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Term:

by Voran (DE/GB), 2012-01-10, 07:51  Spam?  ...

Bonjour,

j'ai essayé de traduire la phrase "La réponse est-elle à la hauteur des enjeux?" mais ma traduction ne me satisfait pas:  "Is the answer up to the stakes?"  La phrase est la derniere du paragraphe suivant:

Ameliorer les comptes public en reduisant les mutliples dispositifs dérogean tà la norme des impôts, telle est l'ambition du projet de loi de finance presenté le 29 Septembre.  La réponse est-elle à la hauteur des enjeux?

Aussi, j'ai besoin pour traduire la phrase suivante:  "..., en contrepartie d'une augmentation de la tranche supérieure de l'impôt sur le revenue d'une hausse de la taxation des plus values mobilières et immobilères".

Je suggère la traduction suivante:

"..., in return for a upper bracket tax increase on income and a taxation rise on the most valued movable properties and real estate businesses”.                                          

Merci en avance pour vos idées!

Bien cordialement,

Voran

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2012-01-17, 04:07  Spam?  ...

Pour la première, je dirais : < Is THIS answer up....>>>
or :< Does this answer fall short of what is expected ?>
or :< Does this answer address the challenges presented ?>

Now, for the second  "..., in addition to a tax increase on the higher income families/upper bracket incomes, also a taxation rise on capital gains on movable and immovable properties. "

Ce ne sont que quelques suggestions effectuées en 10 minutes environ,
à prendre au sérieux, néanmoins !!! :-)

Bien à vous,

Matthieu

Term:

anonymous, 2012-01-05, 14:27  Spam?  90.209.49....

Salut! Does anyone know where I can download a French-English dictionary application/toolbar for general internet browsing? I have a Russian-English one, whereby if you hover the mouse over any word an English translation pops up. Is there anything similar for French?

Thank you in advance!

Chat:    

by romain (FR), 2012-01-24, 14:33  Spam?  ...

If you set French as your default language in Chrome then it will offer to translate any page you will be viewing in any language not listed in your list of languages. Other than that, I believe wordreference.com still has a dictionary toolbar you can enable in any browser.

Term:

by GermanFrank (DE), 2011-12-25, 20:34  Spam?  ...

At the beginning of NCIS (TV) "Gibbs" frequently says "grab your gear".
"to grab one's gear" is not yet listed on dict.cc.
What is the exact meaning? Is it more or less equivalent to
"Get you ass in gear!"
or
"Get your butt in gear!"?
Is it simply a more polite version, or is the meaning different?

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-12-31, 06:07  Spam?  ...

it could be understood as ' get prepared and be ready for the usual '
to grab = to take with you - in a sort of a hurry ....
contextually, being cops, it means what's in my answer's title + more for each specialist that might need special tools / papers / whatever their job require them to carry along.

Cheers!

Matthieu

Term:

by studentx, 2011-11-10, 21:54  Spam?  194.80.32...

Could someone please translate me this text to English? Thanks a lot!

Parmi les Européens, les Français sont ceux qui ont le plus de temps libre car ils travaillent 35 heures par semaine, selon la loi imposée par le gouvernement aux entreprises. Les vacances sont très importantes pour les Français qui ont droit à cinq semaines de congés payés et qui valorisent souvent la qualité de la vie plus que la réussite professionnelle.. Cependant, on considère que les vacances constituent une obsession pour les Français. Toutefois, pour beaucoup, elles ne représentent plus seulement un repos bien mérité et une rupture mais aussi une manière de s'enrichir l'esprit en voyageant. C’est la raison pour laquelle, pour encourager le tourisme, beaucoup de villes créent aussi des musées sur l'art ou l'histoire de la région par...
» show full text

Answer:

by Heflamoke (DE/HU), 2011-12-03, 11:18  Spam?  ...

This forum is designed to allow users to share ideas and provide mutual help in correcting translations and understanding vocabulary. All feedback is given voluntarily by users and it cannot be expected that they will willingly provide free translations to lengthy texts where no attempt has first been made by the person posting. Machine translation (Google Translate, Babelfish or the like) does not count as your own attempt.

