What is the difference between "I am not working", "I don't work"?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on August 12, 2011 at 4:10am

Depending on exactly your interpretation of "using the verb", the answer is basically: no.

 

Unlike English, French doesn't as a matter of course encode this difference in the choice of verb construction. You can obviously, through choice of words, make the distinction when the speaker deems it necessary to do so. But as I say, it's not systematically made in the same way as English.

 

In English, it seems like there's a "huge" difference because the language has evolved in such a way that, in order to create a grammatical sentence in the present tense, we have no choice but to make this distinction. But arguably, we as English speakers think of it as a "huge" difference precisely because the grammar of our particular language happens to force us to make it.

 

To a native French speaker, the difference between "tu" and "vous" is also a "huge" difference, whereas to a native English speaker it's completely superfluous in many cases. But that also doesn't mean that English is incapable of differentiating between an informal and honorific form of address where necessary.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Montgomery Rouse on August 12, 2011 at 10:26am

Good post Neil, thank you. Time to look at modal and subjuntive constructions maybe? Doesn't French tend to rely on vocabulary to construct these differences? That's all that I can add from my last three hour research - so travaille vs. chômage would identify what I don't work means - shame there's no verb chômager. ;-/

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Erwan on August 12, 2011 at 12:38pm

The verb chômer exists.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Montgomery Rouse on August 13, 2011 at 5:38am

does it mean to be unemployed or to be on the dole (if you get what I mean)?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Erwan on August 13, 2011 at 9:13am

It means to be unemployed.

Here are some examples of use :

Dimanche est un jour chômé : Sunday is a day off

Aujourd'hui je n'ai pas chômé : Today I've been working hard

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Montgomery Rouse on August 13, 2011 at 9:35am

Thanks!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on August 13, 2011 at 4:04pm

Just a small point: I think "unoccupied" might explain the concept slightly better to an English speaker. "Unemployed" tends to strongly suggest "sans emploi", "au chômage".

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Erwan on August 13, 2011 at 10:54am

By the way, you probably know it but you can translate "to be on the dole" by être au chomage.

A slang version exists : être sur le carreau . You can use it for loosing a job, a girlfriend/boyfriend

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Montgomery Rouse on August 13, 2011 at 1:46pm

Didn't see that even that in my Oxford Hachette - nice idiom - I guess literally I've put her/him on the "diamond dole", for chucking s.o. - bit harsh! ;-/

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on August 12, 2011 at 4:26pm

Modal constructions are very roughly similar in English to French. In a strict syntactic sense, there's essentially no such thing as a modal verb in French. But, French has a few "ordinary" verbs which map quite closely on to some of the English modal verbs (so for example, pouvoir, while possibly not a "modal" verb in a strict sense, nontheless covers quite closely the functions of English modals "can", "may", "might").

 

Unlike English, French does have subjunctive forms, but they don't really have anything per se to do with the "he works"/"he is working" distinction.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Montgomery Rouse on August 13, 2011 at 5:41am

Right. I am coming back to French for the first time since school and need to get to beyond A-level fairly fast - I am drilling paradigms and I can see that modal constrctions are included in the conditional (and I've got the general idea of the subjunctive etc;) - I don't remember semantics being this difficult 30 years ago! ;-/

• ▶ Reply