#QUITTER FRENCH SERIES#

Quitter is also used when you are departing from a place, like partir. Also takes être in the passé composé, like partir. Again, to specify the from and the to, you use de and pour, respectively. That’s why military people make sorties: they are going outside of the relative safety of camp (back in history, “camp” was actually a fortified enclave) to explore, to go on a mission, to make a rescue. This is the one you see on the exit side of a door: SORTIE. Sortir is used when you are going out of a place. In the past tense, use être to conjugate. When you want to specify where you are leaving from, you say partir de, and if you want to specify where you are headed, you say partir pour. Partir is used when you are departing from a place. One at a time, now, and keep reading to the bottom of the post for examples that you can compare with each other: The difference is in the nuances of meaning, as well as in the grammar. The fact is, they all mean leave, in one sense or another. Uh-oh, you know we’re in trouble when there are four verbs in the title and only one in the translation. Today’s sound file is all the way at the bottom of the post. Copy or make up some examples and make a point of using them every day until you feel comfortable using quitte à spontaneously.Paar-TEER, sore-TEER, kee-TAY, less-SAY. Now that you know how quitte à works, you will certainly hear it if you listen to a lot of French, especially at a more sophisticated level.

If I have to work hard, I like to enjoy what I do and make money. Quitte à travailler fort, j’aime autant avoir du plaisir et faire de l’argent. In the following example, notice how quitte à is a simple way of avoiding an si (if) construction in French. He says out loud what he thinks, at the risk of ruffling some feathers.Īs we see, quitte à translates into: even though it means, and then, even at the risk of, even if it entails, thereby, though it may mean, maybe. Il dit tout haut ce qu’il pense, quitte à froisser des sensibilités. We are going to review all the proposals, and maybe even change the deadline if necessary. Nous allons examiner toutes les propositions, quitte à repousser la date butoir. I love how quitte à is such a compact and concise way of introducing a secondary idea in a sentence. Quitte à me répéter, je tiens à dire que ceci est une occasion en or.Īt the risk of repeating myself, I want to say that this is a golden opportunity. I really want to get this painting, even if it means paying double the asking price. Je veux absolument avoir ce tableau, quitte à payer le double du prix demandé. One of my favourite expressions is quitte à as used in: If you ever want to impress with your knowledge of French, this will be up your alley.

#QUITTER FRENCH SERIES#

Or expressions with faire: quel temps fait-il ? (what is the weather like?), faire attention (pay attention), faire l’idiot (act the fool), etc.īut how about something more sophisticated? In a series of posts, I would like to introduce some useful expressions and constructions that are widely used by native speakers but less so by non-natives because they can be a bit tricky. I’m sure many readers here are familiar with the basic French idioms like expresssions with avoir: avoir faim (to be hungry), avoir soif (to be thirsty) or elle a quinze ans (she is 15 years old).

This is often what we mean by thinking directly in French as opposed to translating from our native language. The hallmark of really proficient spoken French is the accurate use of idiomatic expressions and constructions.

Quitter french