"small" text :)

Term:

by nitram (GB), 2011-10-16, 09:38  Spam?  ...

Large flat elliptical breakfast roll [Scot, n.Engl)
petit pain rond ?
Google: bap

Thanks for any help

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-10-17, 08:00  Spam?  ...

so far : pain au lait
petit pain (au lait), petit pain rond, all sounds OK to me - let's ask .... , euhh no, let's not !!!!!

http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-french/bap%20%28bun%29

Cheers!

Matthieu

Term:

by nitram (GB), Last modified: 2011-10-20, 18:30  Spam?  ...

http://enfr.contribute.dict.cc/?action=show-history&id=588937
Someone wishes to ruin my entry stating from his Larousse source that 'curieux' can only mean 'inquisitive' in French. All major dictionaries state that 'curieux' can also have, like English,  the other meaning of 'strange' or 'odd'.  I have noted a conspiracy between three users to add irrelevant notes to my entries, and to delete important notes (all thought necessary by the sources (far more reputable than them) from which they came). Between them they have only made around '60' new entries. If  I haven't added a note, then the reputable source did not have one. If they want to demonstrate it,  they should add a separate entry, showing the 'phrases' being used, and leave the basic entries alone, which are valid and meant as a quick look up.  

http://enfr.contribute.dict.cc/?action=edit&id=590926
In this entry,  their changing  of 'limit' to 'to bring under control' is completely wrong.

Answer:

by Hannah (IN), 2011-10-13, 18:48  Spam?  ...

'curieux' in French can also have the same meaning as in English like 'strange', etc.

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-10-15, 07:29  Spam?  ...

[This text has been removed by Paul, because due to the oDesk account it could have been understood as being official.]

Answer:

by Artists (US), Last modified: 2011-10-20, 19:47  Spam?  ...

our previous comments are not applicable in the present circumstances

Answer:

by zou (US), Last modified: 2011-10-20, 20:13  Spam?  ...

Answer:

by AngloAndy (CA), Last modified: 2011-10-18, 07:24  Spam?  ...

Given that I've assiduously been reviewing and approving the overwhelming majority of Nitram's submissions, I'm not a little surprised to discover his feral personal attack in a public forum.

It seems that he may have got carried away in the spirit of the moment.

Perhaps he will now consider self-deleting his immoderate and hasty comments.

A gentleman would consider apologising.

A self-deletion of his post would be viewed in that spirit.

And I'd be happy to do likewise with this one and confine this unfortunate incident to the bins of history.

Answer:

by Artists (US), Last modified: 2011-10-20, 19:47  Spam?  ...

our previous comments are not applicable in the present circumstances

Answer:

by zou (US), Last modified: 2011-10-20, 17:56  Spam?  ...

Paul said this in another forum dicscussion:
"I'd rather not discuss human beings in a public forum. If XXX wouldn't have started this discussion, I would have tried to keep him out of public trial." (post 523465)

http://forum.dict.cc/?pagenum=11133&hilite=523465&kw=I%27d%...
Now to add insult to injury, not only is someone being disscussed (attacked), there is no way to get rid of the post, as marking it spam does not make it turn red.

Answer:

by Artists (US), Last modified: 2011-10-20, 19:47  Spam?  ...

our previous comments are not applicable in the present circumstances

Answer:

by Paul (AT), 2011-10-20, 18:20  Spam?  ...

The one posting (by Matthieu) that could have been misunderstood as being official is removed by now.
The original posting is not spam, it's Nitram's view of what happens and his personal opinion.

This forum thread does not start a conflict, it is the result of one. And it's not the first one carried out in the forum, by far. I think, if we're all honest, we all understand what Nitram really was trying to say. If you're interested in solving the conflict, talk to Nitram in a constructive way. I don't change or delete statements by contributors without their approval unless absolutely necessary.

Answer:

by nitram (GB), 2011-10-20, 18:40  Spam?  ...

