Mishtoon Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Can anyone give me a brief summary of when to use grand/grande versus when to use gros/se. I've read up in my OU-recommended mammoth Robert Collins Dictionary but am now even more confused. The two seem interchangeable from the dictionary.Confused of Dept 47! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I haven't thought it through, this is straight off gut feeling, but I think I would use gros when I could replace big with large (large meaning big not large=wide. Oh I'm so clear ) and use grand the rest of the time. Except for people because gros means fat in that situation (although this doesn't necessarily work for animals a gros chien could be a fat dog or a big dog) Gros gives a feeling of all round bignessI'm sure someone can give you better guidelines than that. I have been driven mad for years by pupils who have been taught that gros=big and now confuse big and fat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I agree with Mistral, here are my additional gut feelings:If I said "gros chien" as opposed to "grand chien" it would have faint but tangible negative connotations; people know what I mean. I couldn't say "un gros chien supergentil"...For people grand is tall, gros is fat. You can be grand and skinny as a rake. There's a hint of grossness in gros. Just a hint. Which may be on the part of the speaker or on the part of his subject. Gross people use the word more freely than civilised speakers but their use of it is less negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 There's a hint of grossness in gros.That's a very useful tip. I agree with you both and would add that the poster's query is one that many people have, it certainly used to trouble me a little. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mishtoon Posted November 20, 2004 Author Share Posted November 20, 2004 Hi to those of you who gave the advice and that's great, your advice helps!! I suppose I'll continue to learn as I go along and hopefully be corrected by the French if I make mistakes. Byeee,Mel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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