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Si je disais «c'est la meilleure étudiante de la classe», est-ce que cela impliquerait que cette étudiante est supérieure à tous les étudiants de la classe quel que soit leur sexe ou seulement supérieure aux autres étudiantes de la classe?
Egalement, si je disais «c'est la première élève à arriver», est-ce que cela impliquerait qu'il n'y avait pas de garçons qui soient arrivés avant?
I would say that "class" can mean (1) one session in which lessons are given to a limited group of students, (2) a series of related sessions forming a course of study for which you typically get graded or pass or fail, or (3) a cohort of students expecting to graduate from a school at the same time and so representing the same years of expected study. In my example, the second or third meanings make sense. I am not clear on all the French usages and may post a separate question about that.
1. Aujourd'hui, il n'y avait que quinze élèves dans la classe. 2. J'ai décidé de suivre un cours de Français. 3. Cet an, le nombre de la classe de conscrits a surpassé nos expectations. Does that make sense? Again, I intend to spell it out in a separate question, since in English you could use "class" in all three sentences.
I just realized that in the English sentence: "She is the best student in the class", there is no gender clash at all. Does the English mean: "cette étudiante est supérieure à tous les étudiants de la classe quel que soit leur sexe"? Yes, it does. And it's nothing to do with gender.
Typically, talking about a group, if a woman or girl is the best in the group. that doesn't mean the group (like a class) does not include men or boys. So, the question is not about the French language at all, really.
@Vegawatcher Cet an, le nombre de la classe de conscrits a surpassé nos expectations → Cette année, le nombre d'inscrits à ce cours a dépassé nos attentes.
We do not say that much meilleur(e) étudiant(e) de la classe (and never when referring to secondary school and lower levels students). We rather say meilleur(e) élève de la classe, whatever the level.
Depending on the reader, their age and their bias, the sentence C'est la meilleure étudiante de la classe will be understood to include or exclude male students from the ranking.
Here is a rare case from a reality TV program where the best male student and the best female student of a single class1 are distinguished:
Le meilleur et la meilleure élève repartiront avec un séjour linguistique.
A very similar debate has been discussed several times in the French Assemblée nationale.
Note that I disagree with what is stated here, but anyway, it shows that the problem exists.
What would be say to avoid ambiguity is:
Le meilleur élève de la classe, c'est elle.
or, to avoid the gender mismatch:
L'élève ayant les meilleurs résultats de la classe, c'est elle.
C'est la première à arriver.
is indeed ambiguous. We'd rather say
C'est elle qui est arrivée en premier.
1It can be argued that while the class includes both boys and girls, the program represents a school as it was in the 1950s but in those days, boys and girls schools were separate institutions, even more when they were boarding schools like here.
Une petite chose: si quelqu'un est le meilleur/la meilleure dans un groupe, gouvernement, classe ou autre catégorie, peu importe la composition du groupe pour faire la phrase, n'est-ce pas? Il s'agirait de tous les membres du groupe en question, n'est-ce pas?
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