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Questions tagged [french]

For questions about English words and phrases of French origin. For questions purely about French, visit our sister site French Language Stack Exchange.

For questions about English words and phrases of French origin.

For questions purely about French, visit our sister site French Language Stack Exchange.

170 questions
25
votes
1 answer

Why have English words adopted the feminine version of French words with -if endings?

There seems to be a pattern with English words using the ending -ive to have been adopted from the French female variant. Eg: [english <- french(masculine/feminine)] active <- act(if/ive) massive <- mass(if/ive) motive <- mot(if/ive) abusive <-…
Orange Receptacle
  • 485
4
votes
2 answers

What could be a translation of classic-style French titles, such as "Du contrat social"?

In order to write classic-style titles in a French text, the technique of using a préposition before the remaining words of the title is often used. A widely known example is Rousseau's "Du contrat social". Even tough that style is pretty…
Char siu
  • 51
4
votes
1 answer

Is cafe an English word or a misspelling of café?

Is cafe an English word or a misspelling of café? The same goes for touche and touché. This isn't the same as this since I'm asking if cafe is a English word, not if I should use a diacritical mark on the "e".
Alexis Tyler
  • 220
2
votes
2 answers

Is "It's a shame" too strong?

When I want to translate the French sentence "Oh, c'est dommage que tu n'aies pas eu ton examen" into english, I think about: "It's a shame that you didn't pass your exam" => This sounds very strong / agressive / blaming! "It's a pity that…
Basj
  • 171
1
vote
2 answers

Is there a proper way to translate "Bonne continuation" from french?

In my opinion, the difference between "Félicitations!" and "Bonne continuation!" is that the former is used to congratulate someone and to celebrate an achievment such as passing an exam for example. The latter; by contrast is usually used to…
billyandriam
  • 131
0
votes
1 answer

French's 'ne explétif' in English?

●Source: p 249, Zizek's Ontology ..., by Adrian Johnston ●●Source: p 65, L'Odyssé d'Homère: tr. en français, Volume 2, translated by Dugas Montbel ● Bruce Fink helpfully compares the French ne explétif [hereafter abbreviated as NE] to certain…
user50720