"J'ai mes propres raisons."

Translation: I have my own reasons.

[Jon947551]

I was under the impression from an earlier lesson that "propre" meant clean. So now it means "own" with no explanation provided.

[nicholas_ashley]

When propre means clean it is placed after the noun and when it means own it is placed before the noun

ma propre voiture - my own car

ma voiture propre - my clean car.

[Frederick920203]

now... could you say, "ma propre voiture propre" = my own clean car?
:-)

[La_Mariette]

Google Translate seems to think so. :-)

[maphgaming]

I'm French and we say "ma voiture est propre"

[Rolf383322]

Good to know

[DianaM]

May I suggest a good dictionary? http://www.wordreference.com/fren/propre

[JesseGaronP]

Thanks Diana

I now know how to say 'toilet trained' in French.

[DianaM]

I probably ought to have appended a "danger, time suck" warning on that.

[n6zs]

If you want to translate a sentence by using dictionary definitions and say "well, it could be that", you need to stop and think for a second about exactly what "I have my clean reasons" means. The honest answer is it's not a viable translation. Very often you just have to go with the low-hanging fruit (the most obvious solution). Know that francophones also misunderstand one another by taking the wrong meaning of a word. The resulting confusion is a just reward.

[bexbat]

Several French adjectives change meaning or gain distinction based on their relative location to the noun ( just whether they come before or after AFAIK). One I like: Je suis une femme simple pas une simple femme. I am an honest woman, not simply a woman.

[pakjim]

There are lots of French (and English) words with multiple meanings. Duo tries to teach us a few of them, thankfully. But even this is incomplete. You can learn a lot from Duo, but you will learn more by also using other sources, and of course if possible, actual conversation with a francophone!

[RubynK15]

I may have just guessed that "I have my own grapes. In my defense, I try to understand before they tell me unless I'm totally lost. I learn better that way.

[alan49600]

grapes = les raisins

[Roody-Roo]

And at least you didn't say you have clean grapes! :)

But you're right about the learning method. Struggle like hell to figure it out on your own, then check the correct meaning. The more you struggle, the more you learn!

[Woobeeton]

"Why are you helping us mister?" "J'ai mes propres raisons."

[KomaGawa]

Why can't propre mean "personal"?

[n6zs]

"Propre" is not used to mean "personal". It has a variety of uses that are quite different from each other. http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/propre/63683

[pakjim]

I wrote the wrong word, but was not corrected or flagged:
J'ai mes propres maisons.
Negative teaching is not helpful to me.

[DianaM]

I've had that happen more than once on the German tree, not yet encountered it here. You are right, it's less than helpful. I did notice that sometimes, when you click on the report flag, there is an option, "My answer should not have been accepted". I guess that's what that's about. Sigh.

[pakjim]

Yes, I often report these things that way, when given the option.
I know the volunteers have tons to do, but someday....