I'm on a language website and it gave an example of "le découvert" with the following sentence: As-tu droit à ton compte courant? So it translates to "Do you have an overdraft on your current account," but I was thinking you didn't need droit à, so clearly I'm missing something. Please explain.
asked Jul 17, 2017 at 1:31
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1I would expect something like: As-tu droit à un découvert sur ton compte courant.– jlliagreJul 17, 2017 at 1:41
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2Can you please link to the site where you saw the sentence? As the French sentence stands it isn't right.– NoneJul 17, 2017 at 5:57
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1 Answer
Guessing there's an omission in the sentence you quoted and that it is:
As-tu DROIT À un découvert (sur|avec|pour) ton compte courant?
You're right it can be omitted (only in oral speech) and you can say:
As-tu un découvert sur ton compte courant ?
Which match the English translation you gave.
The "droit à" is implied because you're asking if the person has the right to be overdrawn on an account.
Wordreference translation for "découvert" in the bank account sense is:
découvert nm (dette envers la banque) overdraft n
- J'ai demandé le droit à un découvert à mon banquier.
- I asked my bank manager for an overdraft.
So "an overdraft" literal translation is "droit à un découvert", I assume because "découvert" 'primary' meaning is something not covered.
A variation to ask someone if he/she is overdrawn would use "être" as verb and would give:
Es tu à découvert sur ton compte courant ?
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As you say a guess... it would be better to wait for the OP to give a link to where they've read that. They might also have misread the sentence, copy pasted the wrong lines, or something else. The use of capital letters (À) is just wrong, but you're right to leave it like that since it's what the OP has written.– NoneJul 17, 2017 at 12:09
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@Laure Indeed, there's no need for capitalization in middle of the sentence anyway, bold or underline are better way of emphasizing. I just kept the original form to introduce the answer as it is based on this assumption, I'll delete it if it is a wrong guess. I don't see alternatives interpretation when reading the rest of the question. If there was not the context of the sentence being found under the term "le découvert" I had vote to close as "unclear what you're asking". I don't buy the wrong copy paste but I highly suspect an omission while retyping the exemple. (both position are valid)– TensibaiJul 17, 2017 at 12:16
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Merci bcp. And yeah you were right, I did not write the sentence correctly it should be "as-tu droit à un découvert à ton compte courant" Also I'm using my iPad so I couldn't copy and paste the sentence nor underline or make bold droit à. Therefore when I can't do those two things I make them capital because some people tend to miss what I'm talking about, it's happened in the past. Nonetheless, thanks I believe I understand . Jul 17, 2017 at 14:26
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@NathanielCatchings in markdown italic is made with
_italic_and bold is made with**bold**(so you may use it more easily on your ipad next time :))– TensibaiJul 17, 2017 at 14:31 -
1@PapaPoule Agree a formal wording would need it, the same is true in French, it should be "As tu droit à une autorisation de découvert" et non "As tu droit à un découvert", I stayed in the colloquial register which sounds pretty familiar to me in English or French (the authorization is implicit).– TensibaiJul 17, 2017 at 15:24