I need to say: "the first time this was mentioned was on July 12th," and I have written la première fois que le gratin a été mentionné en le 12 juillet. But that translates to "the first time the gratin was mentioned on July 12th." What?
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1Grammatically, that should be « mentionné »– D. Ben KnobleOct 21, 2016 at 3:25
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Think you just need an était in there instead of en.– temporary_user_nameOct 21, 2016 at 3:34
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1Yeah it's for a cookbook.– Vicky1300013Oct 21, 2016 at 6:14
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3 Answers
You could also say: "La première mention date du 12 juillet".
Note that in French, months are not capitalized.
If the sentence is about a "gratin" already mentionned, in english, you replace by this, in french you can replace by "cela".
You cannot translate "this was mentionned on July 12th." by "cela a été mentionné en le 12 juillet." because in french, you talk first about the day. So you have to translate into "mentionné le 12 Juillet."
Moreover, you forgot one verb in your translation : "the first time this was mentioned(1) was(2) on July 12th," => "la première fois que le gratin a été mentionné(1) en le 12 juillet,".
I would then translate
the first time this was mentioned was on July 12th,
into
la première fois que cela a été mentionné était le 12 Juillet,
I would probably use évoquer or aborder here :
Le gratin a été évoqué pour la première fois le 12 juillet.
or if you want to emphasize the date:
Le 12 juillet, le gratin a été évoqué pour la première fois.
