"S'il croit en lui, il ne ratera pas ses examens."

Translation: If he believes in himself, he will not fail his exams.

[sanja215199]

Is there a difference in 'believing in himself' and 'believing in him' (someone else than himself)?

[Wjxh4]

Why would himself be "lui-meme"?

[DonOwens1]

I thought that it should have been: S'il se croit, il ne ratera pas ses examens. Can answer whether this wrong or another valid way of saying the same thing? If it is valid, it then begs the question: "can we dispense with reflexive verbs altogether?

[captaingarbonza]

It's a valid sentence but the meaning isn't the same. "Se croire" is more to think or feel something about yourself. For instance "tu te crois très malin" is "you think you're so clever". This is quite different to the concept of having faith in yourself.

[TheRightProfile]

Shouldn't one say "en soi"?

[--Roody--]

I think that would also work. For example, confiance en soi means self-confidence.

But to be clear, en lui is often translated as (in) himself. So to me, both en lui and en soi should be accepted.

This link illustrates en lui:

https://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/en+lui#in+himself

And this link shows that en soi is translated as "itself" but not "himself".

https://www.linguee.com/french-english/translation/en+soi.html

I hope a moderator or francophone weighs in on this.

[Richard925357]

Same question for me, baffling

[rickdeckard71]

If he has faith in himself he won't fail his exams