Question 1

Why is it de beaux présages and not des beaux présages?

Accepted Answer

This is the rule of plural article reduction! When a plural adjective comes before a plural noun, the plural indefinite article des changes to de. Since the adjective beaux comes before the noun présages, des becomes de.

Question 2

Why does beaux come before the noun présages here?

Accepted Answer

While most French adjectives come after the noun, a specific group of short, common adjectives goes before it. You can remember them with the acronym BAGS: Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size. Beau (beautiful) falls perfectly into the Beauty category.

Question 3

The translation says "nature," so why does the French sentence use la nature with the article?

Accepted Answer

In English, we usually drop the article "the" when talking about general concepts or abstract nouns (like nature, love, or time). In French, you must keep the definite article (le, la, or les) when talking about things in a general sense.

Question 4

I've learned that on means "one". Why is it translated as "we find" here?

Accepted Answer

While on literally translates to "one" (as in "one finds beautiful omens"), in casual, everyday French, on is used almost exclusively to mean "we". Just remember that even when it means "we", it still uses the same singular verb form as il or elle.

On trouve de beaux présages dans la nature.

Breakdown of On trouve de beaux présages dans la nature.

Questions & Answers about On trouve de beaux présages dans la nature.

Learn On trouve de beaux présages dans la nature and more in French