"Il regarde les oiseaux."

Translation: He watches the birds.

[erudis]

Shouldn't it be "le-z-oiseaux"?

[Arnauti]

I wonder too!

[J.Franchomme]

Yes, it should (French native here!).

[Lydia897841]

Why is "he watches birds" not accepted?
In other exercises omitting 'the' was allowed.

[gforceram]

"He sees the birds" really doesn't work?

[n6zs]

Voir = to see. Regarder = to look at (or) to watch.

[JMaxGlobal]

That was my question too. Merci pour la nuancer (?). [As the word “nuanced” most certainly must come from French - how might we use it in - well French language?]

[Arnauti]

If he were a birdwatcher, it would be Il regarde DES oiseaux, right? "he watches birds"?

[jeanaux]

that would mean he watches some birds, "il regard les oiseaux" means both "he watches birds" and "he watches the birds". This is helpful: http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/articles.htm

[deactivated user]

Why is "It watches the birds." wrong? A snake could watch birds, and we wouldn't generally refer to the snake as "he."

[SabWorld]

Totally right! "Il" could be an animal.

[Jacques_JD]

First time I got this on audio and I almost flipped a coin in order to decide between...

• Il regarde les oiseaux , and
• Ils regardent les oiseaux

I went with the first one, but it could perfectly well be the second. Go figure...

[AshokKanet]

This interesting! I was marked correct even though I wrote "Ils regardent les oiseaux"-"They watch the birds"

This happened twice!

Any explanation?

[Jacques_JD]

Il regarde and Ils regardent, sound exactly the same; that is why I was thinking to flip a coin the first time I got this sentence on audio.

It's a good thing that the moderators have added both versions as acceptable, as I conclude from your comment :)

The same thing happens with all the 1st group verbs in French (ending in -er ), that begin with a consonant: the 3d person singular for il and elle sounds exactly the same as the 3d person plural ( ils / elles ):

• il/elle commence ≛ ils/elles commencent
• il/elle trouve ≛ ils/elles trouvent
• il/elle parle ≛ ils/elles parlent
• ...

[AshokKanet]

Thanks, Jaques_JD.

While listening to the audio of Il/Elle (singular) Vs. Ils/Elles (plural), I have noticed that whenever the audio has an emphasis on the last consonant it is always a Plural. e.g. Elle.l..l or Il..l..l.

Please listen and let me know if I am correct.

[Jayashanke1]

There is a subtle difference between regarder and voir
I also thought at first they are the same but they are not
Regarder is a reflexive verb whereas Voir is not
Regarder is equivalent to look and Voir to see
I look in the mirror the reflection looks back at me but when I see a bird faraway the bird does not know I am seeing it and cannot hence is not seeing me
This is the difference

[Jacques_JD]

Hey there, Jayashanke1!

The difference between regarder and voir is not as subtle as your comment might imply; they are as distinct as their corresponding verbs in English, to look and to see. They are not interchangeable in neither language:

• Look at the sky! Do you see how beautiful it is?
• Regarde le ciel! Tu vois comme c'est beau?

Being reflexive has very little to do with the actual meaning of the verbs. Voir can also become reflexive — se voir . It means to see oneself doing something, i.e. to imagine or remember oneself doing it, or to find oneself in a certain position (formal usage):

• Je me vois faire partie de votre équipe, et j'espère qu'il en est de même pour vous.
• Je ne planifie pas changer de travail, je me vois faire ce travail jusqu'à ma retraite.
• Je me vois encore marcher dans les couloirs de l'hôpital à la recherche de mon père.
• Je me vois malheureusement contrainte de me prononcer contre l'adhésion.