"Après leur avoir dit la vérité, il a eu honte."
Translation:After telling them the truth, he was ashamed.
24 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I think that would be "il a été embarrassé". Shame is a much stronger emotion than embarrassment in my opinion.
I thought they told the truth. If he told the truth, why would he be ashamed?
Could "...he felt shame." be an acceptable translation? If not, why not? Would it have to be an etre link?
Probably not, given how literal the French Duo team often is. I'm not a native speaker, but I think "he felt" would be "il a senti" rather than the more generic "a eu" = was.
"Eu" is the past participle of "avoir", so the overly literal translation would be "he had shame".
Should "after he had told them the truth, he was ashamed" be accepted, or would that be a different formulation? DL did not accept this, but that means so little as to be worthless in terms of learning. Hopefully someone else can help on this. Thanks in advance.
The meaning's very similar but it's a different construction. This module is trying to teach you to use "après avoir" i.e. "after having done something", so if your sentence doesn't use this construction it won't be accepted.
Understood. But I am translating the French into English, and my English translation is not accepted. I am not myself using "apres avoir", but translating DL's use of this phrase. Thanks.
Yes, and your translation differs too much from the original because you've changed the construction. It's usually much safer to stick with a more direct translation, in this case "after telling him" or "after having told him" are much closer to the French.
But does it? Really? First, it is "them" not "him" in the French. But putting that to one side is there really a difference between "after telling them" or after having told them" and "after he had told them"? My question is not whether in this pretend DL land we have to suffer my translation is right or wrong but whether in the real world it is right or wrong. I.e., is my translation a fair one for the french, or have I got something grammatically incorrect. If the latter, I will be the first to hold up my hands, if the former, I will report with the concept of improving DL for those who come after me.
I wonder whether "having told them the truth" in which "after" is implied, is a reasonable English translation. I find myself having to translate from an English expression I would more likely use myself into a slightly less formal/more economical way of saying the same thing.
HI Simon, I think a closer translation would be the one that " RichardSus4 " wrote above.
I wrote and marked wrong: After they told the truth, he was ashamed Question: isn't "avoir dit" past tense. I'm confused about translating this as "telling"
A more literal translation would be "after having told them the truth" if that helps to get your head around the construction here.
No, that's would be the present tense "il a honte". "Il a eu honte" is past tense.
Not sure why this doesn't translate as "after having them the truth" - as for shame well it could relate to what he has actually done or the fact that he possibly lied about it in the first place. Shame is a perfectly normal reaction - and healthy - though rarely seen in public life, it seems, for which they should be truly ashamed - but I suspect Trump, Johnson et al will be blissfully unaware of their many misdeeds!