"Tu noteras le nom de l'auteur pour ne pas l'oublier."
Translation:You will write down the name of the author in order to not forget it.
53 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Exactly! I was taught to avoid splitting an infinitive (in English).
What we were taught in school is irrelevant. Much of what one learns in school is wrong or simplistic. Many teachers were quite dogmatic on this subject, as if there were a consensus. There is not and never was. Splitting infinitives is endorsed by many important usage guides, both British (Oxford, Fowler) and American (Fowlett, Chicago). You are free to not split them, but don't think for a moment that this is an agreed-upon rule.
I prefer not to split the infinitive in this sentence, but that is a matter of the flow of the language rather than thoughtlessly following a dubious rule.
"so as not to forget it' sounds more natural in English...at least to me
"You will note the name of the author so as not to forget it" is a much simpler expression in English and a more literal translation of the French. There is certainly no reason to translate "noter" as "write down" when it means exactly the same thing in English, "to note".
Horrible clunky literal translation, no native English speaker would ever say that, its as bad as google translate ! "You should write down the authors name so you dont forget it" is the natural translation of the sentence.
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I will write down clunky, execrable, word-for-word translations of these French sentences in order not to have them considered incorrect.
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'You will make a note of the author's name.......' has the same meaning. 'noter' is translated as 'to make a note of' in my French dictionary.
Yes! I tried, "You will take note of the name of the author in order to not forget it" and it wasn't accepted. I see that writing it down was wanted, and why, but we "take notes" in class, and, indeed, taking note of something could mean writing it down, it's not necessarily just noticing something.
I don't want to get into an argument between the pedants who insist you mustn't split infinitives and the modernists who say it doesn't matter (although I'm inclined to agree with the latter) but will Duo please note that "...in order not to forget it" is not wrong!
I wrote "so not to forget it": marked wrong--sounds like acceptable English to me
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"You will make a note of the name of the author so as not to forget it" still rejected Jan 2021. Reported.
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"You will write the name of the author in order to not forget it." was marked incorrect. Why must one add "down" to "write"?
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If it was "write" they would probably be looking for écrire instead of noter. This is more "write down" == "take notes".
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I didn't try to deal with the 'to not forget' and put "you will write down the author's name so that you don't forget it". It was accepted!
Pas, jamais, etc. always come before the verb when it's the infinitive.
This is another example of a bad English translation. The English sentence is unwieldy. Why not "You will write/note the author's name, so you remember (or don't forget)?
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You will take down the name of the author in order not to forget it. This is correct you ignorant Duo! I have never heard... to not forget it
The voice reading the french sentence seems to be someone trying to sound like a child. It is difficult to understand.
this contains a spot infinitive - you have marked me wrong for refusing to split it. I wrote You will write down the name of the author in order not to forget it. This is better English
I think in English that "I will make a note of the name of the author " is the same as " I will write down the name of the author". Is that the understanding of other English speakers in Australia?
"Put down" was not accepted even if it has the same meaning as "write down". And" in order to not + infinitive" sounds a little bit strange.
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If you write down the name then you can relax and it won't matter if you forget it because you will know where to look it up! Hence: "Write down the name of the author in case you forget it" would make much more sense. In French that would be something like: "Notez le nom de l’auteur au cas où vous l’oublieriez." Any Francophones care to comment?
Is "You will note down the author's name so it isn't forgotten" wrong?
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Hi. It's not really correct because the given statement is about the person writing it down not doing the forgetting. For example this might be said by a teacher to a student. Your version implies it may be forgotten by people other than the one doing the writing. That would be OK in other contexts, eg "Carve his name on this memorial plaque so it isn't forgotten."
Write and "write down" can be the same thing. I know there can be a subtle difference in intent, but how can you "write" without writing down?
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Well, in French we are dealing with different verbs. "Ecrire" = to write and "noter" = to write/note down. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/noter "Ecrire" applies in French, as "write" does in English, to writing in general, eg write an essay, write a letter - and we don't say "write down" in that context - nor, it seems, do the French. However when taking notes for whatever reason the French, and Anglophones, describe the action differently, ie make a note of = note down/write down etc. It might have been better if Duo's preferred translation had been "You will note down the name etc". In this case the "down" part implies putting it on paper, rather than a mental note!
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you will write the name of the author in order not to forget it How is this not accepted? that's how we say it in English
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It's wrong because "noter" = "to write down". That is what we say in English when telling someone to make a note of something: "Write it down". "To write" does not mean the same thing as "to write down" or "to note down". See https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/noter
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To not forget is incorrect .Correct English never splits an infinitive .The answer should be not to forget