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Need French help, preferably from native | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| 4nLV Newbie United States Joined 3890 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 14 05 April 2014 at 3:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Two students are talking about exams.
Student 1: "Moi, je n'ai pas eu mon exam d'histoire-geo donc j'ai dû le repasser" Student 2: "Je pense que cette année le BAC est super difficile. J'espère que je vais l'avoir, car j'ai vraiment envie d'aller à la fac." Student 1: "Moi aussi" Student 2: "Est-ce que tu as entendu parler de cette fille qui l'a passé trois fois et qui ne l'a jamais eu?" I understand that the two students talk about wanting to pass an exam to avoid taking it again, but the way "eu" and "avoir" are used really confuses me. The phrase "a passé trois fois et qui ne l'a jamais eu" especially doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Directly translated to English, it means "had spent three times and who had never had it" and I really don't understand what it's supposed to mean. Could someone help explain to me exactly what this conversation translates to and what it means? I think there may be some cultural reference that I am not aware of. Edited by 4nLV on 05 April 2014 at 3:27am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 14 05 April 2014 at 4:11am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not a native, but I'll try my best. :-)
Passer un examen, in this context, means to "take an exam" or to "sit an exam." And unless I'm horribly mistaken, avoir in this context means to pass the Bac. (You'll also hear reussir mon bac.) So I'd translate this as follows:
Edited by emk on 05 April 2014 at 4:12am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6062 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 3 of 14 05 April 2014 at 4:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I can answer you in a most definitive way, since I also had this "malentendu" in the past.
In Portuguese, as in English, "to pass an exam" means to sit through it AND succeed. In French, it means just the first part. I've worked in French for a number of years, which means I know many expressions, but there's always something new, right? Once, I was talking about an exam someone was about to take, and my conterpart asked me "est-ce qu'il l'a déjà passé?" For me, that made no sense: if he had passed it already, why would he take it again? We had to talk for a while to clarify the problem (you know how these things go). I hope it's clear to you now. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FELlX Diglot Groupie France Joined 4771 days ago 94 posts - 149 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 4 of 14 05 April 2014 at 11:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Passer un examen generally means to "take/sit an exam" as emk said. However, avoir passé un examen may directly translate to "pass an exam".
Avoir passé le Bac, avoir passé le permis... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| glodalica Triglot Newbie Croatia Joined 4061 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: Croatian*, EnglishC2, French | Message 5 of 14 07 April 2014 at 3:28am | IP Logged | ||
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could i also ask for a little help with french, in order not to open a whole another thread? i speak and write french quite well, but those little expressions and nuances give me headaches sometimes :)
the phrase "point de vue sur..": i understand it in a context such as "le point de vue sur la ville de paris est magnifique du sommet de la tour eiffel", but, let's say that i'm on an island A, from which i have a really nice view on another island, B, opposite (en face) of the one i'm currently on. if i say "le point de vue sur l'ile de B" - isn't it ambiguous or even incorrect; as it would mean that i'm on the island B, on some spot where i have a nice view? what would be correct and precise? could i say, for example, "le point de vue qui donne sur l'ile de B", or "le point de vue donnant sur l'ile de B", or...? thanks for your help. merci beaucoup :) Edited by glodalica on 07 April 2014 at 9:58am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5018 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 6 of 14 07 April 2014 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
Il y a un joli point de vue sur l'île A depuis l'île B. Il y a une jolie vue sur l'île A depuis l'île B. Else context should help to determine if you are at the spot or if you have a view on it. Without context it could be ambigous but not incorrect. Ceci est mon point de vue sur la question. Les Français ont un point de vue sur tout et aiment le partager. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| glodalica Triglot Newbie Croatia Joined 4061 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: Croatian*, EnglishC2, French | Message 7 of 14 07 April 2014 at 11:09am | IP Logged | ||
hmm, if i understand it correctly: the quoted sentence would mean that i'm on the island B ? "depuis" is here a preposition meaning "from", and not an adverb (more common usage i believe) meaning "since"... those are exactly the nuances that struggle me and make french language so precise :) as for the exact context, here: 
the image title is "point de vue sur l'ile de lastovo" -- lastovo is that island en face. i consider it wrong, as the title would suggest that the image was taken -on- the island of lastovo. for the title, "depuis" doesn't work, if the name of the island where image was taken isn't mentioned; so the most natural thing to say, for me, is "point de vue qui donne / donnant sur l'ile de lastovo", or is there something more precise? thank you for your comment :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| akkadboy Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5409 days ago 264 posts - 497 votes Speaks: French*, English, Yiddish Studies: Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Welsh | Message 8 of 14 07 April 2014 at 11:47am | IP Logged | ||
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I'd say as Michel1020.
"Point de vue sur A" = I'm looking at A "Point de vue depuis A" = I'm standing at A 1 person has voted this message useful |
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