this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

As another comment points out, there is a mistake with the second sentence.

The word combination works but it does not contradict the first negation.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe = This is not a pipe

C'est une pipe = It's a pipe

What you want is to simply remove the negative "n' + pas".

Ceci est une pipe = This is a pipe

With other examples...

Ceci est un garçon = This is a boy

Ceci n'est pas un garçon = This is not a boy

C'est une fille = It's a girl

Ceci est une fille = This is a girl

Ceci n'est pas une fille = This is not a girl

Ceci est un commentaire = This is a comment

Ceci n'est pas un commentaire = This is not a comment

C'est simple n'est-ce pas? = It's simple is it not?

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Wait wait wait... So I only know a small amount of French and mostly from media I've watched, so unless I'm mixing words here when I've heard "garçon" (pronounced garsonne?) in a restaurant, they're literally calling the waiter "boy?"

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Indeed. Never gave a second thought to the word but apparently it's the name of a young male servant. The pronunciation ends with a nasal vowel as there is no trailing "e" at the end. In IPA that's /ɡaʁ.sɔ̃/. If you say /ɡaʁ.ɔn/ it makes it sound female.

Un patron = male owner

Une patronne = female owner

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