"L'eau"
Translation:Water
102 Comments
"l' " is not a contraction but an elision (drop the vowel and replace it by an apostrophe).
"du" is the contraction of "de+le"
You're absolutely right, but technically an elision can be a kind of contraction (here it's the case) "Elision" is more precise than "contraction", but it still technically a contraction. French grammar books use the term "elision", and English grammar books or sites use the term "contraction", for instance: http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-contractions.htm
To understand the difference between "contractions" and "elisions", wikipedia gives a good way: "Not all elided words are contractions and not all contractions are elided words (for example, 'going to' → 'gonna': an elision that is not a contraction; 'can not' → 'cannot': a contraction that is not an elision)."
When the final vowel falls it's for two phenomenon
1) elision : when a final vowel meet another one of the next word the pronounciation bumps into, to avoid the hiatus the final vowel falls living an apostrophe to witness. So we have the "liaison" ,an armonius union between the two words
Je aime>j'aime pronounced jaime, we don't detect no separation among the words.
2)Apocope: a term designating the omission of one or more sounds or syllabes from the end of a word.
348
The pronunciation was perfect, but "eau" sounds "o". So "l'eau" sounds only "lo".
If you're not born in France but have been studying french for 2 or more years, I'm pretty sure you can say the pronounciation is not good
This pronounciation is not good for "eau" alone (when clicked), but perfectly good when the sentence is said.
redbeads- I'm a native and got it wrong because after 20 times, I still heard YO I knew that wasn't the answer, but I never thought it was l'eau..
I heard Leo. I should have been able to guess from that but I agree that it didn't sound like l'eau to me.
Because you're not a native. If you heard "leo" you almost done it, very soon you will be able to hear "lo".
You don't have to be a "native" the speak the language fluenlty and correctly
There isn't always one. It looks like a tortoise and lives under the speaker. When you press it there are long pauses between each word, so for this "sentence" it doesn't make much sense.
it won't say l'eau slower,it's just one word...(well two but it counts it as one)
Eau alone = ô (but the audio for "eau" alone" is bad)
L'eau = lo.
Maybe she tries to pronounce the "l'" and the "eau" as separated in your example, but it's wrong, it's "lo".
abroksie- with the slow butten, it was the same for me, still heard yo and I'm a native
- 2285
I've listened to this on three different devices, and for some reason it is clear on some, but not on others. it very much sounded like "yo" on my phone, but not on the computer I'm currently working on.
lola- I'm a native and on my PC, it was definitively YO, of course because I'm native, I can hear the correct answer.
- 218
there is an extra syllabil in here before 'O' it sounds like EELO to me.
Because we put article before noun in French (always)
Water = eau (can't be said like that in French)
The water = l'eau.
l'eau is basically le eau,but it's incorrect to write it this way.the l' (or le) means the,so it's the difference between the water and water
moreligirl- wrong, eau is feminine. it would be la eau, but in french when 2 voyels are following one another, you use the apostrophe.
So, do you pronounce "l'eau" and "loup" the same way? I always thought "l'eau" was pronounced "low" and "loup" was "loo."
It lists rain as one of this word's definitions but using it makes it you lose a heart? por que?
Rain is generally "la pluie" so far as I know, and "l'eau" the more general water.
The list of definitions is not necessarily accurate. If you google (translation) l'eau, you will get "water" for sure.
beard- find the correc t answer, Duo doesn't give you the answre, this is a choice of answer. Rain = pluie
Yes. L'eau de pluie = rain water. But we don't talk about "eau" when it's raining. We can say "it's wet", c'est humide, je suis mouillé (I'm wet)
In spanish, 'water' is masculine in singular and feminine in plural. Since all the nouns have the same gender in spanish and in french, I wonder if it is the same in french?
No. Who told you taht the nouns have the same genders in French and in Spanish? It's wrong! Maybe statistically it can be true, but it's not a rule.
Not all nouns have the same gender in spanish and in french. For example, "el carro" in spanish is "la voiture" in french.
Yes. Les eaux. "eau" can be countable in French.
