I'm wondering how I would say something along the lines of "Okay? What's your point?", if that exists in French.
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5You are not likely to find an interrogation point after "okay" in this context; a comma or (rare) an exclamation point, is usual.– LPHCommented Jan 17, 2021 at 15:05
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4You probably need to add a little bit of context of what the intended meaning is, as depending on intonation and context, this could be "dismissive" (like what you are saying seems to be quite irrelevant) or on the contrary be an actual request for clarification. This could make some translations more or less relevant.– jcaronCommented Jan 18, 2021 at 14:08
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You may want to specify the locale. My guess is that Quebec French, French in France and perhaps other locales have different colloquialisms for something like this.– Flydog57Commented Jan 18, 2021 at 18:00
10 Answers
Some context might help, but here are a couple additional suggestions. During a discussion, you could just say "et ?". For "Okay", you could also use "oui ?", pronounced ouiiiiii. Both should be pronounced as questions, with the tone going up at the end. But the longer suggestions in the other answers are more likely to fit your need.
One could be tempted to translate as "Et alors ?". I did not mention this at first because it would usually correspond to "so what?", but as @Kaiido explains in a comment, if you look and sound interested when you say it (as opposed to bored or dismissive), it can work just fine.
"Et donc ?", as suggested by @Aaron, nicely avoids the connotation of "et alors ?" while specifically asking about the missing "point".
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8I feel "et alors ?" is the most natural equivalent for the whole idiom.– KaiidoCommented Jan 18, 2021 at 0:22
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@Thélée_Lavoie that completly depends on the intonation used. You may make an "Et alors ?" sounds very much interested as in "hurry up, tell me what happens next", and indeed you can also make it sound like a bored "So what?". Still, most of the times I I heard the full "où tu veux en venir" were either from people used to speak in English in their every-day life, or from drama translators. I believe we usually leave it implied.– KaiidoCommented Jan 18, 2021 at 2:37
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@Kaiido I updated my answer to mention this (I had purposefully left it out originally, but changed my mind after reading the discussion). Let me know if you write it as your own answer, I'll drop that paragraph. It seems similar to traktor's answer, but more modern / different region. Commented Jan 18, 2021 at 8:21
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4I feel like using ",et donc?" instead of ", et alors?" is at the same time close enough and different enough to avoid the subtext of "why should I care?" while keeping the meaning of "could you elaborate?". That said I'm not sure this is what OP is looking for, after all "What's your point?" can also be interpreted as dismissal in English.– AaronCommented Jan 18, 2021 at 15:39
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Nice suggestion, @Aaron. Let me know if you put it in your own answer and I'll remove that paragraph. Commented Jan 18, 2021 at 15:52
For a colloquial response you could try
Ben, et puis?
Turning palms upwards at the same time is optional.
This phraseology may be showing my age, particular to France d'outre-mer or be seen as slang. It is, however, how I would have said it in conversation 50 years ago - a native speaker may be better able to confirm its usage and acceptability today.
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2It does sound a bit dated and/or regional, but perfectly idiomatic. I think it is fine today. Commented Jan 18, 2021 at 8:23
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In Québec, that's how we would say it too; the shorter, slang way would be, 'pis? (for et puis). Commented Jan 19, 2021 at 2:32
Okay can be used as is, usually written ok, or can be translated to d'accord. If this ok is skeptical, you can prepend ouais or use Ouais alone:
Ouais, ok...
There is no straight translation to the idiom "what's your point" but here are some suggestions about what could be used in a conversation:
[Ouais, ok, mais] tu veux en venir où ?
...tu veux prouver quoi ?
...qu'est-ce que tu veux dire ?
...qu'est-ce que tu cherches à démontrer ?
...
There are at least three translations of "okay" in this context and they all seem to render this word perfectly.
Eh bien, bon, alors
Eh bien, qu'est-ce que tu cherches à dire ?
Bon, qu'est-ce que tu cherches à dire ?
Alors, qu'est-ce que tu cherches à dire ?
Selon le contexte, généralement on ne comprend pas le sens de ce dit une personne mais ce peut-être parfois plus nuancé. Par exemple une reformulation d'un élément d'une autre réponse :
Et que faut-il/doit-on en conclure ?
Sur Larousse et Collins en ligne, on semble avoir longuement réfléchi aux nuances de traduction de la notion selon qu'elle évoque l'idée/le propos d'un locuteur, la conclusion ou le but/bénéfice, en prenant soin de détailler aussi des locutions.
Not a native speaker. One could say, for instance:
Ok (i.e. okay), tu veux dire quoi ?
Ok, qu'est-ce que tu veux dire ?
Also,
Bon, tu veux en venir où ?
(see Deepl's translations of Okay, what's your point? and What's your point?)
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2"où veux-tu en venir?" or "où est-ce que tu veux en venir?" are more precise. "tu veux en venir où?" places the subject first before the "où" adverb, which is fine when speaking, but unusual. It's a strong direct phrasing, like saying "tu veux quoi?" instead of "que veux-tu?".– UmlinCommented Jan 18, 2021 at 9:52
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1As a native, "OK, tu veux dire quoi ?" was the first that came to mind, but it's not a high level of language.– ofauraxCommented Jan 18, 2021 at 11:18
As it was said in the comments, "what's your point?" may have different meanings. If you are requiring clarification about what has just been said, then I think that a possible translation is "C'est-à-dire?", used as a question.
One person says something unclear, then the other answers with the question "C'est-à-dire?". This is more or less equivalent to "qu'est-ce que tu veux dire?".
I think this can be translated as "Ok, Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire?" because I believe that the true meaning of the question is to get to know what the speaker truly/implicitly means.
I usually use "Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire?" when I need to know more details about what they were saying to me.
I would say: "Ah bon ? Et pourquoi ?" or "Ah bon ? Et quels sont tes arguments ?"
"Ah bon" would be used if you do not really agree with what the person just said but you are opened to discussion. If you think you agree, you could replace it by "D'accord" or "Ok" as in English.
If the intent of the question is "What are you getting at?" I would translate it as
Où voulez-vous en venir?
This is the type of question you would ask if someone has been talking about something or suggesting something without making it explicit what they want to achieve or express with their words.
Incidentally (or perhaps not), Wordhippo translates "Où voulez-vous en venir?" back to "What's your point?" Reverso Context suggests both "What's your point?" and "What are you getting at?" as translations of "Où voulez-vous en venir?" See also Glosbe.