"If I may say so, you have very good taste!"
Translation:Si je peux me permettre, vous avez très bon goût !
22 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
2185
"si je peux me permettre, vous avez DE tres bon gout"
Why there is no "de" for "gout"? In English, it seems more natural to say "you have a good taste". Is it not true?
someone proposes "un tres bon gout". I believe it should be "de" in place of "un".
- 2310
If you add the "a" for "a good taste" it sounds like I am a cannibal and you have a good flavor. :)
In English, "taste" is either uncountable or plural '("tastes") when used to speak of someone's preferences. When paired with "good", it's almost invariably uncountable: "good taste".
My research suggests that in French, "avoir de bons goûts" is possible, but "avoir bon goût" is the common idiomatic expression. "Avoir de bon goût" doesn't seem to be used, but "être de bon goût", "to be tasteful" or "to be in good taste", is a valid expression about a circumstance or thing.
I think that "Si je peux le dire, vous avez très bon goût" could be another acceptable answer.
Both "le dire" and "dire" on its own appear to be possible, with either "peux" or "puis":
- http://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/si+je+peux+dire
- http://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/si+je+puis+dire
- http://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/si+je+peux+le+dire
- http://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/si+je+puis+le+dire
And "peux" and "puis" both appear to be possible with "permettre" as well:
- http://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/si+je+peux+me+permettre
- http://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/si+je+puis+me+permettre
As for relative amounts of usage, shades of formality, or degrees of old-fashionedness, I'll have to leave that to others, but I note that the English translation is often the same.
Si je peux le dire sounds more like If I can say so. It's not as polite as puis, which sounds like may.
Puis-je? or je puis? I have't seen "je puis" except for literary purposes (Dumas, I think), so I am genuinely curious.
- 2310
I'm pretty sure I've got a really old grammar book in my classroom with "je puis," but now you've got me thinking! It sounds so old-fashioned, you are right.
It would be interesting to see what an old grammar book has to say. ;-)
- 665
That's what I wrote and it was marked wrong. (They insist on "puis," which I've never learned, instead of "peux.") I came here to find out why.
i went through the whole chat and still don't understand: is using "me permettre' is the only option to say this sentanse? i tried " dire" with different variations but none of them has been accepted.
I wrote... Si je peux dire cela, tu as un tres bon goute.
And it came back telling me that goute should be gout. So I wrote again the following. Si je peux dire cela, tu as un tres bon gout.
And now it wants me to say. Si je peux me permettre, vous avez très bon goût
The question is that why it did not accept the second version? I realize that perhaps puis would be a more polite way of saying. So would ....Si je puis dire cela, tu as un tres bon gout...be a correct answer? In other words ...must we use.... me permettre.... always. Because the later also does not mean may I. It means.. (If) i am allowed. There is a difference between MAY and ALLOW. I hope I am making sense.
Follow up on the above. I experimented with writing ...Si je puis dire cela, tu as un tres bon gout...and it came back and suggested....Si je peux dire cela, tu as un tres bon gout. It had earlier rejected that as noted above and the second time when I wrote, ....Si je peux dire cela, tu as un tres bon gout... it went through. So what is the REAL answer here?
the question is, if i once correct the first part of the sentence with the suggested solution, why does it come back again and again with a different expression?? I experienced this "mistake" elsewhere, too... And as I read the comments below, I am not alone with this problem.
- 1691
After reporting it, I have an email from DL saying "Si je peux le dire, tu as très bon goût" is now accepted. :-)