#hexdolk

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wooden agateBOT
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Please be patient

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thin summit
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Well no, what isn't false to say? The phrase.

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Therefore, it's the subject.

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It's « à dire » because « à » carries a connotation of passivity.
'The phrase, which is not wrong/false to say/to be said'

foggy shuttle
foggy shuttle
thin summit
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You can try and learn to parse subordinate clauses. Is it « La phrase n'est pas fausse à dire » or « C'est pas faux de dire la phrase » ?

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Aha

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I knew you'd ask that

foggy shuttle
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I don't think I understand what you mean by the connotation of passivity.

thin summit
foggy shuttle
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For example: "La maison, qui est facile à voir"

thin summit
# foggy shuttle I don't think I understand what you mean by the connotation of passivity.

Okay so I'll take my example from above:
« La phrase n'est pas fausse à dire. »
« Ce n'est pas faux de dire la phrase. »

Here, with the first one, the subject is personal. What is difficult to say concerns the subject. With the second, the subject is impersonal. It's just there to explain something being difficult; what is difficult doesn't concern the subject.

thin summit
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La maison est facile à voir vs C'est facile de voir la maison

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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For qui/que, try and remake the original clause

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that'll help you a lot in understanding it

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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I worded that wrong

thin summit
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Now, in oral French, you can have this 'redoubling'. For example, in standard French you can say, « Le gâteau est délicieux à manger ». However, in oral speech, you might hear, « Le gâteau, c'est délicieux à manger. »
The translator thinks that your 'it is easy to see' would be the latter example.

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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That's because usually with an impersonal subject there would be more stuff after the verb at the end:
« C'est facile de voir la maison de cette distance. »

foggy shuttle
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Maybe you use "de" after direct objects?

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As in:

image.png
thin summit
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Not really

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That's an indirect verb right there

foggy shuttle
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So the translator is just wrong?

thin summit
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If you just say, 'It's easy to see', the translator has to choose between 'The house (it) is easy to see (La maison, c'est facile à voir)' and 'It's easy to see the house (C'est facile de voir la maison)'. Because you just put 'it's easy to see', the translator opts for the first one because the second structure always requires there to be an object, be it direct or indirect, after the verb.

foggy shuttle
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Merci !

thin summit
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« Le gâteau (c')est délicieux à manger »
–> No object after verb
« C'est délicieux à manger le gâteau »
-> Object after verb

foggy shuttle
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For example:
La maison, c'est facile à voir.
C'est facile à voir la maison.

thin summit
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but that's oral French

foggy shuttle
foggy shuttle
thin summit
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Oral French has this phenomen (I have no idea how to spell this word, all I can remember is French « phénomène ») where they would repeat the subject to add emphasis. This is what adding c'est does. It repeats the subject. Because the subject is repeated, it can be either at the front or the back.

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If it's at the back, you do need a comma (or a pause if you're speaking it orally) to denote that it's an emphatic thing

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« Le gateau**,** c'est délicieux à manger. »
« C'est délicieux à manger**,** le gâteau. »

foggy shuttle
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But why is it "C'est facile d'apprendre" but "C'est delicieux à manger"

thin summit
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Again, you have to have context here

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« C'est facile d'apprendre le français »
« Le français, c'est facile à apprendre »

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« C'est délicieux de manger le gâteau »
« C'est délicieux à manger, le gâteau »

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You can't just pick the « c'est X à/de verbe »

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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When you see « c'est », what is the « ce » representing, a personal subject (le gâteau, le français) or an impersonal subject?

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That's the essential point

foggy shuttle
thin summit
foggy shuttle
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You can't say "C'est délicieux à manger, ce"

thin summit
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« C'est » being impersonal is the reason why you have « de »

thin summit
foggy shuttle
thin summit
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« C'est délicieux à manger, ça. J'aime bien le gâteau. »

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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The second one isn't

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That's why there's a comma in the second one and not the first

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The comma is there to show you that « le gâteau » is separate and is there for emphasis

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That's why the key bit to remember is to know what « ce » represents. If it represents an impersonal subject, it'll be « de ». If it represents a personal subject, it'll be « à ».

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Before I explain the whole emphasis thing, I have to ask: Is your native language English?

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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Or do you understand English to a fluent level?

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It'll make explaining emphasis easier

thin summit
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okay please answer my question on English above

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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Alright so you know how in English, we can make certain parts of a sentence emphasised by using our volume? 'I love her' and 'I love her' are pronounced differently (the bolded parts are pronounced louder) because the first puts the emphasis on the subject while the second puts the emphasis on the object. With me so far?

foggy shuttle
thin summit
# foggy shuttle Right.

French doesn't have this. Stress is fixed at a sentence boundary so we can't have something like « Je l'aime » and « Je l'aime ». Therefore, to emphasise certain words in French, you repeat them. Thus, the equivalents are thus:
I love her = Moi, je l'aime.
I love her = Je l'aime, elle.

With me so far?

foggy shuttle
thin summit
# foggy shuttle Right.

Now, I've put the stressed pronouns at the start and end to further make my point, but the fact is that they can be anywhere. « Je l'aime, moi » and « Elle, je l'aime » are also valid as equivalents of 'I love her' and 'I love her' respectively. Still with me?

foggy shuttle
thin summit
# foggy shuttle Right.

Now back to « c'est délicieux à/de manger ».
In « c'est délicieux à manger, le gâteau », it's following that exact structure. We have « ce » representing something personal, « le gâteau », and then the noun itself is repeated for emphasis. The basic structure is still « le gâteau est délicieux à manger », it's just that we've switched « le gâteau » for « ce » and instead turned it into an emphatic structure. That's why we can have either « le gâteau, c'est délicieux à manger » or « c'est délicieux à manger, le gâteau »; « le gâteau » is there as emphasis for personal « ce ».
In « c'est délicieux de manger le gâteau », it's not following that emphatic structure. Instead, « le gâteau » is the direct object of « manger ». Because « le gâteau » is already playing the object, it cannot play the subject too. Thus, « ce » is impersonal and we use « de ».

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Notice how in the second example with « c'est délicieux de manger le gâteau », we cannot emphasise the subject. How can we emphasise an impersonal subject? « Ça, c'est délicieux de manger le gâteau » doesn't work.

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We can, however, emphasise the object « le gâteau » :
« Le gâteau, c'est délicieux de le manger. »
« C'est délicieux de le manger, le gâteau. »

Why can we emphasise the object and not the subject? Because the object is personal.

severe steppe
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To put it simply, the impersonal subject pronoun doesn't refer to anything, so there's nothing to reduplicate.

foggy shuttle
thin summit
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Pretty important distinction

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but yes it works

foggy shuttle
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Alright.