I've removed the personal references because you know who you are. You've managed to make two users 'fall on their swords' this week who were disgusted by your behaviour. These people were very reasonable and helpful. If they disagreed with  or queried an entry of mine, they would contact me querying it, rather than just mindlessly ganging up to hit the 'delete' button, simply because they could not match it on an online dictionary. I  was actually writing this before Paul made his contribution above. I personally would also never delete an entry unless it looked completely wrong and the person had left anyway.
Also, I thought we were trying, like DE-EN,  to be the biggest and the best of the on-line sources, so if we can only make entries which are verifiable on other on-line dictionaries, we'll never get any bigger and better than them. We might as well just use them instead!)

Answer:

by zou (US), 2011-10-20, 20:37  Spam?  ...

Since giving one's honest opinion is no longer frowned upon, I will say that it appears Nitram is suffering from a similar mental disorder as Razorflame. His absolute obsession with entering phrases from one dated author "Simenon," and his bizarre, often dated English constructs, and limiting disambiguations are a detriment to this dictionary.
4;Paul
1. In the DE-EN forum, insulting posts have been marked spam - and have been deleted. There appears to be two sets of standards.
2. Nitram made this post without contacting anyone, so he started the conflict.
3. We are encouraged to talk to Nitram in a constructive way, but he doesn't have to?

Answer:

by Paul (AT), 2011-10-20, 22:44  Spam?  ...

Also thanks to Zou for giving me your opinion! My opinion differs, however.

1. If you give me exact references, I can give you an explanation.
2. Sorry, but it's hard for me to believe that without this thread you wouldn't have known about a conflict. He just said it out lout. However, I agree that it would have been best to contact the people in question directly first. I don't know if that happened.
3. Everyone is encouraged to talk to each other in a constructive way.

From my point of view this thread was not an attack in itself, but rather a reaction to what he felt was an attack against him or his work. However, if each attack is answered by another attack, we don't move towards a solution. That's why I'm glad he removed the personal references from his posting, thus showing his good will. It's not easy to do something that is demanded so vehemently. Most people would just dig their heels in.

Answer:

by AngloAndy (CA), Last modified: 2011-10-21, 00:09  Spam?  ...

1) Paul, are you familiar with the English expresion 'to add fuel to the fire'?

You seem to have an uncommon knack for doing just that.

2) It's only possible to talk in a constructive way if all parties involved are willing to do that. In this particular case, continued use of excessive language ('fall on their swords' etc.) by the original contributor is not an indication of any willingness to do that right now.

3) I specifically offered an olive branch and offered to let bygones be bygones in my first post in this link; the offer still stands. The self-deletion would go a long way to enable constructive talks to go forward.

Answer:

by nitram (GB), 2011-10-21, 00:34  Spam?  ...

The way to resolve this is, firstly, to stop deleting my entries unless you can prove that they are wrong and I will happily delete them myself.  Secondly,  stop changing the disambiguating notes which Collins Robert or other erudite sources feel necessary.  Regarding Georges Simenon, he wrote between 1929 - 1972, which does not make him exactly archaic and he is still widely read. Also, my entries are checked in the 2006 hardbacked copy of Collins Robert (Complete and Unabridged).  If your budget does not extend to such a book (any serious study of the language without a similarly sized one is futile) then you should leave verification of more complex phrases and rarer words to a native French speaker, who should have no problem recognising the correctness of the French language in the entries.

Answer:

by AngloAndy (CA), Last modified: 2011-10-21, 05:13  Spam?  ...

You've made great contributions to this dictionary. Some of your entries are A Number 1 and, as mentioned in a previous post, I've mostly voted for your entries: haven't you noticed that?

The way this dictionary works, Nitram, is it gets 'peer reviewed'. Sometimes, some people may feel that 'deleting' -- an option given by the system -- is the better course of action.

Sometimes, you provide no context or not enough of a context or you provide a link that is inadequate, as the Wordref link that ultimately had 'Google translate' (machine translation) as its stated source.

