I learned a new word today. what about you ? share it !

  • Initiateur de la discussion Initiateur de la discussion AncienMembre
  • Date de début Date de début
A

AncienMembre

Non connecté
Hi :bizarre:

Today, I've learned that the word "Eventually" does not mean "Eventuellement" as a francophone might think instinctivly ! I'm shocked, beause I've always thought so ! I've always used it as "Eventuellement" god damn it ! lol

It actually means something like "Finally" !

Explanation here :

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/67063/eventually-vs-finally

I wonder how many confusions and misunderstanding I might have caused because of that haha


PS : It's like "Actually" whish does not mean "Actuellement" ... I'll let you investigate about it if you don't know the answer huhu



This is an attempt to resurect our good-old and ill-treated Board in English.
Shamefully thrown away from the Bladi Froms main page :pleurs: And cause i'm bored.
 
PureMinded a dit:
Hi :bizarre:

Today, I've learned that the word "Eventually" does not mean "Eventuellement" as a francophone might think instinctivly ! I'm shocked, beause I've always thought so ! I've always used it as "Eventuellement" god damn it ! lol

It actually means something like "Finally" !

[…]
Cliquez pour agrandir...
I use to do the same mistake for some times, with that “faux ami”.

Just that to me it more means “after that”, “later in the future” than strictly “finally”.
 
Hibou57 a dit:
I use to do the same mistake for some times, with that “faux ami”.

Just that to me it more means “after that”, “later in the future” than strictly “finally”.
Cliquez pour agrandir...

From my understanding of the source I posted along with my message, the accurate translation to French would be "Bien finir par (y arriver)"

Example : He'll make it eventually
 
You know what the "Elephant in the Room" is? ;)

That's something everybody knows but won't (dare to) talk about, even though it is actually relevant to a discussion at hand. So everybody is carefully avoiding the topic everyone is actually really interested in. So why is it called an "elephant"? Because that issue-that-is-not-to-be-talked-about is soooo big that everybody keeps thinking about it so much that it distracts 'em from their usual chit chat.
 
May be a stupid question, but what's the difference between “did you deliver the message” and “have you delivered the message” ?
 
cuty-pie a dit:
There is no stupid question!
Did you is the simple past it describes something that's over
Have /had is the past participle describes a situation that still continues in the present.
Cliquez pour agrandir...

More specifically, something which is still going on or something which has taken place in the same "time unit" (for example this week, this year, since 2010, and so on) so that there is some kind of contact between the past and the present.

Let's suppose I say :

This week I've been working hard.

The present moment is part of this very week, so that the past and the present merge, so to speak.

Or if I say

She has been in England once.

Here we are implicitly reviewing all her life to be able to make this statement, and her current state is obviously part of her life, so there is that contact, that unbroken line between the past and the present.

Of course it is subjective. I decide for myself whether my point of reference is the year, the week, the day, etc. And I would refer to the same past event "in itself", but the grammar would be different.

If I greeted @madalena on Sunday, I could say as I wish :

I said hello to Madalena yesterday.

Or

I've said hello to Madalena this month.

Got it?

@Hibou57 :joueur:
 
Hibou57 a dit:
May be a stupid question, but what's the difference between “did you deliver the message” and “have you delivered the message” ?
Cliquez pour agrandir...

As for your actual exemple, you could well use both and hear both from an English-speaker and maybe this would hardly make a difference to them, above all in a casual talk.

The slight difference could be that the first sentence would better suit a story or a report you are telling whereas the second one could emphasize that the job is done, that you did what you had to, as it was requested. With the present perfect here, you would emphasize a current result or outcome of the past action! That is, you would make it clear that the message is now sent.
 
Ebion a dit:
More specifically, something which is still going on or something which has taken place in the same "time unit" (for example this week, this year, since 2010, and so on) so that there is some kind of contact between the past and the present.

Let's suppose I say :

This week I've been working hard.

The present moment is part of this very week, so that the past and the present merge, so to speak.

Or if I say

She has been in England once.

Here we are implicitly reviewing all her life to be able to make this statement, and her current state is obviously part of her life, so there is that contact, that unbroken line between the past and the present.

Of course it is subjective. I decide for myself whether my point of reference is the year, the week, the day, etc. And I would refer to the same past event "in itself", but the grammar would be different.

If I greeted @madalena on Sunday, I could say as I wish :

I said hello to Madalena yesterday.

Or

I've said hello to Madalena this month.

Got it?

@Hibou57 :joueur:
Cliquez pour agrandir...


salam

tu peux me traduire stp? j'ai rien compris!^^
 
madalena a dit:
salam

tu peux me traduire stp? j'ai rien compris!^^
Cliquez pour agrandir...

Bonjour pure, pieuse & noble Madalena , rayon de soleil de bladi ! :timide:

Ça vaut pas la peine de traduire littéralement, mais j'expliquais simplement comment utiliser un temps grammatical anglais appelé "present perfect" qui n'a pas d'équivalent exact en français et qui tourmente beaucoup les francophones!

Et donc en français on va dire :

J'ai dit bonjour à Madalena hier.
J'ai dit bonjour à Madalena ce mois-ci.

Mais en anglais on n'utilisera pas le même temps de verbe pour traduire cela!
 
Ebion a dit:
Bonjour pure, pieuse & noble Madalena , rayon de soleil de bladi ! :timide:

Ça vaut pas la peine de traduire littéralement, mais j'expliquais simplement comment utiliser un temps grammatical anglais appelé "present perfect" qui n'a pas d'équivalent exact en français et qui tourmente beaucoup les francophones!

Et donc en français on va dire :

J'ai dit bonjour à Madalena hier.
J'ai dit bonjour à Madalena ce mois-ci.

Mais en anglais on n'utilisera pas le même temps de verbe pour traduire cela!
Cliquez pour agrandir...


salam ebion!

ok! merci pour l'explication!^^
 
Ebion a dit:
@tania69 Don't you have anything witty to say? :)
Cliquez pour agrandir...
Hey Ebion ! That's really nice of you to mention me in this part of the forum, to which I've actually never contributed :)

I don't have anything significantly interesting to say here, but I'll try to remember whenever I learn a word or an expression in English. Although there is this one expression that I learned from my former boss and that I like to use when necessary : Too many cooks in the kitchen [spoil the broth]. It means that when too many people get involved in one matter, it only creates confusion and makes people take the wrong decisions. When I generally say it, people understand they need to back off :p

But I'm sure you already knew this one since you're so smart and stuff (and I'm not being ironic haha)
 
tania69 a dit:
Hey Ebion ! That's really nice of you to mention me in this part of the forum, to which I've actually never contributed :)

I don't have anything significantly interesting to say here, but I'll try to remember whenever I learn a word or an expression in English. Although there is this one expression that I learned from my former boss and that I like to use when necessary : Too many cooks in the kitchen [spoil the broth]. It means that when too many people get involved in one matter, it only creates confusion and makes people take the wrong decisions. When I generally say it, people understand they need to back off :p

But I'm sure you already knew this one since you're so smart and stuff (and I'm not being ironic haha)
Cliquez pour agrandir...

Hello,

No I didn't know about that one, but that's nice. :)

You know, I have put in some many efforts in improving my Spanish that my English was left behind, withering away like an unattended flower. So I really need to get back to it!
 
Retour
Haut