aller au-devant de

i found this expression among some old notes. it means "to go and meet someone." I've yet to encounter it and always see this expressed as "aller chercher." Is the new phrase heard occasionally or has it fallen out of use? merci d'avance

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on March 26, 2014 at 1:27am

Not that familiar with it myself but I think you can say "aller à l'encontre de qq'un" .

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Permalink Reply by Vedas on March 26, 2014 at 8:23am

Hello,

- aller ou se porter au-devant de qn: to go and meet sb; quite common expression

- courir ou se précipiter au-devant de qn: to run to meet sb;

you can also come across:

-allez au devant des désirs de quelqu'un: to anticipate sb's wishes

- allez au-devant des problèmes (quite common): to court trouble

- il va au-devant d'une défaite: he's heading for failure

- allez au devant de ses obligations: to do more than what's expected of one

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Permalink Reply by alan gould on March 26, 2014 at 3:55pm

actually you mean "aller à la rencontre...

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on March 27, 2014 at 1:41pm

Yes I think you are right. It seems that "aller à l'encontre de...." can be translated as "run counter to ....."

Those are nice examples of "aller au devant" from Vedas .I t seems like a nice elegant use of words.