olives
To say olives in French, use olives. The word is spelled the same as in English.
olives names the small fruit of the olive tree, usually eaten cured. You usually say les olives when talking about them in general.
Which one should you use?
To name the color, add noires for black or vertes for green after the noun. Les olives à grignoter are olives to nibble on.
Is it said differently in some regions?
Around Nice, Les olives de Nice refers to olives grown in Nice.
How does it change in a sentence?
The singular is olive. It is a feminine noun.
Did you know?
- In the Provence region, some traditional varieties of olives are cured using cendre or wood ash rather than just brine.
- In the South of France, olives are often served as a pastis accompaniment, where the saltiness of the fruit is used to balance the anise flavor of the drink.
- If you are looking for the tree itself, you would refer to it as 'l'olivier', rather than using the word for the fruit, olive, to describe the plant.
Examples in context
- Il déteste les olives.He hates olives.Il déteste means he hates.Tatoeba #12077506 by Amastan, translation #8318997 by Amastan
- Ziri mangea des olives.Ziri ate olives.Ziri is a name and mangea means ate.Tatoeba #11034101 by Amastan, translation #10208234 by Amastan
- J'aime beaucoup les olives.I'm very fond of olives.J'aime beaucoup means I like a lot.Tatoeba #9576470 by Aiji, translation #2649864 by sharptoothed
- J'adore les olives dans ma salade.I love olives in my salad.
- Moi aussi! Surtout les olives noires.Me too! Especially black olives.
- 19 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Nathan are at a restaurant.
- LéaEst-ce qu'il y a des olives dans cette salade ?Are there olives in this salad?
- NathanOui, il y a des olives noires.Yes, there are black olives.
- LéaJe n'aime pas les olives.I do not like olives.
- NathanMoi, j'adore ça.I love them.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
