"Elle est sûre de réussir dans son entreprise."
Translation:She is sure to succeed in her company.
46 Comments
Kind of a dangling inquiry: Is it we who put the likelihood of her success at 100% (as the English syntax suggests) or she is sure she will...(as the French verbal phrase être sûre de + inf implies)?
1712
The English "sure" may imply a 100% likelihood of success but that is pushing it a bit. When you want to say 100% likelihood, you might say "sûre et certain". Otherwise, it is just expressing confidence. To say absolutely, unequivocally, undeniably 100%, you will need to add some other word of emphasis to "sûre", IMO. http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/s%C3%BBr/74718
It's still unclear if it is her who is sure that she will succeed, or is it us who are sure that she will succeed. Which one is it?
- 1712
Hi, Andrius. There is a level of ambiguity that will be resolved (or not) in the surrounding conversation. My first take would be that it is the "opinion" of the speaker that "she" (third person) will succeed. However, another possible interpretation is that it is a reporting of information that the speaker has obtained about the third person, i.e., that she is sure that she will succeed. That's all about the English sentence. It would appear that the French sentence could be interpreted in both ways as well, IMO. To avoid the ambiguity, one might say, "D'après mon avis, elle est sûre de réussir dans son entreprise." So the answer to your question is: it's not certain.
I believe it is clear enough that "she/elle" being the subject of verb "is/est" and "sure/sûre" being an adjective helping to describe what the subject is, there nobody else involved in this story.
In that case, shouldn't the English construction 'she is sure of success' be acceptable?
I think that in this case the English sentence should be: She is sure that she will succeed in her company. Just like DmytroShkr said, the current syntax implies that the speaker, and not she, is sure.
Look at it this way: in a sentence “The weather is sure to be fine“ you wouldn't say that it's the weather, who is sure :) It's me, or the implied speaker, who is sure.
Hi, I interpreted the sentence as saying that she was the one who was sure she'd succeed and wrote "she is sure of succeeding in her business." It was rejected and now I don't understand why. Would appreciate clarification.
I used the word "business" instead of "company" in my translation and was marked incorrect on that basis. You could try your formulation again but using "company"
- 1715
Can this be interpreted either as she is going to succeed in the company she works for or as she is going to succeed with the company that she starts. In other words, do we understand that she is working in a going concern or that she is an entrepreneur? Or either?
Either, indeed.
"une entreprise" is either a company, business, firm or an activity you undertake.
j'ai entrepris de ranger mon grenier = I have started/undertaken to clean my attic
Could you please explain the diffenences in use of "de + inf." and "à + inf."? They seem to be the translations of similar constructions in English.
Unfortunately, you have to learn each verb with its preposition, just as you did when you learnt English.
- réussir à + inf
- consister à + inf
- parler de + inf
- contribuer à + inf
- prier de + inf
- apprendre à + inf
- essayer de + inf
- arrêter de + inf
- avoir peur de + inf
Some verbs have a different construction à or de, but with different meanings: http://french.about.com/library/prepositions/bl_prep_a_vs_de2.htm
But, duo told me that "de" was used with a dummy subject, while "a" was used with a real subject--exactly the opposite of this sentence. Should I just forget that rule?
This is correct, but limited to a number of adjectives that can be used either with an impersonal subject (IMP) or with a real subject (PERS):
Facile/Difficile:
- IMP: Il est facile/difficile de faire un gâteau. - It is easy/difficult to make a cake.
- PERS: (Le gâteau) Il est facile/difficile à faire. - (The cake) It is easy/difficult to make.
- PERS: C'est facile/difficile à faire. - This/it is easy/difficult to make.
Yet, as I said, only a few adjectives can follow these rules and "sûr" is not one of them.
Thanks Sitesurf. Perhaps you can help me with something else. I am at level 11 and Duo tells me I have completed the skill tree. I see there are lots of people with much higher levels, but I can't seem to find where I go from here. How do I continue?
All lessons should be done at least 3 or 4 times each (minimum), because there are plenty of sentences that you have not seen yet. On top of that, we change or add sentences on a regular basis, so you cannot have worked on them all.
You can also use the "strengthen skills" feature to find new sentences or repeat others you may not fully master or remember.
If you have the "Immersion" feature on your blue bar at the top, you can also work on translations that will teach you a lot of new words and allow for understanding the language in context.
There doesn't seem to be a "reply" on your latest post so I'll try here. I don't have the "immersion" feature. How do I get it. Thanks.
It is not so much of a gender problem, I am afraid. Ever since King Lothair's (or so I was told) youngest child almost got himself suffocated, choking on a grape seed as he tried to command the hiatus in sa entreprise, the French have been using son before nouns starting with a vowel sound - for fear of death emanating from the enraged King's edict issued in the wake of the event.
@Sitesurf, How would I go about getting the "immersion" button in the blue bar? Merci beaucoup
Sadly, you won't find the Immersion section which was removed about 2 years ago. This is where many of us early Duolingers made a bunch of great friends, had much fun and made huge progress while translating articles or wonderful pieces of literature or novels together.
If I alternately wanted to say "She is sure that she will succeed in her company" would that be "Elle est sûre qui réussira dans son entreprise"?
I know that this has been talked about quite a few times already, but why is their a "de" in front of "réussir". I thought the "to" was already implied in the verb and thus would just be redundant?
Only a limited number of French verbs can be followed by an infinitive without a preposition:
aimer/aimer mieux, aller, compter, croire, daigner, devoir, entendre, espérer, faire, falloir, (s')imaginer, laisser, oser, penser, pouvoir, prétendre, savoir, sembler, sentir, valoir mieux, venir, voir and vouloir.
All others need a preposition, "à" or "de":
http://www.connectigramme.com/preposition.html/verbes-prep.html
Thanks a lot I have been hung up on this for a while. Is it just a matter of memorization or is their a rule that can be followed?
One last question. How do you know when to put it before or after the infinitive verb? Thanks for your help.
Prepositions typically are added after their verb (they should be called "postposition", but anyway).
-
je parle de mon ami = I speak of/about my friend
-
je vais parler de mon ami = I am going to speak of/about my friend.
-
je continue à parler à mon ami = I continue to speak to my friend
If entreprise is a feminine noun, why is the masculine posessive pronoun "son" used here and not the feminie "sa"? What am I missing?
"entreprise" starts with a vowel. Therefore, to avoid the hiatus, "ma, ta, sa" are replaced with "mon, ton, son". But the noun remains feminine.
Is "she is surely going to succeed in her firm" an incorrect translation? I know the wording isn't exact, but it seem the idea would be the same.
No, the meaning is not the same.
If you say "she is surely going to succeed..." it is your opinion: you believe she is going to succeed = elle va sûrement réussir..."
If you say "she is sure to succeed..." it is her opinion: she believes she will succeed = "elle est sûre de réussir..."
