#mr.moderino
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Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.
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.
French uses the definite article for the general concept of a thing
And french is not english, the grammar is different, so adverbs get placed differently
Thank you.
If I say I like Basketball. I woul dsay Je aime le basketball?
Yes
Lets go back to Adverbs. Chatgpt is helping me out. ''''English: I always eat breakfast.
French: Je mange toujours le petit déjeuner.'' This is ''I eat always breakfast'' and you put the adverb always after the verb eat?
That is alot to get used too! 🤯
correct me if wrong
Another example ''French: Ils jouent souvent au football.
English: They often play soccer.'' First not sure why au is there instead of le football. Secondly, I'm understanding a little bit. The literal translation is ''They play often football''. Often is an adverb describing the verb play so you put the adverb souvent after the word play which is jouent?
The verb "jouer Ă " is used for playing games. "Jouer" on its own with a direct object would refer to "playing a role"
Adverb placement is a bit complicated in french but typically comes after the verb it modifies, yes
So "le football" is still there, you're just using the verb "jouer Ă " first
Jouer Ă + le football = jouer au football
Jouer Ă + game
Jouer de + instrument
Jouer + role
If you’re comparing this to English, know that English generally puts its adverbs before the verb it modifies. Sometimes they can be placed in the beginning or the end like in French though the rules are not concrete, unfortunately.
Au fait, le français les met généralement après le verbe que l’adverbe modifie. Parfois quelques adverbes se situent soit au début soit à la fin de la phrase. Tu peux lire les règles mais elles sont pas toujours figées, malheureusement.
Notice how for the adverb « généralement/generally », the adverb is placed before the verb in the English version (English generally puts) but after in the French version (le français les met généralement)
Do note that it's a bit off when it comes to compound tenses. In French, it still considers the active verb to be the auxiliary so adverbs can be placed between the auxiliary and the past participle :
« Je l'ai déjà fait »
« Elle a heureusement réglé toutes ses tâches »
In English, it's almost as the language thinks the main verb is the past participle? Because you would put your adverbs between the auxiliary and the past participle.
'I have already done it'
'She has fortunately sorted out all of her tasks'
the "le" is still there before the football
it is "le football"
but the verb jouer Ă is used there,
Ă + le becomes "au" in french
thats why its jouer au football and not jouer a football