that's or it's

[mamour]

goodmorning!! I noticed, I had a problem,sometimes,often with that's or it's!! I have an old brain

[Thomas]

Hm...I'll have to think about this one some...

[mamour]

hello thomas!!
a little gramatical lesson for me:"about one some" correspond to "y" in French?
thanks a lot!!
mamour

[Thomas]

My sentence in French would be "Hm...il me faudra y penser un peu..." -- the "about this one" would be the "y", and the "some" would be "un peu". (perhaps "je devrai" instead of "il me faudra" ? whichever sounds better)

[mamour]

it's perfect!!As I write this,here,the stores are making preparations for the start of the new school.And like the students I bought note-books and stabilo for your podcast!! 

[Thomas]

Ok, well I've done some research on this, and it seems to be a difficult question to answer... (I found another confused person here)

But, what I think the answer is in general, can be seen with the following example...

A: "Do you think I should buy a red car?"
B: "It's not a good idea." [without "it" this senctence would be...Buying a red car isn't a good idea]

and then...

A: "Do you think I should buy a red car?"
B: "That's not a good idea."

In the first example, B is saying that buying a red car in general is not a good idea. In the second, B is saying that "A buying a red car" is not a good idea. The difference is that with "that", you are referring to a specific case of something, but with "it", you're just referring to something in general.

Now, for the hard part: those are just the rules in general. Sometimes, they are interchangeable (you can use either one). Sometimes, only one is correct, and not because of the above rules. But hopefully that helps at least a little bit!

[mamour]

oh no!! that was clear until "hard part"!!!! .No it's a joke!!your example is more clear than the other!!

[mamour]

than the other one!it's more correct!!

[mamour]

maybe i'm still confused!!

[Thomas]

Well, perhaps you could help me help you: can you give me some specific examples of times when you did not know which one to use?

[mamour]

well up here !it's more correct!it's more correct or that's more correct or both ?"it's a joke"or "that's a joke".I tryed to think that you said "in general"or not.But... .Thanks to help me!! 

[mamour]

in France we say"c'est une blague,c'est correct,c'est de ta faute,c'est pour rire...and I don't know if I must say that's or it's

[Thomas]

Well, just remember that if you want to talk about something specific, use "that" and if you want to talk about something in general, use "it."

For example, with "c'est une blague" -- usually you're talking about some specific joke, so it would be "That is/was a joke!" (of course depending on the tense).

[Paeleben]

If I understand right, we use "that" when we allude to a specific context but the word "it" is more general.

When you say : "It's fantastic !", that would mean that the moment you're living now is really nice!

But§ if you say : "That's fantastic", that would mean that a particular thing of this moment you're living is really nice, and so it's evident that you alluded to it before.

If what i sayed is wrong, correct me!

[mamour]

Ok, well I've done some research on this, and it seems to be a difficult question to answer... (I found another confused person here)

But, what I think the answer is in general, can be seen with the following example...

A: "Do you think I should buy a red car?"
B: "It's not a good idea." [without "it" this senctence would be...Buying a red car isn't a good idea]

and then...

A: "Do you think I should buy a red car?"
B: "That's not a good idea."

In the first example, B is saying that buying a red car in general is not a good idea. In the second, B is saying that "A buying a red car" is not a good idea. The difference is that with "that", you are referring to a specific case of something, but with "it", you're just referring to something in general.

Now, for the hard part: those are just the rules in general. Sometimes, they are interchangeable (you can use either one). Sometimes, only one is correct, and not because of the above rules. But hopefully that helps at least a little bit!