"With this false mustache, will she recognize me?"
Translation:Avec cette fausse moustache, elle me reconnaîtra ?
27 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
319
Is faux/fausse an adjective that comes before the noun? or is this something to do with the "cette"
- 1313
Fausse can come either before or after the noun, but more commonly before.
→ Un faux billet, de la fausse monnaie
→ une idée fausse
→ une réponse fausse
- 319
so it comes before nouns that represent something substantive (moustache, billet) and after more abstract or intangible nouns?
Faux pas is a set idiom (faire un faux pas literally means to trip). Faux frere can mean a traitor. Faux frais are incidental expenses.
- 236
But isn't 'faux' supposed to follow the noun when it means 'wrong', i.e., shouldn't it be 'pas faux'?
"Avec cette fausse moustache me reconnaîtra t-elle ?" Solution not even proposed by Duolingo although it is the real correct answer which respects the rule of the interrogative mode in French. This contempt for the French language is purely and simply unacceptable. I am scandalized.
- 1266
Why should she not recognise me even if she is wearing a false moustache? According to your construction?
- 236
Or double entente or double sens, if you want to express the idea in real French instead of 17th century pseudo-French ;-)
- 1821
What amuses me is that no-one (I think) has so far commented on the fact that moustache is feminine!! (And yes, I do realise that some of us women have moustaches but I still think it's hilarious). Almost as funny as the fact that "vagin" is masculine!
- 1138
Never try tying the gender of the noun to the gender one would assume, it's going to drive you nuts!
More often than not in languages which have multiple endings/versions, the gender is more closely tied to the spelling. We don't really have gendered nouns in English - or rather, we don't have gendered articles. But we know that if something ends in ette/ess(e) it's likely to be a feminine version of the "normal" noun. E.g. you can use 'the actor" these days for either gender (or is that "all" now? I don't wish to cause offence, but I am limited by the nature of language), but you can also have "actress" which will always be feminine.
But if you look at German, for example, "the girl" is neuter! Das mädchen. IIRC, it's to do with the construction of mädchen (probably the "chen" bit) which always is neuter. So la moustache is not a surprise to me (◠‿◕)
Oh, the joys of linguistics!
- 134
maybe i'm in a mood tonight, but i am getting )^) sick and tired of submitting correct answers and having them dinged without any reason! it's nothing new, but you'd think duo would be on top of it
I want to revisit the question of the structure of this sentence in French. The intro prepositional phrase ("with this false mustache") seems to modify the subject "she." In English, this error is syntactical and grammatical. Presumably, as other commentors have noted, "she" is not the person with the mustache. Is this word order actually correct in French?
- 190
You are absolutely right! The phrase about the mustache logically belongs at the end in both languages.
