# FR: sentir bon - accord



## kate123

Hello,

The following is from my grammer book excercise section
but it doesn't have any supplementary explanation
What are the rules that are involved here?
Thank you

*Il parle d'une façon franche--> Il parle franchement

*Elle a un esprit profond---> Elle réfléchit profondément

*Cette chambre a une bonne odeur---> Elle sent *bon*
*NOT*
Elle sent bonne

-it says that adverbs are not supposed to be changed in form
  and so bon should not be changed to bonne like franche has been changed to franchement but there is no further explanation...

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads have been merged to create this one.


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## AnotherdayinCA

I'm not that good in french, but wouldn't it be "elle sent bien", using an adverb to modify the verb?


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## sova

"Elle sent bon" is correct. "Bon" here is considered as an adverb. The adverb "bonnement" exists but it means "simply" (and not "good").
Sorry AnotherdayinCA, "elle sent bien" is not correct.


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## tilt

AnotherdayinCA said:


> I'm not that good in french, but wouldn't it be "elle sent bien", using an adverb to modify the verb?


_Elle sent bien_ is not a correct on its own.
It can show in a sentence like _elle sent bien que ça ne va pas_, or you may say _elle se sent bien_.
Note that in both cases, _sentir _doesn't mean _smell_, yet, but _feel_.


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## calembourde

Couldn't _Elle sent bien_ mean 'she smells well' in other words, she has an acute sense of smell? I know people would probably never say that, but is it grammatically possible, even if semantically a bit strange?


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## marget

sova said:


> "Elle sent bon" is correct. "Bon" here is considered as an adverb. The adverb "bonnement" exists but it means "simply" (and not "good").
> Sorry AnotherdayinCA, "elle sent bien" is not correct.


 
Sentir bon, coûter cher, and travailler dur are all expressions in which the adjective is used an an adverb and therfore remains invariable.


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## tilt

calembourde said:


> Couldn't _Elle sent bien_ mean 'she smells well' in other words, she has an acute sense of smell? I know people would probably never say that, but is it grammatically possible, even if semantically a bit strange?


Yes, it could, and yes, noone would say it.
I'd say this composition would be used only for _voir _and _entendre_, not for the other senses. Here, we'd rather say _Elle a un bon odorat_ or _Elle a l'odorat très développé_.


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## bonjour_papillon

pourquoi sent-elle 'bon' est pas 'bonne'? je n'arrive pas à comprendre...!

s'il y a des liens au discussions qui traitent ce sujet, je serais ravi de savoir lesquels ils sont! merci!


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## janpol

C'est un emploi adverbial


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## Maître Capello

Voir le TLFi s.v. _bon_,  § II.
Voir aussi ce fil  sur le forum Français Seulement.


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## Yittle

Is this the correct translation for:
Thank you for the candle.  It smells so good.

Je te remerci pour la bougie.  Elle sent si bonne.

Is "bonne" a predicate adjective here, because of the verb "sentir" and therefore, "bonne"agrees with "elle" ?

Merci en avance pour l'aide.


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## bazalpin

Hi,

in this case "bon" is an adverb not an adjective. Thus no agreement with the subject.

Je te remerci*e* pour la bougie. Elle sent si bon.


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## Tinky

Can someone point me to the rule as to why there is no agreement of "bon/mauvais" with "sentir"? Les roses sentent bon, les chaussures sentent mauvais...
Merci!


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## olivier68

Parce qu'ici, il s'agit d'adverbes ;-)


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## Tinky

Merci. Je croyais "bon" et "mauvais" des adjectifs.


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## olivier68

Ils peuvent être les deux ;-)


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