French language Q&A Forum
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
15,074 questions • 32,793 answers • 1,047,131 learners
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
15,074 questions • 32,793 answers • 1,047,131 learners
Is the above question an acceptable translation of "What do you think?"
Could the phrase "I admire how he managed to ..." be translated using "comment" rather than "comme"?
Hi there; apologies if this question has been asked and dealt with before. I have just been told that, as a translation of Aurelie eats bread, 'Aurelie mange le pain' is incorrect, with 'Aurelie mange du pain' being the correct answer. I can understand how, if the English was Aurelie is eating bread one would write 'du pain', because Aurelie can only ever be eating some bread at a given moment. I also understand how Aurelie mange le pain would lead one to infer that the sentence is referring to a specific piece of bread that Aurelie is eating. However, surely in English, one of the major connotations of Aurelie eats bread, is that it is a general statement about one of the kinds of food that Aurelie eats (in the same way that one might say Aurelie eats meat (ie Aurelie isn't a vegetarian). And if it is a general statement, then one is effectively saying that Aurelie will eat any bread that is put in front of her. In other words, she doesn't as a general rule, only eat some bread ('du pain') she eats all breads ('le pain'). In which case, shouldn't Aurelie mange le pain be marked correct? What am I missing here? Thanks in advance!
Find your French level for FREE
And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it
Find your French level