chauves-souris
The English phrase "bats" is translated into French as chauves-souris.
In formal contexts, you can also use La nuit, les mammifères volants to refer to them specifically as flying mammals or Animaux de la famille des Chiroptères to mean animals of the bat family.
What does it mean word for word?
The term chauve-souris is a compound of chauve, meaning bald and souris, meaning mouse.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun chauve-souris is feminine, so it is used with feminine articles such as la or une. This word is invariable in number, which means the spelling remains the same whether you are talking about one bat or multiple bats.
Did you know?
- The scientific term Chiroptère comes from the Greek words for 'hand' and 'wing', reflecting the anatomy of the bat.
- While the word is feminine, if you are talking about a group of bats that includes a male, many old texts would still use the feminine chauves-souris because the noun itself is fixed as feminine.
- In French, the word souris is used for both the animal 'mouse' and a 'computer mouse'.
Examples in context
- Tu vois les chauves-souris ?Do you see the bats?This sentence is useful for asking if someone sees the chauves-souris.Tatoeba #13480005 by Rovo, translation #13466256 by rul
- Tom détestait les chauves-souris.Tom hated bats.This sentence is useful for stating that Tom hated chauves-souris.Tatoeba #13162834 by Rovo, translation #8416583 by CK
- Craignez-vous les chauves-souris ?Are you afraid of bats?This sentence is useful for asking if someone is afraid of chauves-souris.Tatoeba #4551228 by sacredceltic, translation #3962657 by Hybrid
- Le zoo abrite plusieurs chauve-souris rares.The zoo houses many rare bats.
- 24 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Emma and Hugo are walking through a dark park at night.
- EmmaRegarde, il y a des chauves-souris là-haut !Look, there are bats up there!
- HugoOh non, je déteste les chauves-souris.Oh no, I hate bats.
- EmmaNe t'inquiète pas, elles ne te feront rien.Don't worry, they won't do anything to you.
- HugoD'accord, mais pressons le pas.Okay, but let's quicken our pace.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
