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I couldn't find any translations on WordReference of Google. I know "ceci" means this, but I couldn't find a definition for "fait que". Would the whole phrase mean "this makes"?

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    There is no literal translation. See all the French/English examples here: linguee.fr/francais-anglais/traduction/ceci+fait+que.html
    – marsei
    Jan 20, 2014 at 10:08
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    You should add the context. "Ceci fait que" is not a whole sentence, so it's harder to help you without the context.
    – user757
    Jan 20, 2014 at 17:02

3 Answers 3

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Think of it as meaning "this has the effect that", which is almost a literal translation. "Faire" and "have the effect" have the same origin, and the latter is about the only English verb form I can think of that is related to "faire". (There are lots of English nouns that are related: manufacture ("fait à la main"), feat, etc.

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"Ceci fait que" is an idiom used to connect two statements, explicitly making the one following "ceci/cela fait que" a consequence of the one preceding it, e.g.:

Nous n'avons plus d'argent; ceci fait que nous n'irons pas en vacances cette année.

Which could be translated to:

We no longer have money therefore we won't go on vacation this year.

It is synonymous with "ce qui fait que".

Nous n'avons plus d'argent, ce qui fait que nous n'irons pas en vacances cette année.

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In this particular construction, faire happens to mean, er... "to mean", so the expression translates to this means that, which is a commonplace expression in English.

If you wanted to go REALLY literal, you could translate it as this makes it so that.

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    Je pense qu'il faut aussi préciser que fait que introduit une conséquence, c'est souvent rendu en anglais par this implies, as a result, etc...
    – None
    Jan 20, 2014 at 10:15
  • It's hard to assume "to mean" while there is absolutely no context specified.
    – user757
    Jan 20, 2014 at 16:46

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