The use of sources is imperative in lexicography. Stating that something is 'basic' is not a source. Stating that something is from the Collins is not  providing an online verifiable link of some sort. There are instances where a well-meaning contributor makes a mistake when copying a word, hence the need for links. A link does not have to have to be the exact translation of what is proposed; it has, however, to provide enough of a context to enable the reviewers (your colleagues) to verify an entry.

Answer:

by Paul (AT), 2011-10-21, 09:23  Spam?  ...

1. Yes, I'm familiar with the expression. In fact, I wouldn't even want to interfere, but if people request me to do or say something, I can only do or say what I feel is right. If I could do something to sustainably solve the conflict right now, I would do it.

2. This 'fall on their swords' was in quotes and I've read a lot more excessive language on the forum over the course of time. Surely I'd prefer to have none of that here, but as long as humans are involved, this is just wishful thinking.

3. Thank you for the offer! But of course that's not my decision.

Term:

by Tam Wu, 2011-10-09, 06:35  Spam?  64.40.60...

A French divorce judgment was pronounced in an 'audience public ordinaire' on 7/20/2011 and the 'expédition conforme à l'original' was issued by the 'greffier' on 7/18/2011, that is 2 days before the divorce judgment was passed. Why?

Chat:    

by Tam Wu, 2011-10-09, 07:29  Spam?  64.40.60...

This is a question for Paul, dict.cc's creator. You can email him at paul4;dict.cc.
I am translating a divorce document in which there is this statement: prononce le divorce aux torts partagés des epoux. What does it means?

Chat:    

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-10-10, 07:30  Spam?  ...

to the why ? of the first part
Probably, the Registrar authorized/finalized the process/papers on his own time - and the judge rendered it official and public 2 days later.

And the second disamb. : Prononce - pronounce/anounce/declare official

divorce - divorce

aux torts partagés - to equal/mutual/shared faults - to equal/mutual wrongs of both parties (ex-husband and ex-wife) -> les époux -> spouses

Declare the divorce official implying equal wrong-doings from both parties.

"divorce with no blame" -> 'divorce sans torts'  (know that it always refer to religious wrong doings)

exemple from linguee :

Droit de la famille - 31 (1983), 34 R.F.L. (2d) 127 (C.S.Q.) (le tribunal prononce le divorce aux torts des deux parties compte tenu de l'adultère du père et de l'homosexualité de la mère: il conclut...
» show full text

Term:

by nitram (GB), 2011-10-07, 11:43  Spam?  ...

Can I confirm that 'comparable' here means 'approaching'.  In this sense is it normal to use the preposition 'de' ?

Le Monde ... avec un budget comparable de 14.5 millions d'euros ..

Thanks for any help

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-10-08, 20:25  Spam?  ...

In this sentence it means more 'similar'  or 'almost the same'
French writer would use approchant or presque le même, équivalant (P.pres d'équivaloir)

budget comparable -> almost identical budget

budget de 14.5 m d'euros -> de will complement the noun, not the adj.... it is another sentence stucture that is hard to get when not used to it....

when you have a noun followed by a lot of 'things'(adj., descritption (de, que, qui, dont, avec,etc...), picture a flower and put the noun in the middle, each 'thing' will describe, complement and refer to the noun....

Cheers!

Matthieu

Term:

by nitram (GB), 2011-10-03, 18:59  Spam?  ...

How would these be rendered into French ? Like this ?

A-t-il rien fait de meilleur ?  Has he done anything better?

N'a-t-il rien fait de meilleur ?  Hasn't he done anything better ?

Thanks for any help.

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-10-07, 02:33  Spam?  ...

I would rather say or see

A-t-il fait qc. de mieux ? A-t-il rien fait de mieux ?   same for the negative question ...

http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/mieux

After thinking about it a little more - you can use a conditional tense that will affirm the supposition of an existing better work or the fact that what is seen is not so great...

Aurait-il fait qc..... N'aurait-il rien fait....

