N'importe quoi ("nonsense") translation into EnglishWhat clicked for me abruptly when reading this lesson is that there is a relatively good translation that comes to mind: "whatever". Now, my English grammar isn't academic level, but the original meanings of both "n'importe quoi" and "whatever" would appear to to suggest "anything".
Example: "take anything you want" / "take whatever you want"
The similarity is astonishing when you consider the other use of "whatever", namely, "used to express astonishment or perplexity"
Example: "whatever do you mean by that", but also "Whatever!"
I'd be interested in hearing whether this brings clarity on the popular meaning of "n'importe quoi" in French, as it seems to parallel English so closely in its deviation from tradition.
Hi there;
Can I spell out my difficulty with this?
The three sample sentences are (and I've re-ordered the clauses on one to make my point clear):
Depuis que j'ai quatre ans, je porte des lunettes.
Depuis que vous nous l'avez dit, nous le savons.
Depuis que je t'ai rencontré, ma vie a complètement changé.
In the first two examples, the second clause of each is in the present tense; why not in the third example?
Best wishes,
Hugh
What clicked for me abruptly when reading this lesson is that there is a relatively good translation that comes to mind: "whatever". Now, my English grammar isn't academic level, but the original meanings of both "n'importe quoi" and "whatever" would appear to to suggest "anything".
Example: "take anything you want" / "take whatever you want"
The similarity is astonishing when you consider the other use of "whatever", namely, "used to express astonishment or perplexity"
Example: "whatever do you mean by that", but also "Whatever!"
I'd be interested in hearing whether this brings clarity on the popular meaning of "n'importe quoi" in French, as it seems to parallel English so closely in its deviation from tradition.
Do the masculine and feminine of fier and fière sound the same in the spoken language?
Why in this sentence for pizza is not used partitive article de la (some pizza). Thanks
In the question presented, it said she had missed her bus and therefore had to ____________. I put "aller a pied" and the answer came up as "marcher". This does not seem to agree with the explication in the lesson.
Anna
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