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When to use en/dans/à in French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4824 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes  Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 9 of 16 24 October 2011 at 11:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well I can't say that "donne dans la rue" is absolutely wrong, but I have never heard anyone say that and the resources I consulted do not mention such an example. Of course, things may differ depending on the region. For instance, it's become a habit of parisians to say "sur Paris" to mean "à Paris" even though, in my opinion, that's not exactly correct. For instance, "Je suis sur Paris", "Je vais sur Paris". To my ears this is completely wrong and strange and I personally hate when I hear it, but it's become quite usual in certain places. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 10 of 16 25 October 2011 at 8:41am | IP Logged | |||||
That tells me I shouldn't rely too heavily on the grammar if i want to understand spoken French -- Wow, I'd better go pactice my listening comprehension! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5017 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 11 of 16 25 October 2011 at 10:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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Dans la rue sounds more natural to me than sur la rue but if your window is high enough then sur la rue sounds more adequate because the street is so far below that you are not in but over it.
Whatever the high of your building both sur la rue and dans la rue are correct and will be understood. Je suis à Paris - indicates where I am. Je suis sur Paris - would mean Paris is my territory, my playground, my work area,.... However this is how I feel it. Both could be interchanged and the first one is more classical 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 12 of 16 25 October 2011 at 11:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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As long we're all here ;) I found some other pesky verb+preposition combinations. I have only German translations to these and I want to see if my English is right:
J'arrive à -- I succeed at.. Je m'arrive de -- It happens to me that.. commencer à faire qc. -- to start to do s.t. commencer par faire qc. -- to start with s.t. (first) décider de faire qc. -- to decide to do s.t. être décide à faire qc. -- to be decided to do s.t. se décider à faire qc. -- to make up one's mind to do s.t. décider qn. à faire qc. -- to convince someone to do something finir de faire qc. -- to finish doing something finir par faire qc. -- to finish by doing something (last) penser à fair qc. -- to think to do something penser faire qc. -- to have the intention of doing?? Not sure! My book is very unclear about these I understand "venir faire qc" and "venir de fair qc." because there are similar constructions in English. But what about "venir à faire" Is that very different from "venir faire"? okay I think that's it ^^ Edited by Sunja on 25 October 2011 at 2:23pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4824 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 13 of 16 26 October 2011 at 12:21am | IP Logged | |||||
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J'arrive à + infinitif -- I succeed at.. (p. ex. : J'arrive à écrire à l'envers. J'arrive à danser le tango. Tricoter, j'y
arrive assez bien.) IL m'arrive de -- It sometimes happens to me that.. (p. ex. : Il m'arrive de manger toute la boîte de chocolats... Il m'arrive de souper très tard.) finir par faire qqch -- to finally do something (p. ex. Mon travail est terminé : j'ai fini par y arriver. Espèce de paresseux! Va-tu finir par le faire ce ménage?). penser à fairE qqch. -- to think to do something or to think of something to do (Il faut que je pense à faire la vaisselle avant de partir. Je pense à faire des études de droit, mais je ne suis pas sûr.) penser faire qqch -- Penser faire qqch means 1) to imagine oneself doing something, 2) to think of doing something, 3) to be on the point of doing something. Generally it's quite close to penser à faire I would say. (On ne peut penser faire l'omission de cet élément crucial. Il ne faut pas penser faire plus qu'on en est capable.) venir faire qqch = exactly what it says : come do something (Viens faire la vaisselle! Come do the dishes!) venir à faire qqch = to end up doing something (J'en suis venu à faire la vaisselle tout seul. J'en suis venu à choisir la crème glacée aux pommes.) Note about sur/à + name of a city, take a look at this explanation (in french) : http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/bdl.html Edited by Homogenik on 26 October 2011 at 5:05pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5017 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 14 of 16 26 October 2011 at 9:33am | IP Logged | |||||
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Link end up on page without explanation (strange to have br target tag in the link and more so a target= with no right side to the =
I would like to read what they say about sur Paris. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 15 of 16 26 October 2011 at 10:13am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks for the great examples, Homogenik! I'll try to watch for more usage when I'm reading French sous-titres or listening to my audio book. I think once I recognize it in a film I won't have any trouble.
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| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4824 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 16 of 16 26 October 2011 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
oops about the link. Here's what they say on the website (just search "sur Paris") :
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