Hope that helps !
Cheers !
Matthieu

Term:

by Hannah (IN), 2011-10-03, 18:41  Spam?  ...

Hi - I am learning French. In one of my lessons there is this question: (it talks of the article itself)

"A partir de quoi a-t-il été composé?"
===============
Does this mean: " For what reason was it written?"
Thanks....

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-10-06, 06:12  Spam?  ...

contextually, it can take several French verbs

exemple : composer un bouquet -> floral composition
                composer une chanson -> musical composition

now, with 'à partir de quoi'  -> what are the source material(s)  and so -> of his composition

ex : garde-manger {m}  french noun

ask your question
answer is

Ce nom masculin est composé de garde {m} meaning protector and manger {verb} or {noun} relative to what's for dinner ! etc.

Cheers!

Matthieu

Answer:

by romain (FR), 2011-10-10, 15:40  Spam?  ...

Answer:

by Hannah (IN), 2011-10-13, 17:35  Spam?  ...

romain - It was a question on "La prise de la pyramide" written by Claude Sales, Le Monde 18.10.1988 - the year when the Pyramide (louvre) was inaugurated! The question was about this subject - so I didn't really know.

Answer:

by romain (FR), 2011-11-03, 14:45  Spam?  ...

Term:

by maxtate (GB), 2011-10-01, 21:37  Spam?  ...

How do you say 'Why do you keep calling me in the middle of the night?'

My try: Pourquoi telephonez-vous moi à minuit?

Thank you!!! :D

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-10-02, 06:48  Spam?  ...

Some good but not quite ...

Casual - you know the person quite well

- Pourquoi n'arrêtes-tu pas de m'appeler en plein milieu de la nuit.

Formal - you don't know the person well enough

- Pourquoi continuez-vous à me téléphoner au beau milieu de la nuit.

As you can see, you can interchange both verbs and ends of this sentence (just the conjugaison needs to follow 'tu' or 'vous' ).

Cheers!

Matthieu

Term:

by aer (US), 2011-09-26, 18:39  Spam?  ...

I am translating a Swiss bank account opening form from GE into E.  Here and there it contains a French term such as "en rappel".  I am guessing it could mean "Wiedervorlage - follow-up"?  Any assistance is much appreciated!

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-09-27, 20:46  Spam?  ...

Rappel  (FINANCE) :
rappel (d'une facture, cotisation) -> Mahnung f

en rappel  -> as a reminder -> http://www.linguee.com/english-german/search?query=reminder
                -> as a follow-up -> http://www.linguee.com/english-german/search?sourceoverride=none&am...
                -> Erinnerung  ? some kind of reminder --- it'll make more sense seing more of the context.

Hope that helps !

Cheers!

Matthieu

Term:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-11, 08:14  Spam?  ...

Although GL 9 makes provision for tagging French adjectives as attributive, predicative and postpositional, these tags are not pre-programmed, and they do not seem to be used. With a few French adjectives that change their meaning according to their position (such as pauvre, propre), it is vital to indicate the distinction. Has there been any previous discussion on this? If so, with what effect?

Answer:

by admin (AT), 2011-09-11, 16:47  Spam?  ...

...but I guess a [postpos.] tag would definitely make sense, if y'all agree, that is.

Answer:

by romain (FR), 2011-09-12, 09:49  Spam?  ...

Answer:

by Wenz (DE), 2011-09-12, 11:03  Spam?  ...

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-12, 11:50  Spam?  ...

A great number of French adjectives follow the noun. It would be quite a burden to add either [attr.] [pred.] or [postpos.] [pred.] to all adjectives. It might be a help. but it would be a real burden.
I would push using the tags in the few cases where the position changes the meaning. In other cases, I think that it is up to the group of people doing the greater part of the actual work to make this decision. Although I have done a great deal of work, I would not count myself in this group, as I think that my French is not quite good enough.
(The use of tags could not be made obligatory in all languages. In re Polish: it would not be possible to use these tags there, as the position does not depend entirely on the adjective, but also on the individual noun, and there are so many idioms and exceptions that a tag would be virtually meaningless.)

