your stupid and French is stupid so just F off okay cause ik more French then you will ever know so just stop thinking you know French cause u don't and pheonix is stupid to all of u are stupid I'm not swearing cause I'm in middle school but trust me there would be stronger language if I was aloud to but even if I'm in middle school I'm still smarter then u so idc what u do but your so stupid just to recap your stupid and you know zero about French maybe you need a new career choice as teaching a different language then u can f up someone elses vocabulary and I will still use this website but only cause I like to find all ur mistakes oh and trust me ik I used shortened words like idc well I should have used idfc sorry for using the wrong language but I can speak however I want so don't think that ur better cause your not so just stop this website cause its terrible and trust me ik your not gonna read this but it wasn't a waste of my time because I'm a fast typer cause ik English and u don't so just f off
In French, you have to put the pronoun? This is as opposed to in Spanish, when you could say "somos rica". Of course, you could also say, "nosotros/as somos rica", using the pronoun, but it would be ok not to.
Bottom line: Why isn't it ok to say "sommes riches" in French? Is that just something French does?
Mdaanish, though I really recommend looking at a few of the in depth comments, the reason is simple. Just like in English we go : I am, You are, He is...etc. The same holds true for French: Je suis, Tu es, Vous etes (that "etes" should have a accent mark, but I can't do that on my pc). We know that "he are" and "they is" is not correct. Unfortunately for all of us non native French speakers, the verb "to be" is SUPER irregular.
Note website here: https://www.thoughtco.com/etre-to-be-1371032
It really is a game of matchmaker if you will. Only one type of conjugation of etre will go with its subject noun usually. Sorry to say it's a game of memorization.
I really do hope this helps you. Wishing you the best on your learning journey.