Marcher?

[strong remnant]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[gaunt girder]

Mon téléphone ne marche pas = mon téléphone ne fonctionne pas

[gloomy shadow]

Yeah if your phone doesn't have a job

Travailler is working in the sense of labouring. If you're talking about an object or system functioning then it's marcher

Words don't translate one to one between languages

[swift glacier]

Fonctionne sounds way more neat. My phone doesn’t walk sounds a bit off..

[pure heron]

no more off than "my phone doesn't work"

[primal crane]

lmao

americans criticizing french and never questioning english

[pure heron]

well, we don't know if they're American (or at least I don't see anything that indicates that)
and it's not great to generalize anyways (heck, I'm literally an American and I took the opposite viewpoint)

[swift glacier]

I’m sorry for asking a question because I was confused. That’s not criticism.

[strong remnant]

Marcher?

[pure heron]

As you learn more and more French you’ll find that sometimes different languages do things differently, for instance French uses the verb avoir (to have) with ages and certain feelings (hunger, thirst) but English uses the verb to be…

They just do it differently and while it can feel odd at first and seem like our native languages do things in a more logical or intuitive way, the reality is that there isn’t one right way and things can be done with many different approaches. (Hell, there are languages with 20+ genders, or that don’t have verb tenses, or that conjugate adjectives…)

It’s a good idea to get into the habit of just recognizing that the language does things in a different way and to not think too much about how logical one thing or another is.

[swift glacier]

I’m already used to saying “I have age”. Honestly you’re right.. Duolingo is amazing at informing you and making you practice but never explains anything.. it’s amazing to have people like you who take the time to write this and inform learners :))

So realll don’t ever think about it

just get used to it

[marble elm]

the problem is that you're thinking of everything in relation to english

you shouldn't be getting used to saying "I have x years"

that's totally incorrect