"Sembler à qqn" to mean something like "want", in "où bon lui semble"

Question

The following are (non-auto-generated) subtitles of a documentary show about people with mental or physical disabilities having difficulties finding employers who are willing to hire them:

Laurent habite seul dans un appartement du quartier Rosemont, à Montréal. Fier de son autonomie, il se déplace où bon lui semble en roulant, et ce, peu importe l'état de la chaussée.

DeepL translates this to:

Laurent lives alone in an apartment in the Rosemont district of Montreal. Proud of his autonomy, he gets around wherever he wants to go by car, regardless of the road conditions.

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Question One:

Out of curiosity, I checked WordReference's page for "sembler", and all of the entries were related to the typical definition you would expect ("to seem"). If I were to try to translate "il se déplace où bon lui semble" using this definition, I would produce someting like: "He moves himself where such location very well seems to him". This seems so far away from "where he wants to go" that I doubt "where he wants to go" comes from "sembler" meaning of "to seem".

I then went to the TLFi page for "sembler", and skimmed the entire page looking for something meaning "to want", but I couldn't find it. Can you point out where in the TFLi page for "sembler", that would help me understand that "où bon lui sembler" means "wherever he wants to go"?

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Question Two:

I found it surprising that "où" was used as a subject (ie, taking "semble" as its verb). A more typical use of "où" that I'm familiar with, is where "où" is an object:

• Voilà l'école où je suis allé.

I tried thinking of a sentence in English where the word "where" is a subject, but none of them sound natural. For example, "There's the school where ruined my life" doesn't make sense, but instead "There's the school that ruined my life" does make sense; and DeepL translates this with "qui" instead of "où": "Il y a l'école qui a ruiné ma vie.".

I'm unfamiliar with "où" being used as a subject. Can you give other example sentences, other than "où bon lui semble", where "où" is used as a subject?

Answer 1

"Où bon < pronom coi > semble" is an idiom. It is also found in a form where the pronoun is replaced by a noun preceded by "à", but it is rather rarely used nowadays.

• (ref. 1958) […] libéralisme restreint par l'obligation de prendre ses blés où bon semble à l'O.N.I.C.

(TLFi) Si/comme/qui/que... bon (me, te...) semble. Si/comme... (quelqu'un) le désire.

The pronouns found in this expression: "me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur".

What follows is an analysable equivalent.

• où il semble que c'est bon à < quelqu'un > (as "quelqu'un" becomes a "coi" pronoun in the original expression, it is placed before "semble" (according to the rule) and "à" disappears.)

• où il < me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur > semble que c'est bon

In conclusion, let's say that "He moves himself where such location very well seems to him", if not good English, still captures the mind of the source language; although the TLFi carries the definition "où < je, tu, il, elle, nous vous, ils > le désire", the definition "où < je, tu, il, elle, nous vous, ils > crois (croit, croyons, etc.) que ça convient (que c'est bon, que ça semble bon, etc.)", is not wrong, and is perhaps, I think, even more accurate.

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• Voilà l'école où je suis allé.

You have to brush up on your French grammar; your assertion that "où" is an object in this particular sentence is rather absurd in the light of your general understanding. "Où" is never a subject, and can mostly be a "complément circonstanciel de lieu" ("adverbial of place" in English).

Projet Voltaire

Où est adverbe de lieu, devenu, par glissement pronom relatif, avec le sens de lequel , laquelle , précédés des prépositions de, par, dans, chez, pour, vers, etc. quand il est précédé d’un antécédent. Il se dit des des êtres inanimés

Voici la maison où (dans laquelle) je suis né.

Où est essentiellement complément circonstanciel de lieu

Puis nous irons ensemble où l’honneur nous appelle.

Mais il peut être aussi complément circonstanciel de temps

C’était l’heure tranquille où les lion vont boire .

Lorsque où sert

─ À interroger sur le lieu où l’on est soit dans une interrogation directe: Où es-tu ? Soit dans une interrogation indirecte : Je ne sais où cela se trouve.
─ À interroger sur le lieu où l’on va soit dans une interrogation directe: Où court-il si vite ? Soit dans une interrogation indirecte : Je me demande où il veut en venir.

Il est adverbe de lieu interrogatif. Il est complément circonstanciel de lieu.

https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-66197.php

https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-4837.php

https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-64872.php

Answer 2

Bon (me, te, lui, etc...) semble must be seen as set phrase where sembler is used as an impersonal verb. This phrase can be modified by an adverb (comme, où, si...). I would say the whole can be considered as an adverbial phrase, no subject to be found here. As an adverbial phrase it modifies the verb déplacer in your sentence.

A few examples:

• J'irai où bon me semble. (wherever I like/ I want to/please)
• Il fait comme bon lui semble. (as he sees fit/as he pleases)
• Nous irons si bon nous semble. (if we want to)
• Tu feras ce que bon te semble. (whatever you see fit, want to) etc.

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Où can be an adverb or a relative pronoun, even as a relative pronoun it cannot be a subject. In your sentence voilà l'école où je suis allé, où is a relative pronoun but it is not an object (it can't be if you ask "where")

Here's a general lesson on relative pronouns beginner level. And on this page you'll additional information on how to use où (and dont). Both pages look good to me.

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You could have found the information in the TLF under: B 1 b α) (− Si/comme/qui/que... bon (me, te...) semble. Si/comme... (quelqu'un) le désire...). But the TLF is not meant for people who study French as a foreign language unless they have already reached a very good grasp o the language (e.g. able to tackle French literature). The wiktionnaire (French version of the wiktionary) is a much better tool, because of a better layout, but chiefly, and although their original content came from the TLF, it is regularly updated (the TLF is a finished work, it will never be updated). For example in this case it gives you comme bon lui semble. And even the wiktionary has got bon lui semble.