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1500 questions
14
votes
3 answers
One brother and one sister - siblings expressed in French
I have a story, translated from English into French, concerning a brother and his sister, who embark on a series of adventures. In the English original, the word "siblings" is used to refer to just the two people - they are indeed siblings. When I…
Alan
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14
votes
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Is there a French equivalent for "FYI" (for your information)?
I understand that the French translation of "for your information" is "pour votre information", but is the acronym PVI used?
Darren
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14
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4 answers
Pourquoi les néoverbes sont-ils du premier groupe ?
La plupart des néoverbes (néologisme personnel désignant un néologisme verbal) sont du premier groupe, on peut par exemple citer
Faxer, textoter, podcaster (ou son infamous équivalent baladodiffuser), taser, chatter, wikifier…
La langue française…
Evpok
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14
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« Jouer au piano » ou « jouer du piano » ?
Doit-on utiliser du ou au pour la phrase dans le titre de cette question ? Y a-t-il une différence ?
temporary_user_name
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14
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To attend a school, to take a class
Comment peut-on traduire ces phrases en Français?
I attended the University of Michigan from 1997 to 2001.
I took a French class at Alliance Française last month.
Je devine :
Je fréquentais l'Université de Michigan de 1997 à 2001.
J'ai pris une…
Mike M. Lin
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14
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1 answer
Why is the "la chose" replaced by "le" instead of "la" in the following sentence?
Quelle est la seule chose que vous faites en privé qui pourrait vous embarrasser si le public le savait ?
I came across this question on French Quora. Shouldn't the ending be “la savait”, cause “la seule chose” is feminine?
Someone else
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14
votes
7 answers
How do you say "to hell with everything" in French?
Would "au diable tout" work? Or would it be something else?
user21695
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14
votes
5 answers
Is there some sort of French saying for "a person's signature move"?
I don't know why but I just feel like the French would have a saying for something like this, kind of like pièce de résistance but instead of the most prominent or best part of something, a signature or trademark move or aspect of a person's…
jhallard
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14
votes
4 answers
French abbreviation for comparing two items ("vs")
In my app I have a toggle button which simply has "VS" on it, being the abbreviated form of "versus". When clicked, it brings up a comparison of two items. Is there a brief French equivalent which would be understandable in this context?
MSC
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14
votes
1 answer
L'évolution du genre d’ « après-midi »
L'Académie (et le Littré) donnent après-midi comme un substantif féminin, et notent qu'il est parfois considéré comme masculin. Le TLF donne les deux genres (et des exemples de chaque). J'ai l'impression (dure à quantifier) qu'autour de moi, le…
F'x
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14
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3 answers
Pourquoi l'usage de l'esperluette a-t-il disparu ?
On trouve dans la langue française écrite jusqu'aux environs du dix-neuvième siècle la ligature &, appelée esperluette. D'après Wikipédia, elle est aujourd'hui rejetée dans la langue littéraire. Quelle est l'origine de ce changement?
Au passage, un…
Evpok
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14
votes
3 answers
Gender of non-specific antecedent
If a noun hasn't been mentioned yet, how do we know what gender it has?
For example, suppose I make two cups of coffee, and I want to say to someone, "This one is for you," but I haven't mentioned the thing yet, the cup of coffee yet.
Now, a cup of…
dangph
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14
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2 answers
Does 'bon marché' have the same connotation of "low quality" as 'cheap' in English
Somehow bon marché and économique sound positive to me, as some kind of praise. In English cheap has a connotation of not good. It can be used for an expensive thing but not well made. Am I just mistaken in my impression of bon marché, or does it…
farfareast
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14
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Que signifie l'expression « bien mal m'en aura pris » ?
Je ne suis pas sûr de l'exactitude de l'expression.
Peut-être dit-on « mal m'en aura pris » ?
Je la trouve souvent et j'ai seulement une vague idée de sa signification exacte.
SamK
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14
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What does “être cul-cul” mean?
While going through a French forum I came across the expression être cul-cul. As the case may be, the literal translation did not do it for me. Thought that google will have some lookups on this, but did not find a relevant one to point a finger…
Gil
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