ash_6474_

[dark thorn]

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.

[noble sundial]

It means he not only listens to all three, but can talk to you about anything from 'classical, to tango, to hard rock.' 'En passant par' here means that he reaches 'hard rock' by way of 'tango':
Classical -> Tango -> Hard rock.

[lost pike]

Oooh, so it's not like in English where I would have said "he listens to everything from classical to hard rock, from (other genre) to tango"?

[noble sundial]

It's like when you give someone directions:

You can reach the museum by way of the station.
'En passant par' just introduces an intermediate location before reaching the destination.

It literally translates to 'in passing by' and is in a form called 'le gérondif'.

[lost pike]

Ahh, so for once, it's actually literal here.

[noble sundial]

It's what you'd have in English when saying things like

In saying those words, he made a big mistake.
En disant/prononçant ces mots, il a commis une grave erreur.

[noble sundial]

Yeah, no real hidden meaning here.

[lost pike]

So this is the sentence I originally looked up: Elle évoluera "à une époque où l’IA [intelligence artificielle] et l’automatisation sont totalement intégrées dans la vie quotidienne, de l’éducation aux lieux de travail en passant par les soins de santé et les loisirs".

Basically means that AI will be integrated in everyday life like education and workplaces by way of (how it is currently used in) health and hobbies

[noble sundial]

There are other forms of it too, of course:

She saw it when passing by the window.
Elle l'a vu en passant devant la fenêtre.

[noble sundial]

Yep.

[lost pike]

That makes so much more sense now, thank you so much!

[narrow torrent]

Imagine you go from Town A to Town B. You will cross some other places on the way there. That's what "en passant par" means. Of course the things in question need to be relevant to the elements in the "de... à..." structure.

[lost pike]

Yeah Casca explained it, thank you! I didn't realize that it was being used literally in the example sentence.

[river elm]

du classique au hard rock en passant par le tango
Pour moi c'est juste que le classique et le hard rock sont deux extrêmes opposés, et que le tango est un genre assez rare donc ils ont voulu le mentionner pour montrer qu'il écoute vraiment de tout