It is a well-known fact that translating literally from language to language (particularly where the grammar differs considerably) can result in incorrect, perplexing and at times entertaining renderings of phrases. Type the idiomatic expression ‘When pigs fly’ into Google translate, and you will get something like ‘Quand les cochons volent’. The latter is not an idiomatic expression in French, but a literal statement of a pig suddenly becoming airborne (perhaps by spontaneously sprouting wings). The correct way of rendering this expression in French is ‘Quand les poules auront des dents’ (literally, ‘When chickens have teeth’). So, you could say, ‘Les bébés arrêteront de pleurer quand les poules auront des dents.’

A simple sentence like ‘He walks quickly’ can be translated literally as ‘Il marche vite’, but the similarity is more incidental than rule-based. The sentence structure for expressing this idea just happens to be the same in both languages. Things start getting tricky when we deal with words and expressions that don’t linearly translate across languages.

Let’s take the verb ‘to break’. You are probably most familiar with it being translated as ‘casser’ in French. But what happens when we want it to mean other things? In other words, what happens when we need to convey a different sense of the word? Look at each of the examples below and note how the verb changes with each meaning in French, while being maintained in English:

break one’s leg – se casser la jambe (sense: literally split an object into pieces forcefully, as with a physical blow)

[see the end of this article for a brief note on why se casser is used instead of just casser]

break the law – enfreindre la loi (sense: contravene, refuse to comply with, go against)

break the news – révéler la nouvelle (sense: reveal details about something)

break the record – battre le record (sense: supersede, surpass, do better than, perform better than)

break someone’s spirit – briser l’esprit de quelqu’un (sense: depress, sadden, distress, trouble, cause to feel anguish about something)

It is the sense that we are really trying to translate, and it is that to which we must pay attention. Using the verb casser in every expression above, for instance, would result in meaninglessness because the connotation (or sense) of the verb is a physical change caused by a violent stimulus. You can’t casser la loi or casser la nouvelle (unless of course la nouvelle is written on a clay tablet). Each verb in turn could also be used in different senses. For example, battre can also mean ‘to beat, strike, hit’ (e.g. Il a battu la chienne avec sa canne).

Another reason literal translation doesn’t always work is subject-verb-object order. In English, the syntax is SVO (subject-verb-object), e.g. ‘He is waiting for you’. In French, however, objects appear before the verb, making the order more akin to SOV. If we translate ‘He is waiting for you’, we get Il vous attend (and not Il attend vous). Il = subject, vous = object, and attend = verb attached to ‘il’. An easy mistake to make here is to conjugate ‘attendre’ according to ‘vous’ (i.e. Il vous attendez). This would be incorrect as the verb is attached to the subject ‘il’, and must therefore be conjugated that way. (Think about it like this: Who is doing the waiting? They own the verb, conjugation-wise).

The mistake becomes even more pronounced when we put the sentence in the passé composé: Il vous a attendu. Again, the object clings to the subject and is placed before both the auxiliary verb (a – avoir) and the past participle of the main verb (attendu – attendre). The temptation may be to write Il vous avez attendu.

Look at this pair of sentences: Ils m’ont attendu | Ils m’a attendu. Which one is right and why? What is your reasoning for choosing that one?

A note on ‘casser‘ vs. ‘se casser’

In French, actions that are performed on oneself by oneself are denoted using reflexive verbs, which are marked by reflexive pronouns (‘se’ is a reflexive pronoun).

Reflexive verbs are not marked in English, which can make it difficult to know when they are required in French. While reflexive pronouns do exist (myself, yourself, himself, etc.), they are often used in different ways to French. While saying ‘I wash myself‘ is perfectly acceptable, it sounds outdated, but in French it is the correct way to express the action (‘Je me lave’). ‘Je lave’ would imply washing something (or someone) else, as in, Je lave la salade avant de manger.

More details and nuances on this topic will be covered in a future post.