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Re: French

From:nicole perrin <nicole.perrin@...>
Date:Tuesday, October 26, 1999, 23:51
Axiem wrote:
>=20 > Well... >=20 > > I'm going to suggest > > > > Que votre langue soit ici > > * your language be-3S-sbj here > > "let your language be here" > > >=20 > Sounds good.. >=20 > > , based on a shaky memory that the Antoinette jussive ("let them eat > > cake") was done with the subjunctive (in this case, "soit"). But I'm > > not 100% sure of it, which is why I'm posting it generally.... > > >=20 > IIRC, subjunctive only appears in written French, not spoken (except > quoting)..but then, this was some 500? years ago, so I'm sure the langu=
age has
> changed.. >=20 > > Alternatively, you could do > > > > Votre langue doit =EAtre ici > > ought/deserves be > > "your language ought to be here" > > >=20 > If memory serves me right, doit, which I believe is a conjugation of de=
voir
> means more along the lines has/have to Like 'Je doit ecrire l'assignmen=
t' (I
> have to write the assignment..and that's probably the wrong conjs)..so =
IMO,
> you're saying 'Your language has to be here'. But then again, our teach=
er
> hasn't done devoir yet, so I may be totally off base here.. >=20 > And actually, I would say 'Votre langue peut aller ici' (your language =
can go
> here) or 'Votre langue peut e^tre ici' (Your language can be here) >=20 > But then again, I am only an egg ^_^
I would say Votre langue devait =EAtre ici Your language should be here or Votre langue pouvait =EAtre ici Your language could be here <looks to native French-speakers for approval>Come on guys, I know there's more than one of you out there, why aren't you helping us beginners out here? And by the way, I never learned that the subjunctive was only used in the written language. They make us practice all the time, things like, "Je veux que tu m'attendes", or is that wrong/not done?
>=20 > Though I find the hardest thing about this shirt idea is that 'Your lan=
guage
> goes here' is an idiom meaning along the lines of 'There is the possibi=
lity of
> your language existing in this place' or 'Your language can/could exist=
/be
> here' not a very easy thing to translate..
I agree. Although it's good in a way because different languages can vary it depending on their idiom structure. Nicole