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I have taken pains to arrange a trip for him.

I took pains to arrange a trip for him.

How do you translate take pains into French?

Take is prendre in French.

Pain is 'mal in French, I think.

Mal a dos is back pains in French

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You can find quite a few different ways of expressing this idea here:

http://www.linguee.com/english-french/translation/take+pains.html

Hi!

To keep the idea of "pain" I would suggest "se donner du mal" = put a lot of effort on doing something properly and carefully.

Je me suis donné(e) (beaucoup) de/du mal pour lui organiser un voyage

The slang form you may encounter a lot in spoken language is :

Je me suis cassé(e) le cul à lui organiser un voyage

(literally: I've broken my ass to arrange a trip for him)

This is a very very bad level of language, not for writing and impolite even in spoken language.

On a larger topic, when you want to express a long and more or less complex preparation process you went trough for a result you can also use :

"Je me suis cassé la tête à/pour"  this one suggest you sorted out a very complex (almost mathematical) situation.

A complex puzzle to solve, situation or object is often called a "Casse-tête".

The difference between these expressions and the translations given by George's document  ( S'employer à, s'efforcer de, veiller à...etc.) is that in the expressions above belong to the average spoken/written French and put a lot more 'weight" on the amount of effort the subject put in what he/she did. It's usually used in a discussions where there is a judgement of all the process. If you took pain for someone and they are ungrateful, or if you were forced to take pain to do something useless in the end, or on the other hand the result is appreciated and you are proud and want to express the efforts it costed you.

S'employer, s'efforcer, veiller...etc. are more generic verbs you mostly encounter in the written language and don't put any "weight" on any part of the phrase they belong to. And of course, no judgment implied. That's why they are more used in official documents, contracts...etc. and the expressions more in normal conversation.

But in the end, ALL of these words/expressions have the same meaning :)

"Je me suis cassé(e) le cul à lui organiser un voyage" ?

I think you are in error with the final "e" in " cassé(e)"....

Even if the speaker is feminine ,surely the pronoun (me) is an indirect object and so will not agree with the subject.

Still ,it is nice to see someone  else is visiting the website ,Sandra.

You are the first contributor in 2017 -and I am the second ;)

You are right !

I made a "participe passé" mistake : 

» Les cas d'accord 
1. Le  participe passé s'accorde avec le sujet du verbe, lorsque le sujet fait l'action sur lui même.
Exemples : Ils se sont aperçus de leur erreur. / Ils se sont lavés. / Ils se sont battus.

2. Le  participe passé s'accorde avec son C.O.D en genre et en nombre lorsque le  C.O.D. précède le verbe (même règle qu'avec l'auxiliaire avoir).
Exemples : les mains qu'ils se sont lavées / les lettres qu'ils se sont écrites/ les billets qu'ils se sont répartis.

» Les cas de non-accord 
1. Le  participe passé ne s'accorde pas lorsque C.O.D. suit le verbe
Exemples : Ils se sont lavé les mains. / Ils se sont écrit des lettres./ Ils se sont réparti tous les billets.

2. Le participe passé ne s'accorde pas lorsque le verbe pronominal réfléchi ou réciproque admet unC.O.I.
Les participe passé des verbes suivants sont invariables :
se plairese complairese déplairese rirese convenirse nuirese mentirs'en vouloirse ressemblerse sourirese suffirese survivre.
Exemples : Ils se sont plu. / Ils se sont déplu dans cet appartement. / Elles se sont ri de son erreur

Happy new year then !  :)

Are "pris soin" and "pris le soin" interchangeable?

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