sidehop Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Bonjour, J'apprends le français... BUT! I'm a bit confused on the usage of 'on' and 'nous'. They are both translated as 'we' but 'nous' also means 'it is'. If I say "on mange" does it translate to "let's eat" or "we eat"? Link to comment
sophie274 Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Why did Foreign Exchange Bambi not get a PM? Anyway, on and nous are pretty much interchangeable in daily life. Not sure what you mean when you say "nous" means "it is"?? Never heard of that. On is often used for an impersonal statement, such as, "In the US, they eat bambiburgers" you could translate as "Aux USA, on mange des bambiburgers" or the you in statements like "are you (meaning, people) allowed to go in?" "est ce qu'on a le droit d'entrer?", stuff like that. If you say "on mange", it can be we eat or let's eat, depending on your intonation. Strictly speaking, let's eat would be translated as "mangeons" (we form in the imperative), but you could say on mange! or probably "allez on mange" to mean let's eat. Link to comment
sidehop Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 I didn't realize FEB spoke fluent French! Merci, j'aime bambiburgers! Link to comment
sophie274 Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 I didn't realize FEB spoke fluent French! Merci, j'aime bambiburgers! WRONG! (Ha ha) J'aime les bambiburgers. You always use the definite article in that kind of sentence, like, j'aime le chocolat, j'aime les chameaux, j'aime les Americains ... Link to comment
sidehop Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 Why is 'les' used when Bambi is a male? So much to learn ^_^ Link to comment
sophie274 Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Why is 'les' used when Bambi is a male? So much to learn ^_^ Ok I typed out a real answer ... and then I think i got it. Maybe. That wasn't a real question, right? So confused ... Link to comment
sidehop Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 Well... WRONG! (Ha ha) J'aime les bambiburgers. You always use the definite article in that kind of sentence, like, j'aime le chocolat, j'aime les chameaux, j'aime les Americains ... I guess I'm confused now on the usage of le & les. Link to comment
sophie274 Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Ok, definite articles: le - masculine singular la - feminine singular les - plural (both masculine and feminine) So in this case it's les because bambiburgers is a plural. Same as in English, you say you like "hamburgers" not "hamburger", in french you say j'aime LES (plural) bambiburgers (plural) Link to comment
sidehop Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 Makes sense now. Merci... Link to comment
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