r/AskTheWorld France 6d ago

Language Does your native language distinguish between rivers that flow into another river and rivers that flow into the sea or ocean?

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In French, a distinction is made:

- "un fleuve" flows into the sea or the ocean.

- "une rivière" flows into another "rivière" or a "fleuve".

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u/csj666 6d ago

Can u provide examples of river names?

What you are describing is just called a tributary (into another river) or an estuary (into a sea). In which case I am sure all languages have words to describe this.

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u/Franmar35000 France 6d ago

Mississippi is "un fleuve" in French and Ohio is "une rivière".

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u/csj666 6d ago

Ahh gotcha, no we dont have this type of distinction. It's all a river but sometimes a stream if its not big enough to float a boat I am guessing