- Forum >
- Topic: French >
- "The bread, please."
"The bread, please."
Translation:Le pain, s'il vous plaît.
25 Comments
Either I haven't found it on another question or I've passed it up somewhere. What is the difference between using 's'il te plait' and 's'il vous plait'?
s'il te plait is less formal, as it refers to tu. S'il vous plait is either more formal or is used when speaking to a group.
"Tu" is used for family, close friends, God, etc. It would often be insulting to address a stranger with "tu" (unless they are a child). A simple rule is to always use "vous" rather than "tu" unless the other person uses "tu" with you.
Formal and informal forms of the word "you" appear in most languages. The archaic English "thou" was the informal form. Incidentally, Hindi has 3 levels of "you"!
That awkward moment when you're taking a test to test out of a simple skill, and as you're reaching for the apostrophe you hit the enter key. facepalm
Thank you for the answer. Does it mean that 'bread' is a countable noun in French, meaning that it is possible and correct to ask "Un pain, s'il vous plait" (w/ the circumflex, of course)?
That must be a bug, because there is not reason for "plaît" to change (subject: il)
Following the pattern of the earlier translation question featuring the phrase "s'il vous plait, du vin," shouldn't "s'il vous plait, le pain" also be acceptable?
In real life, yes, on Duolingo, maybe not, as you are expected to respect the order of words.
I wrote "s'il vous plaît" and Duolingo warned me about the circumflex. It said:
Correct solutions: -- Le pain, s'il vous plait. -- Le pain, s'il te plaît.
Why the changes in the circumflex between "vous" and "te"?
In France, "un pain" is a stick of @400 grams of bread. If you go to a bakery and ask for "un pain", that is what you will get. If you ask for "du pain", you will be asked "which one ?": une baguette, un pain, un bâtard, un pain de campagne, une ficelle, un pain de mie... ?
Thank you very much for this answer. Now I completely understand the word and its use. Before your explanation I was wondering how to ask for a loaf of bread, but now I get it. :) Thanks again!
If one were at a dinner party, and asking for the bread to be passed, would one ask for 'some' bread, or 'the' bread? Logically I would ask for 'le pain', because I'd not want someone just to hand over a piece of bread with their hands. But, I'm probably incorrect, and one would ask for 'du pain, s'il vous plait.
If you were at a dinner party, most probably "le pain" would be cut in pieces already, you would ask for "du pain" and you would be handed over a bread-basket of some kind for you to pick the piece you want. If you were at home (in France, I mean), probably you would only cut a piece as you need it, so you could ask for "le pain" (a bread stick, une baguette) from which you would cut off a piece (or break it off if your style is relaxed!). Note that during a formal dinner you are not allowed to cut bread with your own knife, you can break a tiny bit as needed form a bigger piece, with your fingers.
In the clause 'S'il te plaît': s' - is abbreviated 'si' which means 'if', il plaît means 'this pleases' and 'te' the direct object pronoun of the personal pronoun 'tu' - so, the ad literam translation would be "if this pleases you", and this is what the French use for "Please". I hope this analysis will be helpful :)
So "te" means "this" and "you" in the sentence "if this pleases you'?
Or is a more literal translation: "If this pleases?"
No. 'Il' is the pronoun for the third person and means 'he' or 'it' or it can also mean this in this specific case. As I have already explained, 'te' is the DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN FOR 'TU' AND IT MEANS 'YOU' (e.g. I see you. Je te vois. )
Il means this in this case. Si+il=S'il S'il te plaît=if this you pleases, that is if this pleases you. Or as it is normally said in English: please.
