De fait, en fait

In the following, is 'de fait' required as 'correct' locution, or will 'en fait' also work to the same effect? Merci. Bonne année à tous.

Candidat du gouvernement grec au poste de président, Stavros Dimas n'a pas recueilli les 180 voix nécessaires pour être élu, ce qui entraîne de fait une dissolution du Parlement et l'organisation dans les prochaines semaines de nouvelles élections législatives.

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on December 31, 2014 at 3:58pm

I think "de fait' may here mean "de facto" but used in French as an adverb whereas "de facto " is (I think) used as an adjectival phrase in English.

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Permalink Reply by Grégory on January 1, 2015 at 7:05am

'En fait' won't work to the same effect.

As George says 'de fait' means 'de facto'. One could also say 'ce qui entraîne de facto une dissolution', the meaning would remain the same.

I think 'en fait' is very close to 'actually'

-at the begining of a sentence it's just a sort of starter word with no precise meaning (A : Tu es allé où pour le réveillon ? B : En fait j'étais avec des amis et on est allé...) ; it's limited to oral style

-in the middle of a reasoning it indicates a rectification which cancels what was said before (Je pensais que ce serait dur, en fait c'était facile)

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Permalink Reply by Robert on January 1, 2015 at 9:56am

Thank you. That makes perfect sense. By the way, 'de facto' also appears as adverb in English, if at less frequency than as adjective: Absent an adult, the oldest boy became, de facto, the man of the house.