Bien means well or good. But in "la condition de l'énoncé est bien nécessaire", bien appears to mean also. So I wonder what is the exact meaning of bien here.
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3English "well" can also be used in a similar way for emphasis, but the usage is generally more restricted than in French and may appear old-fashioned.– xngtngCommented May 17, 2021 at 12:55
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1@svangordon: That is true but it is a colloquial usage; you'd be unlikely to see it in formal writing.– psmearsCommented May 17, 2021 at 22:06
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1@psmears More formal expression also exist - "The flight dynamics of bees are well understood", etc.– J...Commented May 17, 2021 at 22:13
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1@J... Right, but that is grammatically different: there the adverb well is qualifying a verb (in participle form), which is standard English on both sides of the Atlantic; qualifying an adjective it is much more restricted.– psmearsCommented May 17, 2021 at 22:19
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1@psmears Yes, grammatically different, but nevertheless carrying a very similar meaning. Agreed with adjectives it's chiefly informal BrE, but also very much so in some French also (ie: Quebecois - "Mes bottes y'sont ben (bien) maganées", etc).– J...Commented May 17, 2021 at 23:16
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3 Answers
In this sentence, « bien » means “indeed”.
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'Indeed' or 'certainly'
It is the reinforcement of the word it precedes. In the case of a steak 'bien cuit' is well done or well cooked.
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Sounds almost completely analogous to how English people use the word 'well'. 'That's well tasty!' (Americans don't use this often I don't think, apart from a couple examples like "well done")– TKoLCommented May 17, 2021 at 15:21
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Using 'well tasty', 'well hard' etc. is grammatically incorrect and only slang usage (which is fine, but hopefully you wouldn't be using it in a job interview for example - unless you wanted to demonstrate street cred.) 'Bien' - is however proper usage when applied as said. The meaning is different though.– KiowaCommented May 17, 2021 at 15:53
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Well is the adjectival equivalent of good in English. 'Well done' as a commendation or as a description of how your meat has been cooked is also correct usage. It appears to be that you can apply the adjective to a verb ut not to another adjective. Hopefully that is well explained.– KiowaCommented May 17, 2021 at 15:58
I'm pretty sur "bien" in your sentence is a shortened usage of "bel et bien" which means indeed also
