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Questions & Answers about La glace fond au soleil.
Why is it la glace and not le glace?
In French every noun has a gender: masculine or feminine. The noun glace (ice) is feminine, so it always takes the feminine singular definite article la.
Can la glace mean both ice and ice cream?
Yes. The same word glace covers both:
- la glace = ice (frozen water)
- une glace = an ice cream (when you order a flavor)
Context usually tells you which one. If you want to be extra clear for ice cream, specify a flavor (e.g. une glace à la fraise).
What is fond in this sentence?
Fond is the present tense, third person singular (il/elle/on) of the verb fondre (“to melt”). You drop -re from fondre to get the stem fond, then for il/elle/on you add no extra ending.
Why is there no -e on fond?
Verbs of the -re group like fondre share the same stem fond for the singular forms:
- je fonds, tu fonds, il/elle/on fond
Only nous and vous add -ons and -ez. There is no additional -e for the third-person singular.
Why is it au soleil? What does au mean?
Au is the contraction of à + le. So au soleil literally means “at/to the sun,” but in English we say “in/under the sun.” It marks sunlight as the cause of melting.
Could you say sous le soleil instead of au soleil?
Yes. La glace fond sous le soleil also means “the ice melts under the sun.” Both are correct; au soleil is a bit more idiomatic when talking about melting by sunlight.
How do you pronounce La glace fond au soleil?
Phonetically: [la ɡlas fɔ̃(do) sɔ.lɛj].
- la → [la]
- glace → [ɡlas]
- fond → [fɔ̃] (final -d silent)
- liaison in fond au → the -d is pronounced before the vowel in au, giving [fɔ̃do]
- soleil → [sɔ.lɛj]
French places the main stress on the last syllable of the phrase.
Why use the simple present “fond” instead of a continuous form?
French doesn’t have a dedicated progressive tense like English. The simple present is used for both general truths and actions happening right now. If you want to stress an ongoing action, you can say:
La glace est en train de fondre au soleil
but the simple present alone is perfectly natural.
What’s the difference between la glace fond and la glace est fondue?
- La glace fond (active) = “the ice is melting” (focus on the process).
- La glace est fondue (passive/adjective) = “the ice is melted” (focus on the result or state).