s’en tenir à - French Language2024-03-29T11:31:08Zhttp://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/forum/topics/s-en-tenir?commentId=3179028%3AComment%3A71466&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWhat convolutions!
I would us…tag:www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk,2012-03-26:3179028:Comment:714662012-03-26T11:46:37.885ZJean Dervinhttp://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/profile/JeanDervin
<p>What convolutions!</p>
<p>I would use "respecter" for standing by an agreement.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine anyone uttering the sentence "En y tiens-toi".</p>
<p>For "keep to the subject", I might use the opposite formulation: "Ne t'écarte pas du sujet", rather than get into linguistic mayhem like "en tiens-toi au sujet". </p>
<p>And, for example (3), I would suggest "interpréter" or even "comprendre" as possibilities.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>What convolutions!</p>
<p>I would use "respecter" for standing by an agreement.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine anyone uttering the sentence "En y tiens-toi".</p>
<p>For "keep to the subject", I might use the opposite formulation: "Ne t'écarte pas du sujet", rather than get into linguistic mayhem like "en tiens-toi au sujet". </p>
<p>And, for example (3), I would suggest "interpréter" or even "comprendre" as possibilities.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p> OK, these are excellent quest…tag:www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk,2012-03-24:3179028:Comment:713722012-03-24T01:15:45.186ZNeil Coffeyhttp://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/profile/NeilCoffey
<p>OK, these are excellent questions!</p>
<p></p>
<p>The command form-- at least in formal usage-- would be "tiens t'en à...". I don't think it would be terribly common, though-- I suspect speakers would be more likely to say e.g. "Il faut t'en tenir à...".</p>
<p></p>
<p>Then, your question regarding the clitics is also very astute. You're probably used to hearing e.g. "Il y en a..." (and with variants of "y en avoir" in general), where "y" and "en" occur together. However, it turns out that…</p>
<p>OK, these are excellent questions!</p>
<p></p>
<p>The command form-- at least in formal usage-- would be "tiens t'en à...". I don't think it would be terribly common, though-- I suspect speakers would be more likely to say e.g. "Il faut t'en tenir à...".</p>
<p></p>
<p>Then, your question regarding the clitics is also very astute. You're probably used to hearing e.g. "Il y en a..." (and with variants of "y en avoir" in general), where "y" and "en" occur together. However, it turns out that this is actually more or less the only case where "y" and "en" readily occur together (occasionally I think you'll see other cases in literary use, but it's not common). So in other cases, you need to re-arrange. You could instead say e.g.:</p>
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<p><strong> Je ne sais pas à quoi m'en tenir <span style="text-decoration: underline;">sur cela</span>.</strong></p>
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<p>Incidentally, I'm not sure that (1) and (2) really constitute separate categories-- I think the meaning in both cases would be fairly similar. The idea is "not go beyond..., not stray from/outside of the scope of ...". I suppose that in English, "stick to" might be more idiomatic for something like a contract, but I wonder if this is just a translation issue rather than a difference in meaning to a French person?</p>