Answer:

by Paul (AT), 2011-09-12, 14:51  Spam?  ...

I would add "[postpos.]" for "adjectif postposé", and maybe "[antépos.]" for "adjectif antéposé" to stress the opposite for cases where such clarification is necessary. I'll add them if no objections are raised.

If we use these tags only for cases where they are needed to get the meaning of the term, do we need [attr.] and [pred.] at all?

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-12, 15:05  Spam?  ...

Are there adjectives in French that can be used only in the predicate? No example occurs to me, but somebody else may know better.

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-09-15, 02:19  Spam?  ...

Google: adjectif prédicatif

now - it is quite complex  but helpful if and when you understand :
http://intranet-ldi.univ-paris13.fr/adjectifs/

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-15, 05:12  Spam?  ...

Even if I could understand it, I think that this is more than I ever wanted or needed to know. :-)
Just: how should the question be handled in dict.?

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-09-15, 08:49  Spam?  ...

here is all we're taught - in good old French grammar
about adjectives ... from C.P. to UNI (post Baccalaureate - short for university)

http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/adjectif
Wikipedia(FR): Adjectif_ind%C3%A9fini
Wikipedia(FR): Adjectif_d%C3%A9monstratif
Wikipedia(FR): Adjectif_num%C3%A9ral
Wikipedia(FR): D%C3%A9terminant_%28grammaire%29
http://www.e-cursus.paris4.sorbonne.fr/texte/CEC/langue-francaise/L...

most of what is discussed here is - University +++ Level   in  /  and  /   or   VERY VERY Advanced French GRAMMATICAL Studies -

[postpos.] and [antépos.] will be useful for disambiguating the different meaning an adjective can wear - the rest is just so optional that it can be entered by hand, if the author of the said entry wants it there....  

So yes, to answer Catesse's  question about predicative adjectives, some if not all  'taste' related adjectives are / can be  predicative, and more commun ones, like the color related ones, depending the noun they're 'brothering' with and the context, or meaning they will take.

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-15, 09:19  Spam?  ...

This has been discussed at great length in the DE-EN forum, and the outcome, as far as I last saw it, was a bit fluffy. As I remember it: if an adjective can be used both as an attributive and as a predicate, nothing is done. If it can be used only postpositionally, it is marked as such. There are other combinations of usage available, and it seems to be left to the judgment of the contributors as to whether or not they are marked. A lot of the sites take no notice at all, perhaps because the problem does not arise, or perhaps because nobody has given it any consideration. Or perhaps because the usage is so irregular that it is pointless to indicate it.
My point in this case was to draw attention to the small number of cases in French where the adjective actually changes its meaning according to its position....
» show full text

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-09-15, 10:00  Spam?  ...

I think this article covers the subject... even more than I would like things to be !!!

http://www.seinan-gu.ac.jp/~trubert/adjectif6.html

The context is the key to a good translation if it is obvious enough...Already on a 'one level' text/context it can be hard to get.
And, sometime the writer did not use the most appropriate word and causes the chain reaction....
maybe politique should have been replaced by diplomatique in the first place....

Answer:

by Paul (AT), 2011-09-15, 13:12  Spam?  ...

I added "[postpos.]" for "adjectif postposé" and "[antépos.]" for "adjectif antéposé" for the cases where such clarification is necessary (when position matters).

Term:

by nitram (GB), 2011-09-02, 17:29  Spam?  ...

Quand on habite '117 ter rue Réamur' , où habite-t-on exactement? Selon Wordref, c'est le même adverbe en anglais, mais je n'en ai jamais entendu mot.  

Merci pour de l'aide.

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-09-03, 23:29  Spam?  ...

Of my ten years or so in Paris, I can tell you there are building entries that lead to several buildings thru an open garden or such, all have the same number, the first one you can climb is usually the whole number, then second staircase would be number bis  then 3rd building (or house if all are accessed by the same main street door) would be number ter ... also another way this exist is from an entire building, usually leading to several apartments, there are different entry doors on the street, like the building did not used to be divided but now is... same process - number, then bis , then ter  

Now here in the US, ter. or terr. has a different meaning, terrace.

