[lit-ideas] Re: Il N'Y A Personne
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 06:15:53 EDT
In a message dated 6/8/2009 6:10:35 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
palma@xxxxxxxx writes:
false
as in la eprsonne qui a dit que personne est seulement la traduction de
no-one
----
Granted; but, with all due respect, is that _good_ French?
In most manuals of Style, they say, do not use 'person'.
The fact remains that, with 'rien' and 'personne', the French don't feel
the need to _negate_, since the noun carries the negative bit:
"Je n'ai rien"
"Il n'y a personne"
----
Why?
I admit the French are confused about 'step', which is what 'pas' means.
"Je ne veux pas manger, merci"
"I won't be eating, thanks -- step." I find the addition of "step" otiose.
JLS
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