17
votes
How do you say “My home isn’t really a home, it’s more like a house.”
It's difficult to stay close to the English so I would translate that sentence that way:
Là où j'habite, c'est rien de plus qu'un logement.
or
Là où j'habite, c'est une maison sans âme.
Depending ...
- 146k
13
votes
Beau vs Bel when noun is not directly after
Google NGrams only find occurrences of bel et when the noun starts with a vowel and only occurrences of beau et when it starts with a consonant:
Note: adgencement is the 16th century spelling:
...
- 146k
11
votes
"Used to" in French?
You don't have to add "avant " every time, if you just use the "imparfait" tense, it will be enough in most situations. If needed, you can add an adverb to make your statement clearer, but it is not ...
- 17.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Why "fera progresser" and not "progressera"?
Progresser est un verbe intransitif. Il ne prend pas de complément. « … *qui progressera l'humanité » n'est pas du français.
Séparons les propositions pour simplifier l'analyse.
L’intelligence ...
10
votes
Accepted
How do you say “Me slapping him.” in French?
I'd suggest:
— Tu penses à quoi là ?
— À moi qui le gifle. Pourquoi ?
Moi le gifle breaks grammar, should be moi, le giflant.
Moi en étant en train de le gifler is almost correct, should be moi ...
- 146k
9
votes
Accepted
Comment dire l'expression anglaise « Who wouldn’t? » en français ?
No, "Qui ne l'aurait pas ?" is not appropriate here. As a native French speaker it took me some time to understand that sentence. It is true that in the locution "avoir besoin" uses the verb "avoir", ...
- 3,113
9
votes
Accepted
How to say “I, John Smith, promise that …” ?
If you are writing an affidavit for a visa or something like that, one could write
Je soussigné, Michel Dupont, né le 18 juin 1940 à
Townsend (Royaume-Uni), m'engage à n'exercer aucune
...
- 1,515
9
votes
Accepted
Writing complex date recurrence in French
Because of some points you cannot keep these translations. Here are several clues to correct them, knowing that they have to be generated. Toto has given best answers for the specific cases you ...
- 361
9
votes
Accepted
"On le voit voudrait garder" : signification
The sentence as it is does not make much sense. My assumption would be that a comma is missing after voit:
Notre livre, on le voit, voudrait garder le contact avec la réalité linguistique.
On le ...
- 17.2k
8
votes
Accepted
"Comment tu t'appelles" versus "Vous vous appelez comment"
There are two differences between the proposed constructions:
Using tu or vous
I suppose this is not the problem and won't even stop on this. If this is a problem, I suppose a separate question ...
- 4,475
8
votes
How to construct not-joke in french?
Ou pas is idiomatic but leaves some uncertainty not present in the English "Not!"
An alternative expression can be Eh bien non ! often simplified in spoken French to Eh ben non ! or Et ben non !
...
- 146k
8
votes
How do you say “Me slapping him.” in French?
Pas nécessairement au visagea :
— [À quoi tu penses ?]
—
À le claquer.1
À lui donner/mettre une claque.2
À lui en claquer/mettre une.
— [Qu'est-ce que tu imagines ?]
—
Je m'imagine (en train de) ...
- 1,407
7
votes
Accepted
How to express "just because ... doesn't mean ..." in colloquial French ?
Tout à fait correct ! A et B signifient la même choses dans les deux phrases retenues.
Dans les phrases A, proches du mot à mot, le mais est superflu : c'est un mais de défense que je ne détecte pas ...
- 23.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Understanding "C’était le poil qu’il avait de plus beau"
Maybe you'll find the question–answer version easier to understand:
Qu'est-ce qu'il a de plus beau?
C'est le poil !
To formulate an affirmative sentence directly (without the question being asked) ...
- 30.3k
7
votes
Accepted
The meaning of "pierres toutes plus belles les unes que les autres"
No, it just means the stones are very pretty.
The expression tou(te)s plus X les un(e)s que les autres is just another way to say très X. The literal meaning is kind of a contradiction — in your ...
- 6,693
7
votes
Why does Flaubert use “prendre dans”?
If I can hazard a guess, it's English's bias towards specificity in preposition choice that prompted your question. It's also what makes it somewhat irrelevant.
In French,
You don't always need to ...
- 3,351
6
votes
How stupid am I
Comme / Que je suis stupide !
Comme / Que j'ai de la chance d'avoir survécu !
Informal:
Qu'est-ce que je suis stupide !
Qu'est-ce que j'ai de la chance d'avoir survécu !
- 4,628
6
votes
Accepted
Can someone help me understand "Ainsi, plus l'attaque ennemie est puissante, plus la contre-attaque l'est également."
L'attaque = the attack
L'attaque ennemie = the enemy's attack
L'attaque ennemie est puissante = the enemy's attack is powerful
Plus l'attaque ennemie est puissante, = the more powerful the enemy's ...
- 6,693
6
votes
Accepted
What is the French equivalent of the sentence construction "Do X, and Y will happen"?
You can use the same construction in French. But it requires an imperative.
Regarde ton téléphone dans le train rien qu’une minute, et tu ne manqueras pas de souffrir du mal des transports.
Like ...
6
votes
What's the structure of "ne t'en fais pas"?
This is a wholly idiomatic expression, meaning the structure is not really analyzable.
In his answer, dimitris made a good effort in analyzing en as a pronoun replacing de + noun phrase. That is ...
- 19.2k
6
votes
How do you say “The boys are unrelated.”?
a and b mean the same, there is no difference.
d is understood but not really idiomatic - a and b are better, using "avoir un lien de parenté"
c is ambiguous: depending on the context, it ...
- 17.2k
5
votes
How to say “I, John Smith, promise that …” ?
An informal way to express this is:
Moi, John Smith, (je) vous promets que …
The formal way (in written correspondance) is:
Je soussigné, John Smith, promets que …
Meaning, literally, that ...
- 30.3k
5
votes
How stupid am I
In an informal setting, I assume most French people would say:
Mais qu'est-ce que je suis con !
- 161
5
votes
The meaning and etymology of "histoire de" / "histoire que"?
From personal experience of French, “histoire de” is a shortcut relaxed/informal style for the English “just to”. It conveys the idea of derision (la route est longue, mangeons des bonbons, histoire ...
- 51
5
votes
"Comment tu t'appelles" versus "Vous vous appelez comment"
"Comment tu t'appelles ?", along with "Comment vous vous appelez ?" are technically and grammatically incorrect, although they are commonly used in current, spoken French (something that was mentioned ...
- 2,274
5
votes
Accepted
Expression « se faire licencier »
se faire + verbe à l'infinitif n'exprime pas de volonté mais s'utilise pour une action que l'on subit (qu'elle soit voulue ou pas ne change rien). C'est une construction passive (ce n'est pas le sujet ...
- 5,575
5
votes
Accepted
« J'ai migré » ou « j'ai fait migrer un site » ?
It doesn't mean the same thing.
J'ai fait laver le linge
It means you didn't wash it, but you got someone to do it for you.
J'ai lavé le linge
It means you washed it yourself.
So it really ...
- 5,951
5
votes
Writing complex date recurrence in French
There are different ways to say it but depending on the context, some will fit better than others. I wrote some ways here below.
The first sentence:
Chaque quatrième vendredi du mois. (Each fourth ...
- 286
5
votes
Accepted
Using the restrictive « ne ... que » construction to emphasise a degree/extent
In general this is not a very common construction in everyday French, it is rather literary.
Ne le savoir que trop (bien is optional and not very common) is an exception, it's a bit of an idiom. The ...
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