"Coucou, c'est moi, ton ex préféré !"
Translation:Hi, it's me, your favorite ex!
26 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
In the French, though, ex is clearly the noun, short for ex-mari or ex petit ami, etc. So the phrase means favorite ex-whatever, probably ironically. "Hi, it's me again, your favorite ex. I still haven't received your child support payment."
it was a woman speaking, why not 'ton ex preferee' (with accents that i can't add here)
That should be accepted. I thought if it was rejected for you that perhaps "ex" was always masculine like "personne" is always feminine, but that's not the case.
1016
Ah well... of all the past Ex's, the author is the best of the crop. Yes, I know this comment has absolutely no academic value; it is just to make you chaps feel better about the inappropriate sentences. Well, I did learn a new word here, "Coucou" ! Cheers all. Happy learning.
- 1141
I looked it up, it also means "hello" and "cuckoo" (as in nuts), and "peek-a-boo"! It would be interesting to get a francophone's input as to common usage.
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I agree, we await some input. I'll never use it until I learn it's common usage, which by the way, should have been explained in the notes.
The majority of the time I've seen it used is in friendly correspondence, such as, "Hey, it's me, just popping in to say hello and see how things are going." Or, say you go visit a close friend and their front door is just slightly open. You knock kind of quietly and then peek your head in and call, "hey, it's me, are you there?" I've never heard it used to mean cuckoo as in "nuts," but instead like a cuckoo clock - the cuckoo bird pops out of its hole to say hello and announce that time. Does that help?
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Not quite new for me, it is a polite call that Mma Ramotse makes when she is visiting to alert the house. If you don't know her, she is the proprietor of The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency, a delightful series of stories set in Botswana with great insight into the human condition. Bizarrely, the author is a Scottish lawyer!
Lovely books! The author's regard for his characters and their homeland shines from each page!
"Coucou" is just "hi?" I was looking for something more creative, maybe?
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I thought Coucou must be a name. I have never heard it, certainly not in the sense intended here.
Coucou ??? what a bizarre greeting. I thought it was a name/nickname.
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I want to know who is saying this statement to whom in terms of gender. A boy to a girl or a girl to a boy?
- 2177
Because of préféré we know that the speaker is male, but there is no way of knowing if the person he is speaking to is male or female.
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It's not relevant here, there's nothing to match up. It's going to be "ton ex" not "ta ex" - at least according to Google translate. How reliable that is I don't know, but I put in "my ex-girlfriend" and got "mon" to start. So in answer, it could be anyone of any gender speaking and listening.
Google translate is helpful, but it makes a lot of errors. This case, however, is straightforward and GT gets it right.
Ta, ma, and sa are never used before a vowel or mute h. Those change to ton, etc. It is easier to say and sounds better.
It's ton ex and mon ex because the word ex starts with a vowel. Regardless of the gender, if a noun is singular and begins with a vowel, you'll use mon, ton, and son (my, your, and his/her/one's/its). You link the n sound to the e and it sounds less "choppy."
Since "ex" can mean a female or male, would "préférée" work for a female ex? The spoken voice is female on DUO. ("préférée" was marked wrong). Why? Is ex always male?
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Since neither the French nor the English indicates gender, both "préféré" and "préférée" should be accepted in all versions of this exercise. Flag it.
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"Hi, It's me, your ex favourite" should be accepted. What's the difference from "Hi, it's me, your favorite ex". Please explain
- 2177
In "Hi, it's me your ex favourite", "favourite" is a noun and "ex" is the adjective modifying it. That is:
"... I am the one you used to like best, but now you like someone better."
In "Hi, it's me, your favourite ex", "ex" is the noun and "favourite" is the adjective modifying it. That is:
"... I am the one, of all your former partners, that you like best."