ainsi (que)

news in slow French said:

"De nombreuses personnes ainsi que de nombreuses organisations ont apporté leur soutien."

I studied the word "ainsi" only to be told by a very educated Parisian that it's a very formal word. Below are examples culled from "mot du jour" and "reverso" (which has even more than below). I would like to know which examples would be used in conversation.

Ainsi soit-il - So be it

Mes parents sont morts, ainsi je suis orphelin - My parents died, so I'm an orphan

C'est mieux de le faire ainsi - It's better to do it like this

ainsi que - (just) as

Ainsi que je t'ai déjà dit - Just as I've already told you

(=en procédant de cette façon) like this, in this way

Il faut faire ainsi. You do it like this., This is the way to do it.

C'est ainsi qu'il a réussi. That's how he succeeded.

(=ce faisant) so, thus

Lexitron a repris Zug et devient ainsi la première entreprise du secteur. Lexitron has taken over Zug and so becomes the leading company in the sector., Lexitron has taken over Zug, thus becoming the leading company in the sector.

(introduisant une question) so

Ainsi vous habitez l'immeuble? So you live in the building?

(autres locutions) ainsi que (=comme) just as, as

(=et aussi) as well as

ainsi que je le disais as I was saying

... ainsi que deux nouveaux romans ... as well as two new novels

pour ainsi dire so to speak, as it were

et ainsi de suite and so on and so forth, and so on

ainsi soit-il so be it

ainsi donc and so

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on April 8, 2012 at 11:29pm

I would be surprised if it was "very formal" . I don't feel confident about using it now after you have been told that though.

"Pour ainsi dire " seems to trip off the tongue as does "et ainsi de suite".

"Ainsi vous habitez l'immeuble?" seems like an opening line from the French Police ( very correct and purse lipped-a bit aggressive).

I am not sure about the other phrases.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on April 9, 2012 at 6:09am

"ainsi" is generally suitable for semi-formal written contexts (so newspaper articles, instruction manuals, academic texts, reports, commercial material etc). It's not typical of everyday, spoken usage. But it's not so unusual for it to crop up in the speech of fairly educated speakers.

I think a few of the uses you mention aren't common. "Ainsi soit-il" is probably not used to much outside religious contexts. A more common alternative is simply to say "soit!".

The main case that as far as I can tell isn't at all common is to use "ainsi" instead of "donc", "alors" as in one or two of your examples. So e.g. "Alors, vous habitez...?" would be the more common way of phrasing your question. (In fact, I wonder if speakers would confuse "Ainsi vous habitez l'immeuble?" for meaning the equivalent of "C'est ainsi que vous habitez l'immeuble?".)