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Monday, 11 August 2008 |
English often achieves
greater economy of
expression than French with
adverbs, which we
“effortlessly” form simply by
adding the ‘-ly’ suffix to an
adjective or participle. French
has the -‘ment’ ending to
form many adverbs, but they
often seem laboured or
cumbersome. Where in
English an adverb seems
perfectly natural, French
often has to resort to an
adverbial expression
(locution adverbiale), e.g.:
effortlessly – sans effort;
inadvertently – par
inadvertance; deservedly – à
juste titre; angrily – avec
colère; repeatedly – à
plusieurs reprises;
unaccountably – sans qu’on
sache pourquoi.
With ‘allegedly’,
‘supposedly’ and
‘reportedly’, the French
conditional comes to the
rescue, neatly performing a
function that it cannot do in
English: il aurait poignardé
sa femme (he allegedly
stabbed his wife); il serait
indemne (he is reportedly
unharmed), although in more
formal French prétendument
is also very common. In more
colloquial French, it would be
more natural to use soi-disant
adverbially: il l’a soi-disant
poignardée (they say he
stabbed her), il est sorti, soidisant
pour acheter du pain
(he’s gone out, supposedly to
buy some bread). In passing,
it is worth remembering that
soi-disant is also an
(invariable) adjective
meaning ‘so-called’: ce soidisant
maçon…
With ‘reputedly’, French
has to transpose: il passe pour
le meilleure dans son
domaine (he is reputedly the
best in his field).
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