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QUESTION 1. "I have improved"

How can I translate into French "I have improved"?

Google Translate gives me "Je me suis amélioré" using "to be" instead of "to have." Is that correct as translation?

QUESTION2. "I have not only improved my skills"

How can I translate into French "I have not only improved my skills.."

Google Translate gives me: "Je ne suis pas seulement amélioré mes compétences" using again "to be" instead of "to have." It doesn't sound right to me. Is that translation correct?

Thank you very much!

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3 Answers 3

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The first sentence needs more context. Does the sentence end there? Or are you trying to say "I have improved..." followed by a noun?

If all you're saying is, "I have improved." in the sense, "I have gotten better," then

"Je me suis amélioré(e)."

is perfectly fine.

The verb "s'améliorer" is reflexive, which is why Google Translate used "être" for the auxiliary in the past tense.

Otherwise, "to improve (something)," or "améliorer (quelque chose)" in French, follows transitive verb rules in French, which means you would use "avoir" as your auxiliary in the past tense.

So if you just use "avoir" in place of "être" in the second sentence that Google Translate provided, it would work fine:

"Je n'ai pas seulement amélioré mes compétences..."

If you're looking for sites that give you more examples and have their own forums, I use WordReference.

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  • Thank you. Yes the first phrase end just there. While the first sentence seemed right to me, since also in italian we use reflexive verb in that way (using to be), the second sentence seemed not right in Google Translate. Now is clear. Thank you!
    – FrancescoMussi
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 7:02
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Q1: Je me suis amélioré is technically correct but I would prefer J'ai fait des progrès which is more idiomatic.

Q2: I would say Je n'ai pas amélioré que mes compétences although compétences might not be the best translation. We do not know what else has been improved. Perhaps Je n'ai pas fait de progrès qu'en technique would better translate that sentence.

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  • J'ai fait beaucoup de progrès, ça marche aussi ?
    – ΥΣΕΡ26328
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 10:24
  • @user26328 Oui, pour I improved a lot
    – jlliagre
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 10:28
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Question 1

The Google translation is correct. Keep in mind that you can't translate word for word a language. so "I have improved in math" would be "Je me suis amélioré en maths"

Question 2

Google isn't correct, you're right. The correct translation is "Je n'ai pas que amélioré mes compétences".

Hope I helped! Use this website for translating (I'm french, but I use this for German): http://www.systranet.com/translate

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  • Pas que amélioré should be pas qu'amélioré.
    – jlliagre
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 21:29
  • @jiliagre both work
    – FlipFloop
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 21:38
  • The former is indeed sometimes heard but is breaking the elision rules.
    – jlliagre
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 22:13

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