carstenhag | corrigez-moi

[hybrid scarab]

Please be patient

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[spiral badger]

C’est très aimable à vous.

[amber peak]

Ok... Pourquoi ? :D

Parce que je croyais que "à" signifie "at"/"in"/"to"

In english, german and spanish I'd say "it was very kindful from you"

and not "it was very kindful to you"

[rigid trellis]

that's true, but that's how it is said. You could also say "c'est très aimable de votre part"

[amber peak]

So it's just a sort of exception I guess? Or is there a rule? Chatgpt says something about à putting the focus on the person who has done it (vous)

[spiral badger]

Sometimes it’s because the sound is better like that. Sound good for the ears.

[rigid trellis]

It looks like an exception to me indeed, because using "à" doesn't really make sense grammatically

"de" seems better, "coming from you"

[amber peak]

Yeah

My girlfriend (German, but Francophile, went to french school in Germany) told me de is correct

[rigid trellis]

"à" would be more like, "you possess the kindness"

[amber peak]

But I will take your response as more authentic haha

[rigid trellis]

we wouldn't say "c'est très aimable de vous"

but de votre part

literally (from your part)

[spiral badger]

On dit bien « merci à vous »

Merci à qui ? À vous.
Merci de quoi ? De votre part.

[rigid trellis]

Yeah, but "merci à vous" feels more natural, like you're saying "thanks to you", the thanks goes to the other person, hence the "à"

Maybe it came from here for "aimable à vous", who knows

[amber peak]

Ok, thanks a lot. I'll save it in my head as a language quirk

[spiral badger]

vous êtes aimable de …
C’est bien aimable à vous de

[amber peak]

une curiosité :D

[spiral badger]

Peut être que c’est une phrase « inversée »

[dusty summit]

Les prépositions sont pas traduisibles entre les langues donc il faut toujours se souvenir du contexte dans lequel elle apparait

It’s actually a standard possessive structure here where « être » takes à when followed by a noun.
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/possessive-a/

[amber peak]

Yeah I understand, but of course I try to build bridges in my head with the other languages I speak - specifically catalan, which is somewhat close :)