#honeydabee

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

subtle wraithBOT
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Please be patient

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sudden coral
deep river
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When you need more than one potato

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Oh

sudden coral
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haha

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I guess I just don't know if there is some special rule with potato.

So far all of the other dishes were like "des choses" and "de chose", so I thought the pattern would continue

deep river
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It depends on if the description noun is countable or not

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It’s like a quantity in that regard

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Beaucoup d’eau vs beaucoup de pommes

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Same idea

sudden coral
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Hmm

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So if it is countable, then "de" could be for "some potatoes"

deep river
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But countability impacts plurality

sudden coral
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So in this sentence

Mais, mon plat préféré est une salade de betteraves, avec du céleri et des carottes râpées.

Beetroot salad (Salad of beetroots), the celery and some grated carrots

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And you're saying its gratin holding the potatoes like the salad is

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I didn't know whether I could continue my other thread sorry!

deep river
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Salad of beetroots with some celery and some grated carrottes
Notice how the English translation also has plural nouns for countable nouns (beetroot and carrot) and a singular noun for an uncountable one (celery)

sudden coral
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So its not only that its possessive, but how it interacts with countable nouns

deep river
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Yeah

sudden coral
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But I suppose in these examples, only one of object is already confirmed (le livre), so I need to use my imagination more

deep river
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« C’est un bol de pommes »

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A bowl of apples

sudden coral
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Ahhh good example

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Okay I am finally picking up what you're throwing down

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I let the translation of it to "potato gratin" trip me up. I'll ignore that next time

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It was a fill in a blank and thats how they gave hints, so the english didn't help haha

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Alright! I'm working on reading more and found some good exercises to practice my words so there is that. Thanks again!

sudden coral
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Yeah I kept reading and found a ton examples with "de pommes de terre" being used that way which helped! Hooray!

sonic trellis
sonic trellis
sudden coral
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I mean, they are the apples of the earth. If anything deserved a special rule, it would be potatoes BlathersNodSmug

sonic trellis
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What about the apples of the air

sudden coral
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Well, ofc special treatment is extended, but of the earth apples? Specialer treatment bcaApprovingNod

sonic trellis
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Oooooooh

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J’adore les pommes de mer

cursive kraken
sonic trellis
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Lol love that

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So apples of the sea is actually squid

sudden coral
sonic trellis
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When someone explained pomme de terre

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But

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pomme doesn’t explain WHICH this is coming from the earth. It could be an evil creature crawling out from the depths as the fruit of the earth

deep river
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The original word in Latin, pomum, originally meant ‘fruit’ in general. The old name for apple, malum, slowly got lost because of it sounded the same as malus (bad, evil), so pomum slowly took over its place

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This took centuries so you still have pomme being used as a term for fruit like « pomme de terre » for the New World vegetable found post-Columbus

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Malum and malus sounding the same is why European Christian stories portray the fruit that Adam and Eve ate as an apple

sonic trellis
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I was just gonna say that made me think of Eden !