Et alors ? - So what ? And then ? So ?
Certain expressions in French can not be understood just by looking into the dictionary meaning of words which occur in the concerned expression . It takes much efforts to understand and appreciate certain expressions and their nuances. One such expression is " Et alors ? "
Observe the following dialogue .
Ravi tells me that he won't be attending your daughter's marriage .
So what ?
In the above dialogue, by saying " so what ? " , the speaker expresses his feeling that he does not care whether Ravi attends his daughter's wedding or not. It is not of much consequence to him. Now go through the French version of the above dialogue .
Ravi me dit qu'il ne peut pas assister au mariage de votre fille.
Et alors ?
Another example
Demain il faut être à la classe à 9 heures .
Et alors ?
Tomorrow you should be in the class at 9 am .
And then ?
Can you make out that the student who is irritated with the teacher's order reacts by asking " and then ? ".
One more example
Ton comportement ne me plaît pas , Martin.
Et alors ?
I don't like your behavior , Martin .
So ?
The expression " et alors ? ( so ) means that Martin does not care when the speaker tells him that he does not like his behavior .
I think I have conveyed the sense of " et alors " to you. Please listen carefully when native French talk to each other ( films, YouTube videos etc ) and from the contexts understand the use of this expression .
À bientôt !
T. K. Jayaraman
29/07/2015
Bangalore
No comments:
Post a Comment