Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.

What is the capital of Tunisia?

Please type your username.

Please type your E-Mail.

Please choose the appropriate section so the question can be searched easily.

Please choose suitable Keywords Ex: question, poll.

Type the description thoroughly and in details.

What is the capital of Tunisia?

What is this “en” doing? “… qui n’en tient pas moins un rôle important…”

En refers to semble lui-même un sceptique.

This could be rephrased:

Le père de Spinoza tient un rôle important dans la synagogue et la communauté juive en dépit de sembler être lui-même un sceptique

i.e.

Despite being a skeptic, he nevertheless plays a significant role…

N’en + verb + pas moins means cependant, en dépit de cela, etc. It is a frozen idiom with a double negation (ne pas + moins) and a close relative of néanmoins.

“En” in such a context works like a reference to a previous clause or statement or object.
“Il n’arrete pas de faire du bruit. Il faut qu’on en parle”

This “en” refers to the previous sentence (that he makes noise continuously) so instead of having to repeat the whole sentence you just replace it with “en” in english it would be like adding “about it” or “concerning it” at the end or something of the sort.

“Le père de Spinoza semble lui-même un sceptique, qui n’en tient pas moins un rôle important dans la synagogue et la communauté juive.”

first point: tenir un rôle moins important d’être sceptique text, this is implied and allowed by transposition according to French grammar

second point: there’s the de, in this case, d’ calling for the en.

third point: the negative then becomes: n’en tenir pas moins un rôle important
Spinoza’s father seems to be a skeptic himself, who does not have, due to this, a less important role (to play) in the synagogue and Jewish community. This translation is only to show what happens to the en.

I think the en follows the rule here in fact. It just has to be transposed for it to appear: d’être sceptique, this or that happens. The en refers back to or “recalls” that phrase, which is implied.

d’ + être + noun is due to.

c) De introduisant un inf. suj.;de signifie « le fait de », en parlant d’un fait particulier, ce tour littér. est assez répandu (cf. infra II B 1).

http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/de

 

Leave a comment

What is the capital of Tunisia?