9
votes
Accepted
"De ces" instead of "des" when "de" is partitive?
The formulation de ces, where de is partitive, is okay and roughly means "some of these/those".
Straightforward reading
The formulation can indeed sound strange to English ears, since matching the ...
- 19.7k
6
votes
Use of “c’est” with an adjective and plural nouns
Your examples show a way to put the emphasis on a quality or a state (attribute) by moving the subject at the end of a sentence. It is common in spoken French. A comma is generally used.
TLFi
II.− Ce,...
- 154k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between “c'est pour cela” and “c'est pour ça”?
"Ça" can replace "Cela" in all sentences, it means the same thing.
"Ça" is more used in familiar language and "Cela" in formal or literary language.
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6
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Is there a difference between "this" and "that" in French?
Many wrong or partially wrong answers here, and your question is not precise enough. The use of demonstrative pronouns is not easy. Here are my thoughts after I've read the answers, probably not ...
- 3,745
6
votes
Accepted
« Ç'a été » et « Ça a été »
La première phrase est d'un registre familier puisque ça est utilisé pour cela :
Ça a été difficile. (Cela a été difficile, cela fut difficile)
La deuxième phrase est soit d'un registre encore ...
- 154k
5
votes
Accepted
Why not class "ce" as a personal pronoun?
It's partly because of conservatism in traditional grammatical analyses of French, that made a strong distinction between personal and demonstrative pronouns and have roots in the grammatical system ...
- 10k
5
votes
Why would you talk about people as if they were an object (c'est un/une...)?
In this sentence, it is not correct to translate “c'est” by “it is”. The pronoun ce is neutral when it is part of the triptych celui/celle/ce (plural ceux/celles — there is no neutral plural). In this ...
5
votes
Why would you talk about people as if they were an object (c'est un/une...)?
Indeed, it is a richness of our marvelous language :). C' (for Ce) is neutral and you can use it to represent almost everything cited in a preceding sentence (or everyone, Laurent in your case):
C'...
- 1,478
5
votes
The use of the particle “là”
"Là" is an adverb. It's used for time and place.
Ce moment-là : this precise moment, the "là" puts the word "moment" in kind of highlights
Ce niveau-là : same idea, to put attention about "niveau".
...
- 99
4
votes
Why would you talk about people as if they were an object (c'est un/une...)?
I believe it's more complicated than that, and this actually goes to a similar place as the ser/estar distinction of Spanish.
It's not that French "refers to humans the same as it does objects", but ...
- 17.4k
4
votes
Celui-ci / Celui-là / Ceci what's the difference between them?
The meaning is very close between celui-ci and celui-là. In theory, the first one is for things closer than the second one but this nuance is not always respected. We often just favor celui-là because ...
- 154k
3
votes
Accepted
Ce mois-ci / Ce jour-là
Pour autant que je sache, on met systématiquement un tiret entre un mot et ci ou là.
Voir le TLFi
- 15k
3
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between "Ça, c'est ~" and "C'est ~"?
Roughly, you might say that in certain contexts there is no difference and both mean "That is" but that's making abstraction of the finer points that may pertain to a particular context.
A/ Several ...
- 43.6k
3
votes
Accepted
Traduction de « this » dans « We believe that this is the first work that shows how... »
Une autre suggestion :
Nous pensons qu'il s'agit là du premier travail qui montre que...
Travail n'est probablement pas la meilleure traduction de work ici. On trouvera plutôt :
...la première ...
- 154k
3
votes
How can I choose between "ça" & "c’est" to write a sentence?
Ça is “this”, “that” or “it”, c’est could in most cases if not all, be translated as “this is”, “that is” or “it is”:
Ça s’est bien passé → That went well
Ça fonctionne → It works
Ça me fait mal →...
3
votes
Cela, celà, ceux là
En dehors de l'accent grave et de son extrême rareté, rien ne distingue celà de cela.
Certains auteurs mettent un accent par analogie avec voici/voilà (ceci/celà) mais l'Académie l'a toujours ...
- 154k
3
votes
"ce qui sont" ou "ce qui est" devant le pluriel
I would say both of yours alternatives are at least grammatically questionable.
Unlike C'est which can be and is routinely followed by a plural, ce qui is almost exclusively followed by a singular.
...
- 154k
2
votes
Why would you talk about people as if they were an object (c'est un/une...)?
PIE had personal pronouns in the first and second grammatical person, but not the third person, where demonstrative pronouns were used instead. so judge about politeness of a sentence which use ...
- 547
2
votes
Is there a difference between "this" and "that" in French?
La différence entre ceci et cela est une notion de proximité
On emploie de préférence ceci pour désigner quelque chose de proche, et par opposition, cela pour désigner quelque chose de plus éloigné.
...
- 151
2
votes
Accepted
Pourquoi « cet s » ?
Selon "Le nom et le genre des lettres - l'h, le h, un h, une h, un ache - l's, le s, une esse - etc." (LE BLOG DE MAMIEHIOU):
On a coutume aujourd'hui de donner le genre masculin au nom des lettres....
- 2,903
2
votes
Traduction de « this » dans « We believe that this is the first work that shows how... »
A nécessite un antécédent. B : 'ceci' ('this') plutôt que 'cela' ('that'). C : correct mais moins littéral.
- 2,058
2
votes
'à partir de ce moment-là': What grammatical rules are involved here?
À partir de ce moment could either mean from this moment on or from that moment on, since French ce doesn't distinguish between this and that.
To distinguish them, you use ci and là; ce moment-là ...
- 1,112
2
votes
French phonetic transcription to French text
Well, I think you can't theorically automate a conversion from phonetic to actual text because the correspondance between those two writings is not bijective:
For example if your phonetic word is [o], ...
- 2,304
1
vote
Il faut lui ou celui comme antécédent d'un relatif prépositionnel?
Même si on choisit très majoritairement "celui" (plus naturel). Utiliser "lui" n'a rien d'incorrect grammaticalement, "lui" pouvant être remplacé par "mon fils"....
1
vote
Il faut lui ou celui comme antécédent d'un relatif prépositionnel?
Celui dans tous les cas. (Frank)
1 et 3 ne sont pas juste moins naturelles, elles sont incorrectes. (Teleporting Goat)
1
vote
When to use "celui" and its variants (celle, celles, ceux) or "ce"?
In this sentence "ce" is not an adjective but a pronoun; just as "celui" it is a demonstrative pronoun; more precisely it is a neuter demonstrative pronoun (TLFi¹). However, in the ...
- 43.6k
1
vote
"C'est pour" or "Il est pour" followed by an adverbial phrase?
The following deductions stem from an examination of real usage as I remember it.
« Ce » (C') is used when the category involved is what is being characterised. The personal pronoun is used when the ...
- 43.6k
1
vote
How can I choose between "ça" & "c’est" to write a sentence?
A The cedilla under c (ç) is used only when c is before a or u or o and when at the same time the sound of c is not that of k (ça, perçu, Açores), that is when the sound has to be that of double s, as ...
- 43.6k
1
vote
Accepted
Ce n'est pas là
Don't forget to say which part of a sentence confuses you :p Guessing, like Con-gras-tue-les-chiens, that it's là ...
This là is demonstrative in origin, used to indicate "this here" or &...
- 19.7k
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