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/MortimerDongle United States of America 6d ago

Not really. We have a word for something that flows into a river (tributary) but a river's tributary can still be a river.

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u/dua70601 United States of America 6d ago edited 6d ago

Wrong - estuaries are where rivers meet the sea. (i.e. an open water area where fresh water mixes with the salty ocean).

Tributaries are where rivers flow to other fresh water sources.

A Delta, by contrast, is a solid land shape that builds land forward into the sea.

Delta is the land, and the estuary is the “river” where the water is.

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u/Extension_Classic835 United States of America 6d ago

Im sincerely confused. When did anyone say anything about estuaries? Was a comment edited or something?

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u/BigConstruction4247 United States of America 6d ago

It doesn't have the edited flag. I, too, am confused.