Learn French: L'arôme du lilas est très floral. - The aroma of the lilac is very floral.

L'arôme du lilas est très floral.

The aroma of the lilac is very floral.

Breakdown of L'arôme du lilas est très floral.

of the / from the (masculine singular, with plural des)

floral

Questions & Answers about L'arôme du lilas est très floral.

Why use arôme here instead of odeur or parfum?

Odeur is the generic word for a smell, whether good or bad. Parfum implies a crafted scent or a very strong, sweet natural fragrance. Arôme is often used for pleasant, distinct, and natural smells, especially in food, wine, or specific plants. However, le parfum du lilas is also very common and perfectly correct here.

Do you pronounce the final 's' in lilas?

No, the s at the end of lilas is completely silent. It is pronounced like lee-lah.

Why is it du lilas and not just de lilas?

We use du (a contraction of de + le) because we are referring to the lilac plant as a definite, general concept (the aroma of the lilac). If you wanted to use the flower purely to categorize the aroma, un arôme de lilas (a lilac aroma) is also grammatically correct.

If we were talking about multiple aromas, how would the adjective floral change?

The masculine plural of French adjectives ending in -al typically changes to -aux. So, if the subject were les arômes, the sentence would end with sont très floraux.