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- What could this story portend?
What could this story portend?
Hi. I am wondering if my translation of the sentence “What could this story portend” is correct. I think it’s “Que ce récit pourrait-il présager ?”, but I also think it might be “Que pourrait-il présager ce récit ?”. Which one is correct? By the way, I’m not really interested in using “qu’est-ce que” here, because it seems sort of “cheap”, ya’ know? Thank you very much for your help.
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Are you doing a translation exercise or was it your decision to use the word "portend" outside of the 19th century?
" Que pourrait présager ce récit ? " me semble, de loin, la meilleure réponse apportée à la question initiale, si on veut éviter "qu'est-ce que ce récit...". Et c'est la réponse que j'aurais donnée en premier.
Et pour rire, je vais te donner une autre suggestion, mais c'est pour rire « Où Passepartout, encore étourdi par les fumées d'opium inhalées la veille, se demande ce que le récit dont la lecture est imminente pourrait bien présager »
You can only have one verb that is conjugated. The second verb must be in the infinitive form. So "...pourrait présager". I don't see how you can consider a normal French question form as "cheap". It may seem strange to English speakers, but it sounds quite normal to French speakers.
"Que cette histoire pourrait-elle présager ?" is probably what you are looking for. Although, you may also use "récit" if you are explaining or recounting something that happened.