French

[Harry-Wragg]

Ower in France the other day an' a guy said tae me 'Quelle heure est il?' -- an' a said tae him ' naw, son it's quelle est elle, ye see it's feminine.' Didnae matter anywey, the pubs were were open an' we baith went in for a drink. However who was right?

[caththecrazy]

he was

[Harry-Wragg]

caththecrazy - explanation please

[dot.haukes]

hours are asexual?

[Harry-Wragg]

quelle and heure are feminine

[dot.haukes]

aye well that's the thing look you, mix the two and you get one of them there asexual type thingies

[grasscarp]

The exact translation is what hour is it.
It is translates as Il est.
Therefore it is quelle heure est il?
You are are not saying what hour is she..... (or he even)

[Pentalpha8]

Time in french grammar is an impersonal. Neither masculine nor feminine .
An impersonal subject is used for time and weather . The verb of an impersonal subject is always in the third person.
Il is the impersonal subject of time therefore -Quelle heure et il

[Harry-Wragg]

Hi doc.haukes - I haven't a clue what you're on about but you come across as being Welsh - can't be bad.

[caththecrazy]

I'm not sure just can remember it from school .

I think it might be something to do with the time of the day and day (jour)is masculine. Not the hour. Sometimes these french rules have no reasoning though.

Who decided what was feminine and what wasn't????

[dot.haukes]

hence i said it was asexual, just cos i do appear to be the site's dumb blonde does not mean i am, i did french GCE and did kinda quite well to the point that i can understand French and usually read it quite well. I think the word might be 'fluent' actually

[dot.haukes]

My son is, being born in St David's Hospital, canton, Cardiff, and me being at the time an adopted Welsh girl working in the adjacent street to the arms park, but going back to my Dad's Mum's Mum, Sarah Elizabeth Hughes, born in Flint, then i do have some Welsh blood!

[Harry-Wragg]

grasscarp - quelle is feminine - heure is feminine - il is still masculine

[Harry-Wragg]

Pentalpha8 - weather (temps in French) - masculine or feminine?

[Harry-Wragg]

dot.haukes - hope everything goes well with you in the future - especially with the baby!! HW

[grasscarp]

An impersonal subject is used in expressions of weather and time in French.. In these expressions the subject doesn't do anything, it represents, you might say, the way things are- the universe at the present moment. The verb of an impersonal subject is always in the third person.

Il is the impersonal subject of time expressions. Quelle heure est-il? Il est 4 heures.

[dot.haukes]

all going quite well so far harry, he is 28 in August lol

[Harry-Wragg]

grasscarp - mon dieu - brilliant - thankyou - there is enough there to write a short story on - it all originally began as a wee bit of a joke but I am really grateful for your knowledge. I think your French might be a wee bit better than mine. Bon Soir. HW

[grasscarp]

I learnt Italian as well when I met my husband. Now I am doing evening classes in Russian, as we get several Russians coming on our courses at work. Signing off now. Bon soir. Buena notte, Dos vedanya.

[Harry-Wragg]

grasscarp - Russian

paka (goodbye)
privet (hello)
spasiba (thankyou)