Faire vs construire

Question

Could you explain why one cannot say "On construit un beau château de sable" instead of using faire? Conceptually, making a sandcastle imeans, at least in English, constructing a sandcastle.

N. Hilary (Shamrockhill) Welsh · Answer

Bonjour William,I believe that you could actually say: "On construit un beau chateau de sable." However, that would mean, "We are building/constructing a beautiful sandcastle." In this case, you are asked to translate "We are making a beautiful sandcastle" therefore, "faire" is the better choice. Also, keep in mind that this is an A1 level exercise. The goal most likely is to practice the use of the verb "faire".Hope this helps, andBonne Continuation,Hilary

William Strahan · Answer

N. Hilary,I understand you making the formal distinction of the verbs and I appreciate the response. The assumed concentration on it being A1 may, or not, be true, but if it is I have not seen this identified anywhere. Additionally, I have seen these exercises be very liberal with the English to French translations, so it's often not clear which verb they really want. In this case, they very specifically did not accept construct, but the meanings are identical, one just more colloquial, less formal, than the other.

Maarten Kamp · Answer

William,

the exercise context indicates that a five year old boy is speaking.

Although ‘ construire ‘ is not grammatically incorrect, ‘ faire ‘ is more colloquial and more frequently heard, especially from a young child, and when talking about the ordinary run-of-the-mill sand castle.

The exercise is self-marked - the exercise doesn’t mark ‘ construire ‘ as wrong, but unsurprisingly in the context, doesn’t suggest it as a likely turn of phrase.