snowyfluffy (corrgiez-moi svp)

[mortal verge]

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.

[mystic bison]

« on me dit » = ‘one told me’ = ‘I am told’

« je suis dit » is a passive construction, and also means ‘I am told’ [EDIT: whoops, no it doesn’t! ]

But French seems to prefer using on rather than a passive, from what I’ve seen

[earnest lodge]

“Je suis dit” doesn’t work

It would mean “I am said”

[mystic bison]

wait, it doesn’t?

ah-ha

[quiet chasm]

i thought on was nous (us)

[mystic bison]

on basically means ‘one, someone’

colloquially, it can also mean ‘us’

[quiet chasm]

mhm i see

[mystic bison]

In colloquial English, you might translate « on me dit » as ‘they told me’

where ‘they’ refers to people in general

[quiet chasm]

why must on mean 3 things

[mystic bison]

It doesn’t really, though

It means one thing

which just so happens to be split up in English between three words, or possibly more

[mystic bison]

OK, I think I worked this out… « me » in « on me dit » is dative, correct?

it’s not the direct object

so you can’t passivise it directly

(speaking of which, ‘you’ is another word which English uses for an impersonal subject… in French it would be « on » again)

[mystic bison]

That is to say, in English it would be like, ‘One spoke to me’

which, actually, can be passivised in English: ‘I was spoken to’

but I’m not sure if French can do that

Yep, here’s my usual French reference on this point:

[earnest lodge]

The verb “dire” can be either to say or to tell, but when in the passive voice the meaning will get interpreted as “say”

[jolly plover]

the direct object of "dire" is the information being told, not the person who is being told the information, so using it in passive would sound like you're the information being said

[empty fable]

hi sorry for bothering you but what website it that from, id love to read more of this

[mystic bison]

It’s not from a website!

It’s from a book

Offord’s A Student Grammar of French

[empty fable]

ah ok thank you, does it have all of the main grammar chapters and concepts?

[mystic bison]

Well, I couldn’t say if it has all of them, but I’ve found it reasonably comprehensive

It covers all the main points

[empty fable]

that sounds really good, is there a free pdf or do i need to buy a kindle version?

[mystic bison]

I’m not sure

I have the PDF as part of a large set of linguistics materials

[empty fable]

jeez that must of been expensive!

[mystic bison]

No, it was just a shared folder

I have been assuming that it’s all legal…

[empty fable]

oh

[mystic bison]

Most of it is academic papers and stuff

[empty fable]

🤣

[empty fable]

wow, is it available from this server?

[mystic bison]

I’m not even sure if it’s accessible any more

If I find the link again I can DM you

[empty fable]

yea that would be great man