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1500 questions
18
votes
4 answers
Stepsister vs. half-sister
How do you differentiate between half-sister (you share one parent) and stepsister (no blood relation)?
I've seen both translated as une demi-sœur.
Mike M. Lin
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18
votes
2 answers
"This side up" sign in French
I need to put a sign of "This side up" in English and French on a few boxes that I need to ship. What would be the most common choice of words for such a sign? Is "Ce côté vers le haut" correct?
Although I do speak some French, doing the right…
yms
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18
votes
8 answers
French for “blood will tell”
In English there is a (not very nice) saying 'blood will tell'; that means something to the effect of
If your ancestors had bad qualities (e.g. Bad personality) then you will probably also inherit these qualities
Is there a French equivalent of…
QCD_IS_GOOD
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18
votes
4 answers
Que veut-on dire par "goudronnait leurs manchettes" dans Cendrillon?
Dans Cendrillon, on peut lire, dans le passage suivant, "goudronnait leurs manchettes". J'ai beau regarder dans plusieurs dictionnaires, tous semblent s'entendre pour dire qu'on parle d'appliquer du goudron. Existe-t-il une autre définition ou…
Drahakar
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18
votes
4 answers
« Tu fais un copier-coller » ou bien « Tu copies-colles » ?
Dernièrement en essayant d'expliquer à mes parents comment faire un copy/paste sur leur PC, je me suis trouvé assez confus sur la façon d'exprimer cette notion.
Bien sûr ils ne comprennent pas l'anglais, donc pas question de parler de copy/paste,…
Charles Menguy
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18
votes
2 answers
What is the difference between “Bises” and “Bisous” when ending a letter?
I've learned that at the end of a letter to a friend it's appropriate to write Bises, (name) or Bisous, (name). e.g. between two female friends writing each other
What is the difference in the usage of “Bises” and “Bisous”?
Is one of them more…
Kaadzia
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18
votes
15 answers
Un mot français pour week-end ?
Je viens de lire un article sur le mot week-end et je me demande s'il existe, ou s'il existait, un mot (peut-être une expression) en français pour week-end. Selon cet article, comme il s'agit de franglais, l'expression est informelle. Comment dit-on…
Beatrix
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18
votes
2 answers
What's the difference between manchot and pingouin?
What is the difference between "manchot" and "pingouin" and are they both translated to English as penguin?
Amelse Etomer
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18
votes
8 answers
Comment appelle-t-on une personne ayant de nombreux talents variés ?
Boris Vian est un écrivain français, poète, parolier, chanteur, critique et musicien de jazz (trompettiste) [...] Il fut aussi ingénieur de l'École centrale (Promotion 42B), inventeur, scénariste, traducteur (anglo-américain), conférencier, acteur…
Evpok
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18
votes
3 answers
How to apologise in French
I was wondering, if one was to hurt somebody accidentally what would be an appropriate way of apologising?
For example if a child were to hit an elder while on their bicycle.
Avisian
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18
votes
7 answers
Lack of phonetic transcriptions in French & Audio Dictionaries with Pronunciations
When I was learning English, every dictionary that I ever came across had a phonetic transcription, so I could easily understand how the word is pronounced. For example, phonetic transcription for the word knee would be [ni:]. I just started to…
jFrenetic
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18
votes
5 answers
“La” or “le” before a person's name?
In certain areas, I've noticed people saying things like “La Suzanne” or “Le Guy”, referring to family members. How widespread is this? I realize it's nonstandard, but are there any rules that govern this use?
Steve Dispensa
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18
votes
3 answers
Comment prononcer les terminaisons archaiques « -oit » ?
Comment prononce-t-on des mots comme pourroit au lieu de pourrait ?
Je vous prie de comparer avec des mots français contemporains ou d'utiliser IPA.
J'ajoute que j'ai rencontré ces formes dans des chansons (par exemple : Dieu, qu'il l'a fait…).
Phira
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17
votes
9 answers
How do you say "slang" in French?
I had thought that the translation for the English word "slang" in French was "argot", but it seems that there is a subtle difference in meaning in that slang tends to be used and/or understood by most of the language speakers, whereas argot is only…
Jez
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17
votes
4 answers
Given the lack of a gender-neutral pronoun in French, how should one refer to somebody of unknown gender?
Is there a specific rule on how you should refer to someone of unknown gender in French? For example, if you were writing a guide on how to do something and you wanted to indicate that the reader should do something, which of the below (or…
Jez
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