Discuss and learn French.
Habiter or demurer
Where does he live?
He lives in Canada.
Il habite en le Canada.
He lives in Canada.
We use the French verb 'habiter' in this context.
We don't say, for example, he dwells in Canada. We use the verb live in this context.
Now I found out even the French word 'demurer' could be used.
Is it correct? I would like to know more about how to use the French verb demurer.
He lives in Canada.
Il habite en le Canada.
He lives in Canada.
We use the French verb 'habiter' in this context.
We don't say, for example, he dwells in Canada. We use the verb live in this context.
Now I found out even the French word 'demurer' could be used.
Is it correct? I would like to know more about how to use the French verb demurer.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on -
Careful of the spelling of demeurer.
The verb can indeed be used in a similar way to habiter, but it is generally of a more formal register, not so much like English "dwell", but more like reside (cf. He resides in Canada.).
The verb is also sometimes used instead of rester, to mean remain.
See the examples under demeurer in the section on avoir and être.
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Permalink Reply by stella on -
yes, that's right, but we say "il habite AU Canada", and not "il habite en le Canada"
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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on
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Hi french flower.
Il habite en France. This is correct.
Why do you use 'au' when writing Canada?
Il habite en Canada. OR
Il habite au Canada.
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Permalink Reply by stella on
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we use AU because Canada is a male word in french, and we use EN when the country is a female word.
so we say for example:
j'habite en France (la france)
j'habite en Italie (une italie)
j'habite en Russie (la russie)
et
j'habite au Portugal (le Portugal)
j'habite au Japon (le japon)
....
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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on
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Thanks french flower
How about the USA?
J'habite en USA. OR
J'habite au USA.
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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on
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When the country has a plural name, then aux is generally used:
J'habite aux États-Unis.
Other examples would include Pays-Bas, Seychelles...
Incidentally, just to add to the complication, there are a few (generally feminine) countries which are islands, which many speakers use without the article at all. For example:
J'habite à Cuba.
J'habite à Malte.
J'habite à Taïwan.
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Permalink Reply by Marcy Sheiner on
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How do you ask the question: "Where do you live?" or "Where are you from"?
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Permalink Reply by Frank on -
Hello Marcy,
"Where do you live?":
You can just ask "Où habites-tu ?" (formal) or "Tu habites où ?" (grammatically incorrect, but conversational).
"Where are you from" would be "D'où es-tu ?" (formal) or "Tu es d'où ?" (incorrect but conversational).
Of course you can refine the question, for instance with "de quelle ville" (from which city) or "de quel pays" (from which country) instead of "d'où" (where from).
Hope it helps,
-Frank.
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Permalink Reply by Frank on
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By the way, you can see that in conversational French, it's very, very, very common to place question words like "quand", "où", "d'où", "comment", "qui" at the end of the sentence, not at the beginning. And when it happens, the subject and the verb aren't swapped.
Formal:
Où habites-tu ?
D'où viens-tu ?
Quand allez-vous au cinéma ?
Qui as-tu vu ?
Comment t'appelles-tu ?
Incorrect, but very, very, very common in real speech (and sounds like a native speaker):
Tu habites où ?
Tu viens d'où ?
Vous allez au cinéma quand ? ou : Vous allez quand au cinéma ?
Tu as vu qui ?
Tu t'appelles comment ?
The "Que" word can also be placed at the end of the sentence, but it becomes "Quoi" :
Que fais-tu ? => Tu fais quoi ?
Que lis-tu ? => Tu lis quoi ?
Que manges-tu ? => Tu manges quoi ?
You can use this structure in emails to friends, but never use it in formal letters. But try to use it in speech. Even with your boss, you can use it.
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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on
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Merci Frank
One of my French teachers used the following:
Où habites-vous?
Do you think it is equal to 'Où habites-tu'?
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Permalink Reply by Frank on
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"Tu" vs "Vous" is confusing to English speakers, because both mean "You".
"Tu": applies to only one person. You should use "tu" with anyone you know very well, like friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. You shouldn't use "tu" with someone you meet for the first time or someone you need to show respect for.
"Vous": applies either to a group of persons, or to an individual that you need to show respect for, or that you don't know much.
So:
- "Où habites-tu ?" or "tu habites où ?" : this is what you would say to a friend
- "Où habitez-vous ?" or "vous habitez où ?" : this is what you would say to a group of friends. Or this is what you would say to a stranger. Or this is what you would say to your boss (unless he looks cool enough to be considered as a friend).
If you hook up with a French girl, start with "Vous" and don't switch to "Tu" before she has disclosed her first name :)
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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on
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Incidentally, beware of using words like "correct" and "incorrect" (in French or English!)-- it can be a bit ambiguous what you mean. Sometimes people use "incorrect" to mean "ungrammatical" (i.e. a native speaker would generally not judge the sentence to be a possible, well-formed sentence of French). And sometimes people use it to mean "not conforming to some prescriptive etiquette".
A form such as "Tu fais quoi là?" belongs to normal, everyday speech. But so what? Why should normal, everyday speech be the stigmatised form? If what you're trying to describe is everyday French, then an utterance such as this is a perfectly grammatical utterance of French. From that point of view it's "correct". Similarly, you might label the questions "Pourquoi que les fous c'est nous?", "Quelle heure qu'il est?" as being 'slang', 'popular', 'non-standard' etc. But if you imagine a certain number of native French speakers using them, there's a point of view according to which they're still "correct".
But on the other hand, it is of course worth pointing out when forms are considered everyday, informal, formal, literary, slang, stigmatised etc. But I think these more detailed labels are more useful than "incorrect" vs "correct".
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