french

How can I translate the French expression “travailler en alternance” to English?

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I am looking to translate the expression travailler en alternance into English. I have found several answers on the internet but none seems to match my use case. I am still at school and I am working part time on school project to learn and part time for a company. The French phrase expresses this … Read more

There is any relation between the English verb “ask” and the French expression “est-ce que”?

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I was thinking about the pronunciation of the English verb “ask” and how it’s similar to the French expression “est-ce que”, used to start questions in some cases. I searched for the origin of “ask” in the Oxford Dictionary of English (which comes with every Mac) and it states the following: Old English āscian, āhsian, … Read more

Debutante in a sporting context?

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The Collins English Dictionary defines a “debutant” as “a person who is making a first appearance in a particular capacity, such as a sportsperson playing in a first game for a team” As the origins of this word lie in the French language, would it be correct to label a female sportsperson making her first … Read more

Repetition of “their”

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I’m currently translating from French to English and can’t decide how to translate a sentence without the repetition of their being weird. All around the world States are thinking about and are seeking out their “competitive advantages”. Where can they make a difference in the big globalisation game? How can they maximize their image and … Read more

Are there specific texts, such as French/English poetry, in which the word romance was originally used, and popularized in?

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I’m curious about what the meaning of the word was originally and it seems to refer to song. I’ve found so far that it simply means "fiction", or "novel" (romans in French). I have a keen interest to learn more about Pythagoras, a counter of notes, and supposedly the Hyperborean Apollo who invented music. I … Read more

“I could have lunch before you arrived.”

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I’m having a discussion on Duolingo about this sentence in French that translates into: I was able to have lunch before you arrived. An alternate translation (also accepted by Duolingo) goes like this: I could have lunch before you arrived. It sounds odd, and I would certainly never say it like that, but is the … Read more

Why have English words adopted the feminine version of French words with -if endings?

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There seems to be a pattern with English words using the ending -ive to have been adopted from the French female variant. Eg: [english <- french(masculine/feminine)] active <- act(if/ive) massive <- mass(if/ive) motive <- mot(if/ive) abusive <- abus(if/ive) competitive <- compétit(if/ive) positive <- posit(if/ive) progressive <- progress(if/ive) Why is it that the English language more … Read more