kristina178

[bold stump]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[final canopy]

Aside from « dont elle avait le secret » which I guess can be translated to ‘which only she knew about’, sentence is understandable to me. What trips you up?

[stone cipher]

Dont [sujet] a le secret is idiomatic and means only the person has the (perceived) talent to do the action in question.
Here, it means "only she knew how to say".

[final canopy]

Perhaps it would be better to break it up into its clauses and try and understand them one by one?
Main clause: « Elle ne prononçait jamais une de ces phrases brèves. »
Subordinate clause 1: « Après les nombreuses bêtises qui illuminaient sa conversation »
Subordinate clause 2: « Une de ces phrases aurait couvert la pauvre Elsa de ridicule »
Expression: « Une de ces phrases brèves dont elle avait le secret »

[coarse rain]

I can see how “après les nombreuses bêtises qui illuminaient la conversation” could cause some confusion as the subject here is implied rather than explicitly stated

So, who is the one saying the “nombreuses bêtises” and how would we know from context?

[final canopy]

I think what tripped up OP when answering this was that the main clause was interrupted by a subordinate clause and they might’ve thought « après les nombreuses bêtises … » was part of the main clause

[gloomy garden]

Thanks, but what does illuminer mean ?

Can someone pls translate the entire sentence