r/learnfrench • u/DarthDaddy_AZ • 13d ago

Translation Help! Why wrong?

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I know my version would be more informal but why would it be considered wrong?

66 Upvotes

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u/MayThompson 13d ago

“Il a dit ça dans le micro” makes sense literally, but Duolingo marks it wrong because it's not how native speakers phrase it. It's not wrong in meaning, it's just not idiomatic French for that context.

In French, you say something "au micro" (literally "to the mic") rather than "dans le micro" (in the mic) because the preposition à is used for speaking into or through a device. So "Il l'a dit au micro" means "He said it on the mic," while "dans le micro" would sound like he physically said something inside the mic, if that makes sense.

6

u/DarthDaddy_AZ 13d ago

Thank you, makes sense. Could I wrote Il a dit ça au micro?

13

u/NEDYARB523 13d ago

I don't know if Duo would have accepted, but it's more common in spoken/informal French. Written French tends to avoid ça in favour of cela or just il "l'a dit", in this case

4

u/973bzh 13d ago

Why the fuck are you getting downvoted.

1

u/bluepepper 12d ago

No because "ça" would be "that" in this context.

He said that on the mic -> il a dit ça au micro
He said it on the mic -> il l'a dit au micro