#Tout doucement

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

light starBOT
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tacit briar
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Je peux parler français (I'm able to talk french)

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Je peux parler EN français(I'm able to talk in french)

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Slight difference, same as in English

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I guess in french the most used is the one without "en"

oak fable
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I don't think it matters much.

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Both options are valid and will be understood as "You can talk french".

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You could even say "Je peux parler le français", but all of these variations aren't different enough to really justify switching to one or another.

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If you really wanted to be as simple as possible, you'd probably just say "Je parle français(+ something if you feel like it)".

glad ivy
tacit briar
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I find that it's really comparable to english. You dont say "I speak the french"

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je peux parler français -> i can speak french in general
je peux parler en français -> i can speak french right now in this situation

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(same as in english really)

glad ivy
oak fable
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It's definitely less natural, but it's grammatically correct.

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People will understand your sentence in any of these 3 variation, in a context where you're trying to pinpoint that you can do it, and you want to do it.

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There's a slight variation in meaning, but it's not sufficient enough to ne misunderstood.

tacit briar
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idk I just feel that "parler le français" is rly weird and not natural at all

oak fable
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That's subjective. Semantically as french, we're programmed to see the syntagma "le français" as the academic language, and "français" as the actual use, but it's not a distinction that matters much really. If you use another language, it could be harder to distingush, like for "italien".

tacit briar
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"je parle l'italien" ? for example ?

oak fable
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Truth is that, syntaxically it's correct, and semantically it's 99% correct as well. It's just a distinction grammarians would do

tacit briar
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as weird as with french

oak fable
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but I can tell you that you will hear it if you pay attention.

tacit briar
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I don't encounter literary persons enough I guess

glad ivy
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Thanks for the answers!

tacit briar
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sry for all the talk ahah

glad ivy
oak fable
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No for the most part, I agree with you Kilou, it is a bit unnatural, but it not unheard and not syntaxically impossible, especially with an elision. All that really matter is that, if you say "je parle en français" or "je parle le français" or "je parle français" will you convey the message correctly ? The answer should be yes, the meaning is "you can speak french", overall (with a slight variation, if you want to be as precise as possible, you should say "Je parle français", since it is what a native will always say, but you can understand the other possibilities just as well)

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In the end, the objective is to be understood, not to sound perfectly natural.

tacit briar
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you're right, but saying that you'll be understood is not rly a good point, you could also say something wrong and still ppl will understand ....

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I always try to give learners how a native would say it

oak fable
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yeah but the point is that it's correct, the rest is for the most part subjective, there could be somewhere else where je parle le français is more natural, since nothing goes against it

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it's all preferential

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Orally speaking as well, it's not that crazy to hear strange things. But I do agree with you, Je sais parler français is the most suited, but if you are to say Je sais parler en français, or le français, it would be fine as well.

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Well, anyway, it doesn't matter much, I think the question was answered pepehmm

tacit briar
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np, I'm not familiar with technical french, I'm not in the literature or language field at all. Just a french trying to help

indigo ore
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haha @tacit briar thank you as well