se refaire

Paul F.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

se refaire

"Il faudra qu'on se refasse ça à l'occasion". I am unclear about the function of "se" in this sentence. Would it also be correct to say "Il faudra qu'on refasse ça à l'occasion" to mean "We'll have to do this again sometime"? 

Asked 1 year ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Bonjour Paul,

My concern with your proposal is the potential ambiguity in the usage of "on".

If it is written "Il faudra qu'on refasse ça à l'occasion" this could be understood to mean "one" or in a general sense.

However, what we have in this context is two friends enjoying the visit together. So to make it clear that the context of "on" means more than one in this case; then we need to use se refaire  so that the "redoing" action is the two friends being together to revisit sometime in the future.

This is my sense of the situation, but let's see what others may wish to contribute.

Hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée

Jim

Paul F.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Thanks Jim for your explanation. So to take it further, if they were to use "nous" instead of "on" in this situation, do you think they would have said "Il faudra que nous refassions ça à l'occasion", or "Il faudra que nous nous refassions ça à l'occasion" or both would be fine? 

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Paul - I think in your 2nd example ‘nous nous…’ emphasises not just doing ‘it’ again, but doing ‘it together/with each other’’ as Jim expressed in his response. Hence, as the pronominal form was used with ‘on se …’, I think ‘ nous nous..’ is the better alternative and more formal expression (if ever needed).

se refaire

"Il faudra qu'on se refasse ça à l'occasion". I am unclear about the function of "se" in this sentence. Would it also be correct to say "Il faudra qu'on refasse ça à l'occasion" to mean "We'll have to do this again sometime"? 

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