Discuss and learn French.
Ever
The French word 'jamais' means never in English.
It seems there is no French word for the English word 'ever'.
I combed my dictionary.
Have you ever been to Paris?
1] Êtes-vous déjà allé à Paris?
I hardly ever see him.
Je ne le vois presque jamais.
As ever
Comme toujours
For ever
pour toujours
My first French sentence is bit awkward because the French word 'déjà' means already in English.
Maybe I am wrong here.
Please correct me.
You all might find a French word which has the meaning 'ever'.
It seems there is no French word for the English word 'ever'.
I combed my dictionary.
Have you ever been to Paris?
1] Êtes-vous déjà allé à Paris?
I hardly ever see him.
Je ne le vois presque jamais.
As ever
Comme toujours
For ever
pour toujours
My first French sentence is bit awkward because the French word 'déjà' means already in English.
Maybe I am wrong here.
Please correct me.
You all might find a French word which has the meaning 'ever'.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by stu harris on -
For the first example, "Etes-vous jamais allé à Paris" is just as good, maybe preferable.
It doesn't have the "surprised" connotation that a direct translation would have in English -- "You mean to say you've NEVER been to Paris???"
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Permalink Reply by Frank on -
For the first example, "Etes-vous jamais allé à Paris" is just as good, maybe preferable.
I beg to differ.
"Etes-vous jamais allé à Paris" wouldn't make any sense. If you want to use "jamais", you need to use a negative phrase:
N'êtes-vous jamais allé à Paris ?
However this is very formal. In fact this is something that you may read in books but that we would never say nowadays as it would really sound old and snoby.
Crack's initial proposal ("Êtes-vous déjà allé à Paris ?") is preferable and it would be perfectly acceptable in any context.
Alternatively, you can swap the subject and the verb: Vous (n')êtes jamais allé à Paris ?, but the meaning would be slightly different ("How come you've never been to Paris?").
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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on -
Frank -- I think in principle the use without the "ne" is OK, but possibly it's falling out of common usage, or maybe it doesn't work so well with common/mundane expressions like "aller à Paris", or maybe there's some other restriction.
Some examples from different sources:
"L'avez-vous jamais rencontré?"
(Thomas, "Dictionnaire des difficultñes de la langue française")
"L'avez-vous jamais vu?"
(Price, "A comprehensive French grammar")
"A-t-il jamais avoué?"
(Collins/Robert)
"Sait-on jamais?"
(Hachette/Oxford)
If you do a Google search for "avez-vous jamais", "êtes-vous jamais", you'll find other examples.
That said, the Larousse des Noms communs notes that this positive use of jamais is found "notamment après si, que".
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