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.
Is this translation a mistake? It says this means to sunbathe, but the dictionary says it is to sugarcoat...? Merci!
I noticed that only the 3rd person singular has the circonflexe on the i (Tu plais à Luc vs Elle plaît à Luc ). Is there a reason for this? Just curious.
in the exercise there's a word used "sûrement" as "probably",
however here it says it means "certainly":
http://dictionnaire.sensagent.leparisien.fr/SUREMENT/fr-fr/
and here seems to be meaning both:
https://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/s%C3%BBrement?utm_source=reversoweb&utm_medium=contextresults&utm_campaign=resultpage
I was not aware that se dépêcher can often be followed by the preposition "de".
So could I say: "Je me dépêche d'y arriver à l'heure"?
Thank you for your wonderful website. Adelaida.
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.
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