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If someone asks you to confirm if a book is written in Spanish, and you want to respond by saying "Yes, the book is indeed written in Spanish", is it valid to say "Oui, le livre est bien écrit en espganol."

I am asking in the context of casual conversation. Does "est bien" adequately communicate the meaning of the word "indeed"? Is it a good translation?

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  • Yes but it's not "est bien" that means "indeed", it's just "bien" in this case. "Est bien" is "is indeed", as you wrote in your sentence. And it only works for such case, you couldn't say "Bien !" just to mean "Indeed!" for example.
    – Destal
    Jan 2, 2020 at 9:17
  • I often use "en effet" or "en fait" depending on the context. I use "en fait" when there is a doubt about the affirmation and "en effet" when we agree. ;)
    – jcm69
    Jan 2, 2020 at 21:45

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As a native french speaker I can say yes, the translation seems proper.

"En effet" or "effectivement" could be used as synonyms to the "est bien" locution meant as a translation of "indeed", though "est bien" seems to be the more appropriate one in that specific situation.

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  • Could it not be taken to mean: "Yes, the book is well-written in Spanish."
    – Patrick Sebastien
    Dec 30, 2019 at 16:13
  • No, even in english that sentence is a bit weird. You can say that a book is well written/bien écrit, but you wouldn't add "in Spanish" afterward. Given the context, the sentence wouldn't be misunderstood.
    – Vale
    Dec 30, 2019 at 16:21
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The translation "est bien" does not seem strong enough for me. I would rather use "réellement" or "véritablement", much stronger.

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