Hope that makes sense.
here is another way to explain it -> http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/ter

Cheers!

Term:

by nitram (GB), 2011-09-02, 12:46  Spam?  ...

Does this mean 'to be certain about sth' ?

Thanks for any help.

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-09-03, 23:49  Spam?  ...

'Faites-moi état de la situation, colonel !'  so être fait état de qc. is the passive mode of this ... the général that asked will ' être fait état de qc. (whatever he wants to know about in great details) ' when his colonel reply.

Cheers!

I also found -> Faire état de = mentionner,  so the passive mode would mean = to be told / mentioned ...
which is about the same as my first explanation... you'll find references under 'faire état de' on the web...

Term:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-08-31, 16:45  Spam?  ...

I am in a quandary about the way to enter comparative and superlative adjectives. I have just been looking at "plus gai = merriest".
Obviously, "plus gai" is "merrier" and "le plus gai" is "merriest". (Un gars plus gai)
But dict does not like the, le, der in a term. I see nothing in GL. Has the matter been discussed? Has a decision been made, or have things just drifted? Have I missed something?

Answer:

by Wenz (DE), Last modified: 2011-08-31, 16:52  Spam?  ...

Siehe meine Frage unter #615688 Forum F-D

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-08-31, 17:01  Spam?  ...

That was my first thought, Wenz, but in this case the English comparative is irregular. That is, "merrier" not "merryer". Maybe that would be useful.

Answer:

by Don (NZ/GB), 2011-08-31, 22:13  Spam?  ...

I have tried entering an inflection with à in it a few months ago (I can't remember what it was now), but the system wouldn't co-operate, and rejected it. If I remember correctly, the whole inflection was considered too long.

Answer:

by Don (NZ/GB), 2011-08-31, 22:28  Spam?  ...

I didn't realise that this is the French forum, silly me!
I believe it was inflections for filtre à air, filtre à carburant, and filtre à huile that I wanted to enter. I settled for le filtre | les filtres instead.
http://enfr.dict.cc/?s=filtre

Answer:

by admin (AT), 2011-08-31, 22:34  Spam?  ...

To the best of my knowledge, this has not yet been discussed. And while there are reasons for avoiding "le/der/the" on dict.cc, in this case the le is inevitable because there's an important qualitative distinction (i.e. in meaning) between plus gai and le plus gai, therefore I would propose that we enter them in the form "le plus xyz" and "merriest/fröhlichste" on the other side. (Marking the class as 'adj', and not marking "le" in a special way, i.e. not writing "[le] plus gai" - both to avoid confusion.) Whether we include only the irregular ones or the regular ones too is a point which could be debated - I see no harm in including both.

Furthermore, if you find it necessary (I, for one, wouldn't mind), we could expand the inflections function so that it reads e.g. le plus joli | la plus jolie | les plus jolis | les plus jolies, in analogy to the already existing one.

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-01, 05:17  Spam?  ...

Suggested solution suits me. If others agree, please add to GL, perhaps with a note requesting contributors to refrain from entering comparatives and superlatives that are regular in both French and German. A whole mass of these forms would cause considerable irritation to other contributors, who have more important things to do with their time.

Answer:

by Catesse (AU), 2011-09-01, 05:24  Spam?  ...

Don's post has made me realise that there might be some misunderstanding here. The "plus gai" was not in the inflections section but in the main dict. This will need clarification.
I do not have a fixed position on this. I just want some reasonable form that most contributors understand and are willing to use cooperatively, and that will assist searchers.

Answer:

by Wenz (DE), 2011-09-01, 07:48  Spam?  ...

