. Questions for French Class
Cecile,
Voici quelques-unes des questions dont nous avons discuté. [discuter de quelque chose, parler de quelque chose]
Seph
1. Why say “On voit toujours” as opposed to “Il y a toujours” in the sentence “On voit toujours les beaux paysages” ?
2. Does “en attendant” always mean “meanwhile” ?For example in the sentence: “En attendant, Claudia et moi allons au cinéma ce soir ” But there is an album by Jean Michel Jarre called “En attendant Cousteau”.
3. What is the translation of “On peut se retrouver à huit heures et quart” ?
4. ‘De toutes de façons’ means ‘anyway’ ?
Dear Seph,
1. I am sorry to say it does not make a lot of a difference to me. Perhaps in the context, the emphasis is laid upon the act of seeing, and the person uses “on” as the “nous”, to make both a general statement and also to imply herself/himself in the gaze? [you could explain to me a little bit more about the reason why it is disturbing for you to see "On voit" vs "Il y a"]
2. “En attendant” is “whilst we are/I am waiting”. You can see it in Beckett’s title, En attendant Godot, which is translated as “Waiting for Godot.”
The [En + present participle] phrase does all kinds of nice things, mainly suggesting simultaneous actions:
“En ecoutant la radio, je prepare mon cafe.”
To accentuate that effect, you can say
“Tout en ecoutant la radio, je prepare mon cafe.”
But in everyday language, “En attendant” is sometimes used as decontextualized, and is something like “anyhow, whatever, still, there is still that aspect to consider”, slightly dismissive of what had just been said [somewhat annoyingly and at length].
3. How about “We could perhaps meet up at 20.15″?
4. It means “anyway” but also “well, in any case”. It is the Italian “comunque” and the German “Auf jedem Fall”.