Comments | astolat: Any french speakers around?

astolat

Any french speakers around?

Sep 22, 2020 11:43

Are there any native French speakers out there on my flist who could give me a quick consult on a line? I want a teenage character saying something roughly like: "How did he make them come apart like that? I have absolutely no idea. I was sure he was about to die." Ideally in a casual/slangy way, not a literal translation or anything. *peers around ( Read more... )

Comments 4

chonaku55 September 22 2020, 16:05:31 UTC

I would say :

"Comment il a pu les séparer ? Absolument aucune idée (or less closer than your version: "J'en sais rien"). J'étais sûr(e) qu'il était en train de mourir"

If you want a more "rude" way to say it, you can say "crever" instead of "mourir". "Claquer" exists too. Also, is the teenage a gir, a boyor neither?

berylia September 22 2020, 16:43:24 UTC

"Comment il a réussi à les séparer ?
J'en ai aucune idée.
J'étais sûr qu'il allait crever (was going to die) / qu'il était sur le point de claquer (was about to die)."
I went with a more colloquial language, crever claquer is indeed to die in a very slangy way, you wouldn't say that in an essay.
And if you want more casual you add a "putain" somewhere, we are a very misogynistic language.

jainas September 23 2020, 18:25:36 UTC

Native french speaker here also, of all the translations given here and on DW this one feels the most natural to me.
And if you what to add the putain it could go there:
Comment il a réussi à les séparer ?
J'en ai aucune idée.
Putain, j'étais sûr qu'il allait crever...

ext_5531116 September 22 2020, 17:27:02 UTC

Good replies on this! I'm a native English speaker but I've lived in Quebec for thirteen years and worked a lot as a translator, so I'll add my two cents. I'm curious what you mean by "come apart"? "Séparer" is the verb for separating two things that are stuck together, but here are some other options:

défaire ("Comment il les a défait comme ça?), more like dismantle or undo
éclater, ("Comment il les a fait éclaté"), implies that the thing burst or was blown up
écarter, ("Comment il les a écarté"), means to move a thing some distance from another thing

I hear a lot of French speakers use the slang, "kaput", so you could render that last exchange as, "Aucune idée. J'étais sûr qu'il était kaput." Or maybe, "J'aurais dit qu'il était kaput" ("I would have said he was toast")

Basically translating is all about options. Good luck!