„gai, joyeux“
Exception – merry, merrIER, merrIEST
http://enfr.contribute.dict.cc/?action=edit&id=571591
http://enfr.contribute.dict.cc/?action=edit&id=571593

No exception – lustig, lustiger, lustigste (lustigste und NICHT lustigster, lustigstes)
http://defr.contribute.dict.cc/?action=edit&id=571592
vorhanden z.B.:
http://defr.contribute.dict.cc/?action=edit&id=319146&gobac...
Nicht unbedingt notwendig im F-D dict. (schadet aber auch nicht).

Falls ja, dann
bin ich dafür, beide Formen ins dict einzutragen (durch Split oder separat).

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-09-05, 07:29  Spam?  ...

I believe this discussion started because of 2 entries I made.
Trying to enter 'le plus joyeux' I received a system refusal message so ended entering 'plus joyeux' with an exemple phrase in comments. I also got system refusal during some inflections stating that I was using L instead of  |  .... I ended up skipping it this time.

I would also suggest using 'un, une, des' for inflections - for nouns starting with voyel and H especially, because a lot of words in french loose their obvious {m} or {f} mode when they start with a voyel or H.

Some French proper noun cannot take un, une,     exemple :  someone's name (even dead) -> Alain, Aline, Alexandre, Alibaba, Wenz, Nitram, ....  they usually can take le, la or l' when the name is preceeded with an adjectif qualificatif -> le pauvre Henry ..... le petit Marcel ....
                                                    but not like a country's name -> L'Angleterre, L'Allemagne, L'Autriche, La France,...)
le la les l'  are still usefull with proper nouns and for most commun nouns.

Cheers!

Term:

by nitram (GB), 2011-08-22, 15:36  Spam?  ...

Simenon (1942) - Les Caves du Majestic

Elle cousait une combinaison de soie crevette.

Merci en avance.

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-08-24, 19:53  Spam?  ...

As you know soie {f} is silk ....

crevette might be used as referring to the shrimp color - this delicate pale pink....

PALE PINK SILK  would be my first guess without opening any books or internet searchamathingle....

Maybe more later if I find something else...

Cheers !
by now, don't you think we should have some 1665s !!!!!
'KRO, KRO, KRO KRONEMBOURG, PLUS TU EN BOIS ET PLUS TU TE GOURRES !!! '

Matthieu

Answer:

by rabend (DE/FR), 2011-08-27, 21:21  Spam?  ...

http://www.augusta-auction.com/component/auctions/?view=lot&id=...
"Shrimp silk, narrow pale ivory stripes brocaded w/ scattered floral baskets & sprigs,"

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), Last modified: 2011-08-28, 02:44  Spam?  ...

Shrimp colored silk !!!

Answer:

by romain (FR), 2011-08-31, 16:51  Spam?  ...

Answer:

by nitram (GB), 2011-08-31, 17:07  Spam?  ...

Is the colour raw or cooked prawns ?

Answer:

by romain (FR), 2011-09-01, 11:37  Spam?  ...

FYI, we also use saumon (salmon) to refer to a pale pink/orange colour.

Term:

anonymous, 2011-08-17, 17:13  Spam?  70.109.119....

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-08-19, 20:06  Spam?  ...

Answer:

by romain (FR), 2011-08-31, 16:53  Spam?  ...

provided the spelling is correct (peu/peut)...

Term:

by Shavasana (UN), 2011-08-14, 06:26  Spam?  ...

I am reading a philosophical article and came across a sentence I do not fully understand.

XYZ ouvre sur le relativisme en situant la vérité à la place: "Les notions d’importance, de nécessité, d’intérêt sont mille fois plus déterminantes que la notion de vérité. Pas du tout parce qu’elles la remplacent, mais parce qu’elles mesurent la vérité de ce que je dis."

It is the introductory sentence that confuses me: The philosopher XYZ opens onto relativism by situating truth instead? (I know that my version does not make sense, but that is why I need help!)

Thanks!

Answer:

by matthieu-odesk (FR/US), 2011-08-15, 22:35  Spam?  ...

he explains further that truth is not the ultimate notion, importance, necessity and interest are far more interesting (determinant - efficient) to discuss. And that those notions don't replace the truth, but measure how true his speech is / the facts in his speech are.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!