French Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the French language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm thinking of phrases like, "Proceed, but with some caution." In this case, however, I want the standalone, "But, with some caution", as if the preceding sentence makes clear what the action should be. So far I have thought of two possibilities.
Mais, avec une certaine prudence.
Mais, avec quelque prudence.
Which would you prefer? Which sounds more natural?
Or would you choose an alternative?
Though mais is not commonly followed by a comma, it is possible to do it to mark a separation of some sort (hesitation, short reflexion, a brief pause to catch the full attention of the person to whom the message is intended). This article from la banque de dépannage linguistique expands a bit more on the matter.
As far as your propositions go, both...
Mais, avec une certaine prudence.
Mais, avec quelque prudence.
...work and sound native.
In a daily context, my natural tendency would probably be:
Mais... prudemment!
Mais, les gens ont différentes approches du vocabulaire !¹
Dropping the adjectives altogether also work (perhaps even more efficiently, since the only concept then invoked is the caution):
Mais, avec prudence.
¹ ...and many, even very different from each other, are equally valid.
We would simply say "mais avec prudence". I would rather translate by "avec précaution" or "en faisant attention".
