Le Trésor de la langue française classe « à cette saison » dans le sens I.E.3 : à introduit un complément circonstanciel de temps, comme dans « à l’aube » (at sunrise) ou « à une date » ou « au printemps ». On dit plus couramment « en cette ...
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What does les eaux mean in the plural?
Business EditorsLes eaux has indeed the same meaning in French as Waters in English. Depending on the context it can refer as you suggested to bodies of water. Also, when a woman is about to give birth and her water(s) just ...
What is the meaning of “d’un autre pays”?
Business EditorsYour translation is correct, and “d’un” is necessary. “d’un” is the contraction for “de un”. “de” corresponds to “from” and “un” corresponds to the “an” of “another”. Actually, this is a literal word-by-word translation: “They come from an other country” ...
“La femme de Dupont brise son silence sur son état” : ambiguous or not?
Business EditorsThere are indeed 2 possible translations and with only this sentence it’s not possible to tell whether she’s going to break silence about HIS or HER state. Now any kind of context will probably remove this ambiguity. A way to ...
Is it common to use “lancer” to talk about an on-going action?
Associations EditorsLancer can mean start a mostly automated process, but not any kind of ongoing action. It probably acquired this meaning by analogy with its use to mean start a engine or a machine (lancer le moteur), itself an extension of ...
Translation of “il ne faut pas moins que…”
Associations Editors“Il ne faut pas moins que” means precisely that, and would be said “Il faut au moins” in current French, which translates in English to “It requires at least“. As it is related to metaphysic, let me answer with some ...
Exact meaning of ou bien
Business Editors“Ou bien” is a set phrase which is practically synonymous with “ou” or “soit”: the whole phrase “ou bien” means “or” (or “either” when it’s in lead position). It is usually constructed like “soit”, i.e. it is present before the ...
“Fait longtemps” or “faisait longtemps”
Associations EditorsThe two verbs faire and être have to belong to the same tense, meaning that either they’re both présent, or they’re both passé. The meaning Présent When you know that you’ve already made a choice. Example : Cela fait longtemps ...
What does “brezinzin” mean?
Associations EditorsIt is likely an onomatopeia reminding the sound of a plane (Brrrr) followed by "Zin Zin", the sound of shots, falling bombs or the sirens used by the German bombers. As others mentioned, this is definitely an onomatopeia related to ...
Quelle est la signification de « pour pendant » ensemble ?
Business Editors« Pour pendant » est la combinaison de « pour », préposition et de « pendant », nom masculin signifiant familièrement « personne ou chose comparable ou symétrique à une autre » (TLFi, pendant²). P. anal., fam. Personne ou chose ...