Hi
I’ve seen plenty of blog discussions in French on the topic of anglicisms in French.
Are the use of “c’est du soleil”/“il est du soleil” to be avoided in French? Or are they now so commonplace that they are acceptable.
I look forward to your feedback
Sorry, but how would this be an Anglicism? “It is of the sun” or “It is the sun’s” is not an idiomatic English expression.
Yes. No one uses these phrases.
There’s a bit more debate over “il fait du soleil,” versus “il y a du soleil,” but neither of these are crazy wrong.
I was always taught that weather terms in French are either about something actively happening or being done (“Il pleut”, “il fait beau”), or generally descriptive (“Il y’a”).
Somehow, it feels as though using “être” puts the emphasis on the essential qualities of something which isn’t defined by the “Il” in “Il est du soleil”; though quite what’s defined by the “Il” in “Il y’a” isn’t much clearer (implicitly, perhaps “What I can see”).
I think the complaint about it being a Anglicism is that it take an French expression “il fait du soleil,” or “il y a du soleil,” and imposes an English grammar structure on it. Neither “il fait du soleil,” nor “il y a du soleil” translates word-for-word into English. “C’est du soleil” and “il est du soleil” do, but translating directly into good Englsih doesn’t necessarily make something good French. It’s like if someone began insisting that it was wrong to say that clocks run, and the only correct English is to say they “walk,” because the French idiom says so.
Neither of these expressions is used in France. Maybe in some other French-speaking country, I wouldn’t know. They aren’t anglicisms, they’re just non-existent.
Thanks clairobscur. That clears it up for me. As for “Il y a du soleil” vs. “Il fait du soleil”, it seems that the latter is preferred and the former more dated/less preferred/less used.
What do these phrases actually mean, and why would they be avoided?
They all purport to mean “It is sunny” but some of them are just not even wrong.
It’s “il fait soleil” (without “du”). And I can’t see any difference in meaning or use between them.
Thanks clairobscur. That’s what I see in grammar books. I see also discussion on that very topic here. Now I know it sounds odd. Thanks again.
Thank you all.
“I did hear “Il fait du soleil”, but I can’t tell whether this was the expression used before, which went out of use, or it appeared as a mix of two existing expressions. I’d say the latter, though.
If your students use it in France, they run the risk to be told that it’s not “standard” or “correct” French… particularly if it’s written”
The correct version is:
Nous sommes du Soleil. Yes.
This French website does use “Il fait du soleil”. On some websites I see “du” in brackets. “Il fait (du) soleil” as if to suggest that it’s possible to use it but probably not usual.
But “Il y a du vent” seems to be better usage than “Il fait du vent”. Would that be right?
Weirdly I am listening to ‘Harold Land’ as I read this thread.
Off for a swim in a topographic ocean.
Where in the Francophone world have you heard that ?!
Mon travail ici est accompli.
*Adieu Adieu
Soleil cou coupé*
Yes. 
This is what was going through my head, too.