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En seulement une année, elle est devenue le n°1 de l’équipe !

Here I'm looking for a French expression (a commonly used, idiomatic one) to convey the idea of "sich entwickeln" in German. The "sich entwickeln" is more than just a neutral "devenir/become" and close to "blossom into (a star)" or "rise to become (a top player)".

I would say the phrasing above, for lack of a better expression that comes to mind, but it will most likely come across as lacklustre, compared to the idea conveyed by "sich entwickeln".

3 Answers 3

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"Blossom" is close to s'épanouir and "rise to become" might be translated by s'imposer or s'affirmer giving:

En une année seulement, elle s'est épanouie et [s'est] imposée (or affirmée) comme numéro un de l'équipe.

Here is a quote from France Football using both of these expressions:

Angleterre : Hugo Lloris, un gardien épanoui à Tottenham
Au fil des saisons, Hugo Lloris s'est imposé comme un des meilleurs gardiens de Premier League.

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  • Is this phrasing fit for colloquial use? Jul 7, 2018 at 9:32
  • S'épanouir and s'imposer can be used in any context, s'affirmer is more formal.
    – jlliagre
    Jul 7, 2018 at 10:12
  • I believe that "s'imposer comme" is the best way to translate what the OP is looking for and is enough per se. I don't think you need to add "s'est épanouie et ..." before ("blossom into" was just an example) as it makes the whole expression a bit clumsy (IMO), especially if you compare it with the sole verb "sich entwickeln".
    – xhienne
    Jul 7, 2018 at 12:03
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A common idiomatic phrasing you may consider is “se hisser au premier rang”, although “s'affirmer” probably has better-matched connotations relating to self-development.

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J'aurais employé l'expression "gagner ses galons" :

En seulement une année, elle aura gagné ses galons au sein de l'équipe [pour en devenir le numéro 1].

Je mets une partie la phrase entre crochet qui bien que pas nécessaire pour faire passer l'idée apporte quand-même une précision supplémentaire...

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