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whether (e.g. que vous parliez francais ou anglais, je ne vous comprends toujours pas. Whether you speak French or English, I still don’t understand you. |
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Tout + adjective + subjunctive |
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however + adjective + may be. (e.g. toute irritante soit-elle, elle est quand meme ma soeur, i.e. however irritating she may be, she’s my brother all the same. Or: Toute irritante ma soeur soit-elle, elle est parfois sympa i.e. however irritating my sister may be, she is sometimes nice. Note, the agreements, and in this second example, the word order!) |
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Si + adjective + subjunctive |
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however + adjective + may be |
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whatever… may be (e.g. quelles que soient les raisons, i.e. whatever the reasons may be) |
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whatever (e.g. quoi que vous fassiez i.e. whatever you (may) do) [note quell que needs a noun for the ‘whatever’ expression, which is why quel must agree, whereas you use quoi que if there’s no noun involved] |
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not that (e.g. non que je veuille te critiquer i.e. not that I want to criticise you…) |
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wherever… (e.g. ou que tu ailles i.e. wherever you go.) |
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whoever … (e.g. qui qu’il soit i.e. whoever he may be) |
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you only have to. Eg : pour peu que l’on y reflechisse un peu, on comprend vite que… i.e. you only have to reflect on it a little, and one quickly understands that [note the English translation needs the ‘and’; the French doesn’t need that ‘and’] |
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now… now…or by turns… eg : now angry, now calm, or by turns angry and calm, he… |
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in no way/in no way. i.e. in no way compassionate, in no way sympathetic, Baudelaire is on the contrary, indifferent and selfish. Note the nice binaries there…) |
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… to have as a goal to… i.e. plus an infinitive |
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Se donner pour objectif de… |
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to give oneself the objective of… plus infinitive |
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Visant a faire quelque chose…. |
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Aiming to do something,… (Good to start a sentence with. Eg : Wanting to convince us that the world is flat, the author recounts that he fell into the abyss yesterday. |
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on the one hand, on the other |
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X doesn’t delay in + infinitive (eg : claiming, saying, adding that…) This is not as pretentious as it sounds in English. i.e. first of all the author says that… but he swiftly adds that |
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what is more [note this is NOT followed by a que] |
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what is worse (not followed by a que) |
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what is better (not followed by a que) |
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Demander a quelqu’un de faire quelque chose |
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to ask someone to do something |
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Permettre a quelqu’un de faire quelque chose |
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to permit someone to do something |
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Promettre a quelqu’un de faire quelque chose |
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to promise someone to do something |
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Interdire a quelqu’un de faire quelque chose |
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to prevent someone from doing something (one of two answers) |
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Empecher quelqu’un de faire quelque chose |
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to prevent someone from doing something (one of two answers) |
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Essayer de faire quelque chose |
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to amuse oneself [in/by] doing something |
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Se consacrer a quelque chose |
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to devote oneself to something |
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Ressembler a quelque chose |
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to resemble something/somebody |
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Obliger quelqu’un a faire quelque chose |
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to oblige someone to do something |
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Aider quelqu’un a faire quelque chose |
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to help someone to do something |
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