Re: USAGE: English adverbials 'the heck', 'the hell', etc.

I think there is no strict equivalence to "the hell"
in French. "What the hell are you doing" could be
"Qu'est-ce que diable tu es en train de faire ?", but
anyway, not "le diable" neither "l'enfer". More harsh
translations would be "Qu'est-ce que tu fous, bordel
?", or "..., merde ?". These also much more common
(usual pronunciation: Kestüfu)

Older expressions would be "par le diable", "par tous
les diables", "par l'enfer", "enfer [et damnation]",
but that's all completely outdated (or used in a
mocking style).

"The hell with you" = "Va au diable !" (polite :-)
form), (or lit.: "le diable t'emporte !"), "Va te
faire foutre !" (common, harsh expression), "Va te
faire voir !" (the same, but made softer), "Va te
faire voir par les Grecs !" (interesting precision
referring to supposed Greek habits).

"The hell he's marrying my daughter" = "Du diable s'il
épouse ma fille" (rather old and upper-class styled),
"Mon oeil qu'il épouse ma fille" (mid-harsh), "Mon cul
qu'il épouse ma fille !" (harsh). Or "Qu'il épouse ma
fille ? Jamais de la vie !" (soft and correct form).

"Who the hell cares ?" = "Qu'est-ce que ça peut [bien]
faire / fiche / foutre ?" (from softer to harder).
"What's the hell going on ?" = "Qu'est-ce qui se
passe, nom de Dieu ? " (said Harrap's).

I'm not sure to understand "I beat the hell out of
him". If that means that you severely beat somebody,
it could be "je lui ai casse la gueule", "je lui ai
foutu une de ces raclees", "je lui ai fait cracher ses
dents", or many other expressions.

In fact, it seems that we French don't care very much
about hell. We use the word "enfer" to characterize a
terrible situation ("les bouchons sur le periph'",
c'est l'enfer" = "traffic congestion on the ring is
like hell"), or by antiphrase, something great ("j'ai
une peche d'enfer" - e circumflex in "peche" = "I feel
fantastic"). (I wonder what a foreigner could
understand in: I have a peach from hell ? or maybe the
original meaning was I got a hell of a fishing catch
?)

I understand your original question was more about the
presence of the article "the" in the expression "the
hell", well at the moment I cannot think of anything
really similar in French.

--- John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@...> wrote:
> I have been pondering the strange morpho-syntax of
> the class of adverbial
> phrases in colloquial American English involving
> expletive nouns or
> expletive-like nouns which convey a harshly annoyed
> connotation.  Such
> expressions include ‘the hell’, ‘the heck,’ ‘the
> f**k’, etc.
>
> I notice the peculiarly narrow range of
> grammatically acceptable usages.
[snip]
>
> --John Quijada

=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)

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