French Translations of Simple Phrases

For French translations of simple phrases, you can tackle the job from any number of angles. You can also use simple online French to English translators, but they don't always translate the phrase perfectly or accurately, so be cautious when using them.

There are several steps you can follow in order to get accurate French translations of simple phrases.

Translation is like decoding. If you've ever done a crossword puzzle, you know that you start by filling in what you know first. You don't get hung up on the clues that seem hopelessly vague. Instead, you fill in what you know for sure as quickly as possible. Often when you have many boxes filled in, some of the unknown answers appear as if by magic, or there are enough letters filled in where you can make an educated guess.

The same holds true for translations. First write out the sentence. Pick out words that are easy to recognize. Then you can look up the missing words or phrases, fill in the blanks, and translate almost anything!

Here's an example of a French phrase taken from literature. It is a simple phrase from a complex and elegant bit of French prose, a short story by a literary master. This is from Micromégas, a short story by Volaitre:

"Rien n'est plus simple et plus ordinaire dans la nature." (Fowlie, Wallace. Les Contest Francais. Dover Publishing,1988, page 4)

While probably not as simple as asking, "Où est la salle de bain?" ("Where is the bathroom?"), this quote from Voltaire is a good example for demonstrating the translate what you know approach.

Start by identifying any words or phrases you already know or that resemble words in English. Although similarly spelled words in the two languages sometimes have different meanings, recognizing cognates is enough to help you out when you first begin translating. This step will give you a rough idea of what the sentence is about.

In the sentence above, a few words stand out and should be easily identifiable for all students, from beginning to advanced:

• simple – simple
• ordinaire – ordinary
• dans – in
• la nature – nature

You've already figured out half the sentence! If this were a crossword puzzle, you'd be well on your way to finishing the entire clue.

Now for the remainder of the sentence, you have a few choices. You can pull out a French dictionary or look online to translate "rien" and "plus". Once you have those words, the sentence really starts to come together:

"Nothing _____ more simple and more ordinary (commonplace) in nature."

It takes only a little bit more effort to figure out the negative contraction, "n'est" which means "is not"--the negation is double in French. Both 'rien' and 'ne' are required in order to mean 'nothing' in this type of construction.

And the simple phrase is translated: "Nothing is more simple and more commonplace in nature."

Use this technique whenever you're stumped translating simple phrases in French. Breaking down the sentence into parts helps, as does identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs you already know.

Guidebooks, travel guides, pocket translators and similar tools can all provide you with quick and easy translations of simple phrases. Knowing how to ask for directions, how to ask how much something is, or asking the way to the nearest bathroom are all important phrases to know.

One of the best tricks for French translations of simple phrases is to memorize key phrases. A few you might want to learn include:

• Basic_Tourist_French_Phrases – don't go to any French speaking country with memorizing these phrases.
• Common_French_Phrases – these are the basics you'll need to know for every day conversations.
• Everyday_Phrases_in_French – more phrases you'll encounter in daily life.
• How_to_Say_French_Phrases – guide to pronouncing those basic French phrases.
• Simple_French_Phrases – provides the basics of phrases you should know.
• Useful_Phrases_in_French – and more useful phrases in French to guide you through those typical daily situations.

If you find yourself at a loss for words, remember the crossword puzzle analogy and start your phrase off with the words you know. Soon you'll be able to add in the right nouns, verbs and expressions to ask questions and participate in conversation.

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