Forget about countable and not countable, here it's about indefinite quantity and definite quantity. When you talk about water, you would say "de l'eau" (indefinite quantity) or "l'eau", but if you talk about lakes, river, or whaterver, you can say "l'eau" or "les eaux"
Remember that "les" doesn't have a fem/masc connotation. So it doesn't matter.
The gender is not apparent, but it still there. You have a feminine "les" and a masculine "les", but they look the same.
dammi- Yes it matters if there's an adjective following : les chats noirs. The adjective must fit the gender. les automobiles blanches.
Good point about the French plural, however, the genders are still opposite. Clearly the singular form is masc in Spanish and fem in French.
jags02- If you're talking about agua = eau, agua even if you put El agua, this is still feminine, it's only to make the prononciation easier. Read my comment to lola.
Unfortunately, that's not true at all. There are MANY nouns with their genders switched in relation to Spanish. I constantly mess up those =P Some examples just in the previous lessons I've taken here: la voiture (el carro), la robe (el vestido), le serpent (la serpiente), la souris (el ratón), le papillon (la mariposa)
calo- Wrong- agua is not masculine just because we say, el agua. We say el agua because of the stress on the first A of agua and it's to make the pronunciation easier. if it was masculine, you should put the adjective following in masculine, but it's not the case. el agua estancada (adj. feminine). the stagnant water. And no, many nouns have different genders in Spanish and French. For exemple Spanish : EL vestido = LA robe = the dress, and many others.
French nouns are only rarely used without a modifier: an article (indefinite or definite) or a possessive adjective, or a demonstrative adjective, etc.
"le, la, l', les" are definite articles, all potentially translatable in "the", depending on construction and meaning.
l' is used instead of le or la if the noun starts with a vowel or a non aspired H: l'eau (fem), l'avion (masc), l'homme.
In all cases where you would use "the" in English, you can be certain that the French translation will have le, la, l' or les.
However, when the French sentence uses "le, la, l' or les" those do not automatically translate to "the".
-
les hommes sont plus forts que les femmes = men are stronger than women (generality, universal truth)
-
la fille a les yeux bleus = the girl has blue eyes
It's because French nouns always have the word for 'the' in front of them even if you don't translate that into English.
For example, Bonne nuit les enfants! = Good night children! The 'the' exists in french as a grammatical structure, but not in English.
Not always "the", but an article, it can be "un/une", "le/la", "de la/du", etc...
You need an article. French always put article. The water, and not "water". L'eau and not "eau".
The woman's pronunciation is actually wrong. It's not pronounced ''Le-lo'' really quick. It's actually just ''lo.''
Yes. You can go on forvo, and repeat everything. You can go on youtube, there are a lot of training French video. For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EcI2DaHKHs
previous question was to translate "the water" to "l'eau". next one was "l'eau" to "water". I don't think it's enough time to forget,Duo.
It sounded like l'œuf to me. I got it wrong :( can anyone help me on how to tell the difference int the pronunciation? Sitesurf? PERCE_NEIGE? BrunoZoldan?
Hi aditi, for the pronounce you can help with Forvo. Look here :
http://it.forvo.com/search/eau/
http://it.forvo.com/search/oeuf/.
I cannot show you the pronouce otherwise because I don't know the English equivalent.
Good job!
this phenomenon is called "elision" and it prevents the sound conflict between 2 vowel sounds.
- la | eau would generate an awkward sound with LA-O
Therefore, the "a" is replaced by an apostrophe: l'eau = LO
The same rule is valid for vowels and non-aspirate H:
- NOT "le homme" but "l'homme"
There is a series of small words that can elide in front of a vowel sound: le, la, je, me, te, se, que, ne:
- j'écris (I write); il m'écrit (he writes to me); je t'écris (I write to you); ils s'aiment (they love each other); je pense qu'elle est jolie (I think that she is pretty); je n'aime pas le vin (I don't like wine).
mona, veux-tu, informal, sing. and voulez-vous informal plural or formal plural.
I understand that, just the sound from my speakers didn't reflect that. Other than that, loving learning French!
