Question on plurals

Richard M.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Question on plurals

Why is araignée plural while all the other nouns are singular.  Spider legs.  Why spiders' legs?

Asked 1 year ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Richard,

"Araignées" is plural because we consider that the legs come from several spiders.

des toiles d'araignées

-> there are several webs made by different spiders

 

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour à tous,

Thank you Maarten for pointing this out! You are correct that both can be accepted:

pattes d'araignées -> coming from several spiders

pattes d'araignée -> characteristic to a spider

 Both options are now accepted in the exercise.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Céline - I think Richard’s point might be that  as it is ‘ …. six pattes d’araignée’ there is no need for there to be more than one spider, so perhaps both answers should be accepted here ? 

There would even be a couple of legs left over for another small batch of brew, or reinforcing this one, without sacrificing a second spider ! 

Richard M. asked:

Question on plurals

Why is araignée plural while all the other nouns are singular.  Spider legs.  Why spiders' legs?

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