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Friday, 16 May 2008
Lors, lorsque, quand, dès
Lors meaning ‘during’, ‘at’ or ‘at the time of’ is rather old-fashioned, although still often preferable in formal writing:
• Je l’ai rencontré lors d’un déjeuner d’affaire – I met him at a business lunch,
• Lors de sa mort – at the time of his/her death In spoken French, quand, à etc can often be used.
Lors is common in a few set phrases: dès lors que when it means ‘as’, ‘since’, ‘given that’:
• Dès lors qu’il a choisi de partir, il n’a plus droit à rien – since/given that he has decided to leave… although when it means ‘as soon as’, dès on its own suffices in modern French:
• Dès l’entrée en vigueur de cette loi (as soon as this law comes into force).
Other useful expressions with dès include dès maintenant, dès demain etc. Lorsque and quand are practically synonymous although again lorsque is usually reserved for formal or written language.

Davantage, plus, d’avantage
Davantage (without the apostrophe) means ‘more’ and is often synonymous with plus (voiced ‘s’, see February 2008 issue):
• Il faut travailler davantage or travailler plus (as Sarko keeps telling us!)

not to be confused with d’avantage :
• Je ne vois pas d’avantage à travailler un jour sur deux pour l’état (I see no advantage in …, as we might retort!).
Davantage is used on its own after le or la:
• Je l’aime davantage (I like him more); at the end of a sentence, use davantage on its own or plus with an intensifier;
• Vous êtes patient, mais votre ami l’est davantage/bien plus/plus encore.
Davantage de is perfectly correct usage (davantage de sucre/sel), and davantage que is in common use, albeit scorned by some purists:
• La géographie m’intéresse davantage que l’histoire.
The main point to remember is that davantage is only used to modify a verb, not an adjective or adverb. Compare:
• Mon frère travaille davantage (…works more)
• Mon frère est plus travailleur (… is more hardworking)
and
• Mon frère travaille plus vite.

Partiel/partial
Partiel(lle) means partial, incomplete or part-time:
• emploi à temps partiel (part-time job),
• une partielle (a by-election),
• les partielles (mid-term exams).
Partial means biased or prejudiced (we can also say partial in English):
• être partial envers… (to be biased against…, masculine plural partiaux)
Beware of the false friend however: when we mean ‘be partial to’, as in I am rather partial to a spot of whisky, we’d say:
• Je bois volontiers un petit whisky…, or more generally,
• avoir un penchant/faible pour, aimer bien.

Maître d’oeuvre/ d’ouvrage
Maître d’oeuvre means the main contractor (architect, project manager etc). If you’re project-managing your building yourself, you’d say J’assure la maîtrise d’oeuvre moi-même. And in all likelihood you are also the maître d’ouvrage (the owner, or awarding authority in a public works context). A tip to remember the difference: think of who owns the maison, which contains an ‘a’ (as does ouvrage, but not oeuvre).
Other useful related terms include:
• le gros oeuvre (the structural work);
• le second oeuvre (finishing: painting etc.);
• mesure dans/hors oeuvre (inside/outside measurement, for construction, not for trouser leg (hauteur de l’entrejambe);
• se mettre à l’oeuvre (to get down to work);
• mettre/mise en oeuvre (implement a reform, programme etc);
• les bonnes oeuvres (charities/good deeds);
• faire oeuvre utile (do something worthwhile);
• voir quelqu’un à l’oeuvre (see somebody at work, or often ironically ‘in action’).
Confusingly, oeuvre and ouvrage can be synonymous (se mettre à l’ouvrage). When they mean ‘a finished piece of work’, ouvrage usually refers to things built or made by hand (ouvrage d’art – a structure, bridge, tunnel etc) or a reference or textbook, whereas oeuvre usually has a more ‘noble’ or artistic connotation (we’d say l’ensemble de son oeuvre for instance when referring to an artist, writer etc).

ERRATUM
Thanks to Allan Beattie for pointing out my unforgivable hyphenation of ‘expat’ last month. I apologise profusely for the “distress” I caused him. He suggested a flogging administered by Editor! Thank goodness she’s not an ex-servicewoman! – RP

 
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