"L'eau est noire."

Translation: The water is black.

[DCStraight]

Why is the water black?

[hdcanis]

It's midnight and the body of water looks black.
I have heard the expression in a song, and Joyce Carol Oates has a book named Black Water...

[choaybadib]

Thanks.

[MissSpell]

There is a "fulvic and humic acid electrolyte drink." (ie: black water) It looks cool; i wanted to buy a bottle out of curiosity, but then I realized it was a nine dollar bottle of water. I'm no longer curious.

[allthesepieces]

In what area do you shop? I'm curious because it doesn't cost nearly as much here (in Pennsylvania). It's got the subtle flavour of dirt. ;) (Now how do I say that in French?)

[Gavier]

Il a le goût subtil de sol - je crois....

[cubbins]

There seem to be a lot of strange sentences on here, but I guess the meaning is less important than understanding the construction.

[romastutts]

I don't think it's strange at all. I grew up near a swamp that is famous for its
black water, the Okefenokee. It's actually brown, due to tannins, but it appears black and perfectly mirrors the surrounding forrest. It's quite beautiful.

[icestormwindsnow]

beautiful

[00shakey00]

whats the difference between noir and noire?

[atrnka]

Masculine vs Feminine

[Gavier]

For everyone saying "water isn't black, mneh mneh mneh..."
How about having a little sense of the poetic? "It was a moonless night, the water was black and foreboding"

[Presch]

Why is noire used here and not noir? Is it because water is considered feminine...just like apple?

[canary5]

yes

[Binarykode]

Absolutely too hard to understand the what the first word was. It sounded way too much like "Le" est Noire. L'eau should sound like LOW!!!

[Andrew8510]

I just checked and it sounds normal. If you want a second opinion you can always go to google translate and use the pronunciation (listen) function by writing the word and clicking the speaker button.

• http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/Le.
• https://translate.google.com/#fr/en/L%27eau

[ubernichts]

Google translate also is way off sometimes. I usually get a second opinion for what google translate spells:

http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/

[pasunparisien]

I agree... when it came up earlier in the quiz, I repeatedly hit the play button because it sounded like Le (which I knew it wasn't) or Loup (which I knew would require Le)... I gave up and hit Skip to see what it was.

I am guessing that the pronunciations are dependent upon where in the country the person who recorded the sounds comes from.

[pipey10]

Wait.. What's the difference between noir and noire?

[FinnishTomato]

Noir is the masculine version, while noire is the feminine version.
In French most of the words ending in e is feminine and those that don't end in e in masculine.
I hope that helped!