"L'eau"
Translation:Water
60 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
"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.
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.
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.
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".
it won't say l'eau slower,it's just one word...(well two but it counts it as one)
Because we put article before noun in French (always)
Water = eau (can't be said like that in French)
The water = l'eau.
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.
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?
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".
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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...
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So, do you pronounce "l'eau" and "loup" the same way? I always thought "l'eau" was pronounced "low" and "loup" was "loo."
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).
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I understand that, just the sound from my speakers didn't reflect that. Other than that, loving learning French!
