• jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      152·
      10 months ago

      This just reminded me of a time I, an American, was in France and some French dude tried to talk shit outside of a bar. He said, in a very French accent, “I ate l’Anglais”. Please allow me to break down what is wrong with this sentence.

      1. First and foremost, I’m pretty sure he had not actually eaten anyone and instead was trying to communicate his strong dislike for me.

      2. He also started off the sentence in English, which was a brave effort, I must admit. Especially seeing how he never learned to pronounce the letter H in his English class (see point #1), this took real courage to attempt to talk shit in a language with which he clearly struggled. However, as you can see in the second half of his sentence, he reverted back to his native tongue, so I can’t give him too much credit.

      3. Finally, “l’Anglais” is French for “the English”. As I mentioned earlier, I am American, which is not the same as being English. We had a rather nasty war a few hundred years ago that settled the matter, but apparently they have not heard about that in all areas of France.

      All in all, he had 3 major errors in a sentence that contained 4 words. 2 of the words be “I” and “l’”.

      • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        In English, the phrase I was going for was “I would think”. It’s correct in English, and means mostly the same thing as “I think”, with slightly different connotations. I’m not exactly sure how to verbalise what those connotations are, just that in this case it felt better. I think in this context it made it slightly more comical/sardonic?

        Obviously, “je croirais” is the correct literal translation of “I would think”. But does it not work to carry a similar connotation in French? And if not, is there some other phrase/conjugation of croire I could use to get across that tone?

        Unfortunately my French knowledge is almost entirely academic, so knowing how to use it with more nuance than literal word-for-word changes is a bit beyond me, outside of where that is obviously academically inappropriate.

        • Mechaguana@programming.devEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          You would need to add a condition to conjugate it that way so it becomes a conditionnel présent, but would is a past action, but coloqually you are still under this belief, so I thought it was best to just assume that the present simple was best for your answer.

          However you could say you were going for the futur antérieur, but would is in the past…

        • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
          1·
          10 months ago

          Je croirais would more mean “I would believe” (conditional) as in “I’d believe it if I saw it myself”

          In English it’s not conditional

        • Tetsuo@jlai.lu
          1·
          10 months ago

          IMO “Je croirais” is related to the verb “to believe”.

          “I think” would most likely be translated to “Je pense”.

          A thinker is a “penseur” in French.

          So basically, you could end the sentence (or even better start it) with “Je pense”.

          Here I would say “Je pense que [Insert doubtful info]”.

          • BenVimes@lemmy.ca
            1·
            10 months ago

            When I was learning French I was told penser and croire were interchangeable in this context.

            • Tetsuo@jlai.lu
              22·
              10 months ago

              The issue here is more the fact that “Je croirais” doesn’t exist.

              It’s close to “Je croirai” which is simple futur (Futur simple).

              So what you said is closer to "I will believe ".

              The past tense that would work here would be :

              “Je croyais que” (Imparfait).

              But yeah you could say “Je croyais que” or “Je pensais que” both would be fine.

              • Zagorath@aussie.zoneEnglish
                3·
                10 months ago

                the fact that “Je croirais” doesn’t exist

                Okay this I’m very confident is incorrect. I’m very open to the idea that it might not be correct to use in the way I used it here, but it definitely exists. It’s the conditional tense, first person singular conjugation of croire.

                • Tetsuo@jlai.lu
                  1·
                  10 months ago

                  Yes, it’s a complete fail on my part.

                  I wanted to verify how to conjugate this verb and ended up on a classic website “Le conjugueur”.

                  But you can’t use that website anymore without accepting cookies. So I went to the “Le monde” conjugueur but it just didn’t show conditional present.

                  That being said I knew and used many times “je croirais” so I don’t know what went through my mind :(

              • Evkob@lemmy.ca
                1·
                10 months ago

                You’re mistaken, “je croirais” exists, it’s the “conditionnel présent” (conditionnal present).

                Example sentence: “Je te croirais si t’avais des preuves.” (Translation: “I would believe you if you had proof”).

  • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
    21·
    10 months ago

    if youre friendly to said target: Je veux te manger

    the polite way when referring to some stanger and you want to want eat them. Je voudrais vous manger

  • Yerbouti@lemmy.ml
    221·
    10 months ago

    Cher ami, je veux te manger de façon cannibale. C’est à dire que je souhaite te dévorer, cru ou cuit, de manière litterale. S’il te plait n’y voit aucune utilisation du second degré ni une quelconque forme d’allusion sexuelle, j’ai trop de respect pour toi, bien que cela ne signifie pas pour autant que je sois insensible à tes charmes mais c’est un autre sujet.

    Of course if the person is a women you would have to adapt a few worda. Also of the person is not your friend.