"Hugo mange toutes les sucreries dont il a envie."
Translation:Hugo eats all the sweets that he wants.
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3090
"Dont" is used with an object of the preposition "de". In this case, the normal expression is "il a envie de quelque chose". Since "les sucreries" is acting the object of "de" in this expression, "dont" should be used.
As another example, consider the sentence "The boy whose shirt is red is running." This translates to "Le garçon dont la chemise est rouge court". "Dont" is used because "le garçon" is the object of "de" in the phrase "la chemise du garçon".
In contrast, consider another sentence that has the same English translation as this exercise: "Hugo mange toutes les sucreries qu'il veut." In this case, "les sucreries" is a direct object of "il veut", and not the object of any "de" phrase, so "que" is used instead of "dont".
hhzhang always explains it best. This guy is a beast. If anyone is a Duolingo master it's guy right here.
- 230
Your explanation was great, thank you. You also have the most impressive line up of Duolingo flags/stats I have ever seen. I tip my hat to your dedication!
why not 'confectionary' just as well as 'sweets' - or is 'sucreries' sweet desserts?
- 987
I tried 'sweet things' - but Duo obviously prefers 'sweets'. Then I looked in two translation apps - one gave 'sweet things' as an alternative to 'sweets' and the other one didn't! If 'sucreries' are simply 'sweets' then what are 'bonbons'?
- 3090
“Bonbons” refers to candies, while “sucreries” refers more generally to foods that have a lot of sugar, including not just candies but also foods like jams and desserts. There’s some potential imprecision or ambiguity from the fact that the word “sweets” is used differently in American English vs. British English. In British English, “sweets” often refers more narrowly to candies, whereas in American English it typically has the more general meaning of a food that contains a lot of sugar.
