Elle ne fait pas partie de mes invités.She is not part of my guests.
In English, would never say 'part of my guests' - better translations would be either 'not one of my guests' or 'not on my guest list' (latter preferable, I think).
Look at these sentences:
Notice that to express ''to be part of something / to belong to / to be in/on'', in French you use ''faire partie de quelque chose''.
Note also that de becomes du with masculine and des with plural.
ATTENTION:
Je suis partie de Paris. actually means ''I left [from]Paris.'' (It's Le Passé Composé of 'partir')
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Q&A Forum 6 questions, 11 answers
MaartenKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Very literal translation to English, but not standard English usage
Asked 1 month ago
Bonjour Maarten et al, thank you for your comments, we've updated the lesson.
Alan Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
In fact, all of the examples in that lesson are translated too literally.
MaartenKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Alan, agree - the first is not too bad, one of the team is probably the better translation, but there are circumstances in English when 'part of the team' is used. I wrote as soon as I saw the 'part of my guests' which conjured up images of (literally) disjointed guests' 'parts'! Interestingly, my French wife (who is a translator) didn't bat an eyelid at the literal translation initially, because it was to her exactly what it means in French, and then she thought through the English meaning, and had the same reaction as I had.
Alan Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
I agree that "part of the team" is the most acceptable, but I'd prefer "be in the team" or "join the team" here. I'd use "part of the team" in contexts like "we want to make them feel part of the team".
Maarten asked:View original
Very literal translation to English, but not standard English usage
Elle ne fait pas partie de mes invités.She is not part of my guests.
In English, would never say 'part of my guests' - better translations would be either 'not one of my guests' or 'not on my guest list' (latter preferable, I think).
In English, would never say 'part of my guests' - better translations would be either 'not one of my guests' or 'not on my guest list' (latter preferable, I think).
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Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
question re kwiz question
Bonjour:) Would you please review the kwiz answer I missed in the above lesson? I did not find any of the possible choices for an answer to be particularly applicable. The actual answer seemed like it was l'imparfait situation in the past so I did not choose that one. I knew "built" was not a verb used in the choice but it seemed to imply the present tense to me. Anyway, many thanks for some clarification on this question at your convenience I hope? Merci.
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Robin,
Can you re-post this question using your ‘Report it’ in your Correction Board as it links directly to the specific quiz and makes it easier to answer your query.
Merci!
Robin asked:View original
question re kwiz question
Bonjour:) Would you please review the kwiz answer I missed in the above lesson? I did not find any of the possible choices for an answer to be particularly applicable. The actual answer seemed like it was l'imparfait situation in the past so I did not choose that one. I knew "built" was not a verb used in the choice but it seemed to imply the present tense to me. Anyway, many thanks for some clarification on this question at your convenience I hope? Merci.
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MmeKwiziq community member
So is this verb expression only applied with people? How about non-people subjects? i.e. a work being part of a series, a country part of the EU...
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Mme,
Indeed you can use 'faire partie de' for things as well as people.
e.g.
Les nations qui font partie de l' Union Européenne sont...
Ce projet fait partie d'une série de réformes économiques....
Hope this helps!
Mme asked:View original
So is this verb expression only applied with people? How about non-people subjects? i.e. a work being part of a series, a country part of the EU...
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Ron Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Stewart,
I do not find a question in your post relative to the lesson. Please repost or add your question via reply.
Bonne chance.
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AurélieKwiziq team member
Bonjour Roger !
Here is a link to our lesson related to faire in Le Subjonctif:
Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)">Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)">Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)">Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)
Bonne journée !
Here is a link to our lesson related to faire in Le Subjonctif:
Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)">Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)">Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)">Conjugate faire in Le Subjonctif Présent (subjunctive mood)
Bonne journée !
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StevenKwiziq community member
with plurals, de becomes des.....
Why isn't it "Nous ne faisons pas partie DES amis" as "ses amis" is plural? But then I guess that would apply to "de les amis", so what's going on here?
Asked 3 years ago
GruffKwiziq team member
Hi Steven, in negative expressions, we always use de or d' irrespective of plurality. See this lesson: du, de la, de l', & des all become de or d' in negative sentences
StevenKwiziq community member
Merci, une réponse très rapide!
But how do we deal with posessive articles when it's not negative?
So, "nous faisons partie (de ses) amis = .....des amis; je fais partie (de mes) invités = ....des invités?
LauraKwiziq team member
Bonjour Steven,
Possessive adjectives don't contract, so you'd say nous faisons partie de ses amis, je fais partie de mes invités, etc.
Or if you're not using the adjective, then yes, you say des amis, des invités.
Steven asked:View original
with plurals, de becomes des.....
Why isn't it "Nous ne faisons pas partie DES amis" as "ses amis" is plural? But then I guess that would apply to "de les amis", so what's going on here?
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