J'ai croisé mon voisin

A few weeks ago we were discussing unexpectedly "bumping/running into" someone we know. "tomber" was the best translation. Chantal pointed out that "croiser" is used if you see someone you know but don't talk to them. I just found in my notes "J'ai croisé mon voisin" which is defined as "I bumped into..." In English, if you see someone you know, but don't speak to them, you say that you "saw" them. "Bumping/running into" them means you spoke. If you merely saw them but want to underline the coincidence or anything humorous about seeing them (you dislike them or find them ridiculous), you would do so by laughing, smiling or other facial communication. But it seems "croiser" is used to indicate that you saw someone you know but didn't stop to talk to them. Not even "hello?" (In English, I'd say a mere "hello" would warrant "bumped into" though you'd then explain that that was the extent of the encounter.)

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Permalink Reply by Chantal Savignat on March 12, 2013 at 6:47am

Hello Alan.

It's very difficult because we don't know the slight differences in the other language. And even, in French (and I suppose it's the same thing in English) a word can have a meaning and be used with a extend meaning. then I gonna try to give the situation :

to understand "croiser", think that two people are walking in opposite directions, and when they pass each other without stopping =>"ils se croisent" , so "croiser son voisin" has the same first meaning, but if you are walking or in stairs, you are going up and he is going down, you can say "hello" or not, or even say quickly "hello, how do you do ?", the word "croiser" can be used if you are driving or riding too. The idea is that you don't stop so you can't really speak with your neighbor, It's rather politeness.

"saw" : we can say "j'ai vu le voisin", in his first meaning, it means that you were somewhere (you were walking in the street or seated in a garden, ... ), and your neighbor was not far (he were walking, or seated too) and you saw him. But he could be in the other side of the street, or in the other side of the garden, or just in front of you. we don't know anything else : if you spoke, or not.

But I said "in the first meaning" but don't forget that in spoken language, there are a lot of possibilities, and all these words are often used as extended.