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- Topic: French >
- "He needs a big investment."
"He needs a big investment."
Translation:Il a besoin d'un gros investissement.
14 Comments
When it comes to big sums of money, we tend to use "gros" instead of "grand":
- un gros profit/bénéfice
- un gros bonus
- une grosse perte
- un gros déficit
2311
There are expressions in every language where certain word just fit naturally and others don't. With financial investments, the word is "gros", not "grand". Sitesurf is trying to explain that even though a francophone would understand you, it is not the way they would say it. So let's go with natural French, not unnatural French, i.e., un gros investissement.
Remember that "gros" has to do with volume and "grand" with various notions such as height or length.
So "grand investissement" would not sound incorrect, just a bit unusual.
If you said "un grand investissement", any French person would understand what you mean. It is just that "gros" is more usual.
Sorry for the continued questions, but would it sound weird? And would it be literally incorrect even if comprehensible?
- 10
Grand is accepted now, but I am glad to know the more natural way / how a native French speaker would say it. (July 2/18)
- 1012
I understand for this sentence, but in general I admit I don't know when to use "gros" instead of "grand." I've also noticed in other contexts like with a "gros cochon," but I still haven't figured out how/why that's different from a "grand cochon." Is it just a question of memorizing the words that take "gros" instead of "grand"?
"Gros, grosse, gros, grosses" is a 3D measure, a matter of volume or thickness or roundness.
"Grand, grande, grands, grandes" is a 2D measure, usually a matter of height or length.
