Questions tagged [emphase]
Mise en valeur d'une partie de la phrase.
25
questions
24
votes
4
answers
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"Je suis petite, moi?", purpose of the "moi"?
In this French kid's book, it says "je suis petite, moi ?"
What does the 'moi' do grammatically? Is it a way to ask the question more informally vs "suis-je petit?" or "est ce que je suis petit?"
15
votes
6
answers
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Difference between “nous autres”, “vous autres”, “eux autres” and “nous”, “vous”, “eux”?
I live in Quebec, and I hear all the time people saying this:
“Nous autres” instead of “nous” I guess
“Vous autres” instead of “vous”
“Eux autres” instead of “eux”
I have some questions:
Is it ...
11
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Expressing "There's no such thing as …" emphatically
All I've found are things such as "(Sujet), ça n'existe pas" or "Il n'y a pas de...", but I find that too simple to convey the whole meaning of the English expression. As a non-native English speaker ...
8
votes
2
answers
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Why don't “des”, “de la”, “du” always become “de” in negative sentences?
I learn French on my own, I do the exercises from "Grammaire-Cours de Civilisation française de la Sorbonne- 350 exercices, Niveau Superieur I".
In that book, there is an exercise as follows
...
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Subject repetition with a pronoun
From the newspaper:
Une proposition de loi – retoquée en 2012 par le Sénat – Cispa a elle été adoptée par la Chambre des représentants en avril.
Can I remove elle from the sentence? If so, what's ...
8
votes
2
answers
306
views
Est-ce que je peux utiliser le gérondif dans une mise en relief?
Est-ce que je peux utiliser le gérondif dans une mise en relief?
Par exemple :
Ce n'est pas en te sentant coupable que tu pourras te soulager.
La forme que j'ai utilisée est ce n'est pas + ...
7
votes
2
answers
878
views
« C'est … que » ou « c'était … que » ?
J'aimerais bien savoir quelle phrase est utilisée par les francophones.
C'est cette fille que j'adorais.
ou
C'était cette fille que j'adorais.
Dans des cas semblables, est-ce que je dois ...
6
votes
4
answers
567
views
How to translate "It's him who I want to give me a massage"?
I know that if I want to say "I want him to give me a massage" in French, I have to instead say "I want that he gives me a massage":
Je veux qu'il donne à moi un massage.
But I'm having trouble ...
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to add emphasis as with “I do” or “I did”?
I know the verb faire means to do or “to make”, but is this the appropriate way of saying simply “I do”? For instance, if someone asks “Do you like it?” and you want to reply “Yes, I do.” Or, “Did you ...
5
votes
4
answers
177
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« Pas » peut-il être utilisé pour exagerer une expression en général ou juste dans ce cas?
J'ai lu dans L'Étranger en parlant d'un homme qui maltraite son chien
«Si c'est pas malheureux!»
Est-ce un dicton seulement ou peut-on utiliser « pas » pour souligner n'importe quoi comme par ...
5
votes
1
answer
4k
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Négation introduite par « pas moins de »
Prenons l'exemple suivant :
L'entreprise a déposé pas moins de 745 brevets cette année.
Est-ce correct ? Ne devrait-on pas plutôt écrire :
L'entreprise n' a pas déposé moins de 745 brevets ...
4
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How to add emphasis as in "I do <verb>"?
At a restaurant today, I was explaining my diet restrictions:
I do eat seafood, but I don't eat any other meat.
Saying this using the word "do" has more emphasis than just saying "I eat seafood, ...
4
votes
2
answers
691
views
How do you emphasize a part of a sentence?
In English, most ways of emphasizing parts of a sentence are based on tone. For example, the sentence "He stole the wallet" could be emphasized in one of four ways:
He stole the wallet — Neutral, no ...
4
votes
1
answer
204
views
“Ça fait de quoi manger !”: Is this an emphatic use of “de quoi”?
Hearing that our client had never tried crab, we had cause to take him out to dinner to give him his first taste of authentic Japanese crab cuisine. He was surprised to learn that with boiled crabs, ...
3
votes
2
answers
625
views
Is "D'où vient que..." a common expression?
My understanding is that this is translated as "How is it that..." which is an extremely common phrasing in English, but typing this into google does not give any auto-suggest results, leading me to ...
3
votes
3
answers
179
views
qui était lui aussi très distant -- how do you understand "lui" as used in this passage?
Quote:
Je comprends mieux maintenant la réaction de son petit
ami qui était lui aussi très distant.
To me, the sentence makes perfect sense without that lui there: who was also very distant. But ...
3
votes
1
answer
134
views
Use of isolated personnel pronoms
Elle ne peut pas aller chercher les enfants à l'école.
Est-ce que tu peux, toi?
What is the purpose of toi at the end of the 2nd sentence? Is this just common, or grammatical necessity, or ...
3
votes
1
answer
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Duplication of subject with 'eux': "Les …, eux, ont …"
I have come across many sentences where the author names the subject, and then emphasizes it with eux, although I would see no need for disambiguation.
Examples:
Ses agresseurs ont, eux, écopé de ...
2
votes
1
answer
175
views
Pourquoi utiliser « elle » après « la France » ?
J'ai remarqué que Hollande utilisait beaucoup cette construction:
La France, elle a toujours (etc.)
quand il utilise la France en début de phrase, dans le moments les plus formels, et plus du tout ...
1
vote
2
answers
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How to say "that many" or "that much" in French as in "It's not that much"?
How to say "that many" or "that much" in French as in
It's not that much
I don't eat that much
There's not that many apples
For "I don't eat that much", would you say
Je ne mange pas à ce point.
...
1
vote
2
answers
67
views
When saying "A comme B", is the focus on A or on B, or are the two parts equally treated?
En amour comme à la guerre, tous les moyens sont bons ! Seule compte la victoire !
This person wants to talk mainly about "en amour"? Or "à la guerre"? Or both equally?
1
vote
1
answer
155
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Is a pronoun needed before the verb if the direct object is "toi-même"?
I was looking at this sentence:
Chaque fois que tu as fait du tort à quelqu’un, tu te faisais du tort à toi-même.
The second bit, tu te faisais du tort à toi-même, I am slightly unsure about the ...
1
vote
2
answers
263
views
How to use "là" for emphasis?
En effet. Il s'agit là d'une simple phase de négociation, pas de « harcèlement ».
I suppose that "là" is placed here for emphasis, like "THAT is merely part of a negotiation process". But I’m not ...
0
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How stupid am I
How can I express the meaning of such sentences which start with "How"?
For example,
"How lucky was I to survive", meaning that I was "so" lucky
or "How stupid am I", when you criticize yourself and ...
0
votes
1
answer
75
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"un début de semblant de ...": Is this an acceptable pleonasm?
Grâce à vos explications, je viens de trouver un début de semblant de solution à mon problème !
Normally, I separately use either of "un début de" or "un semblant de" to express ...