miloowyn

[uneven junco]

Please be patient

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

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[umbral tinsel]

french cant really be translated literally so this works. “Ça me tente bien” is like “That tempts me” which would be synonymous with “That sounds good to me”

[lilac axle]

It does, yes, but it’s more idiomatically translated as ‘I’m up for that’ or ‘That sounds great to me’

Though without context I personally wouldn’t use it here

[craggy fiber]

Ohh I see, so it's more of an expression?

[lilac axle]

Yeah

[craggy fiber]

What would you use instead, might I ask?

[umbral tinsel]

Ça marche for me. but idk if that usable

[lilac axle]

Well it depends. If someone’s offering me to go for a cup of coffee, « ça me tente bien » works. If someone’s asking me for an opinion on something like this paper or something, « ça m’a l’air bon »

Both would be translated as, ‘It seems good to me’

[craggy fiber]

Ohhh that makes much more sense! Thanks so much

[lilac axle]

« Ça te dit d’aller au café ? (Do you fancy going to the coffee shop?)
– Bon, ça me tente bien. (Yeah, seems good to me.) »

« Cette rédaction, qu’est-ce que tu en penses ? (This paper, what do you think about it?)
– Ça m’a l’air bon, t’inquiète pas. (Seems good to me, don’t worry about it.) »

[craggy fiber]

For that second sentence, can you say "Pas de problème" after "Ça m'a l'air bon"?

Or would that sound a bit awkward?

[lilac axle]

If it’s just « pas de problème », no. It’s because this expression is fixed as a response to a thank-you so using it elsewhere is weird.
If it’s just « il y a pas de problème », it can work since it’s just a regular sentence and not a fixed expression

It’s the difference between:
‘Looks great to me, no prob.’
‘Looks great to me, no problems here/there’s no problem.’

(‘no prob’ is an expression; the other two aren’t)

[craggy fiber]

So it'd be Ça m'a l'air bon, il y a pas de problème?

[lilac axle]

Yeah

Means that you found nothing wrong with the paper and all looks good

[craggy fiber]

Ahh, thanks! Sorry.. but another question, why can't you say "C'est pas de problème?"

[lilac axle]

It doesn’t work like that

‘It’s no problem’ is a fixed expression

[craggy fiber]

Oh... is it because C'est is more of a "It is/this is" type of word?

[lilac axle]

Which one sounds right?
(A) Yeah, it’s no problem with the software, but the hardware.
(B) Yeah, it’s not a problem with the software, but the hardware.

[craggy fiber]

If it's a fixed expression, why can we add "il y a" to pas de problem in the first place?

[craggy fiber]

B

[lilac axle]

A fixed expression in English

[craggy fiber]

Ohhhh

Sorry, sorry sorry

[lilac axle]

Hence you can’t translate that literally

[craggy fiber]

I get it now, thank you very much

[lilac axle]

Right because ‘it’s no problem’ is a fixed expression

[craggy fiber]

I understand, thanks for taking your time with me, I can be a bit slow

[lilac axle]

No problem (yes that is on purpose)