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fournisseur de la Cour
un d'ailleurs
Aug 17, 2011 19:35
12 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

Prendre au conditionnel

French to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
As in "des paroles à prendre au conditionnel".
Proposed translations (English)
2 +3 to be interpreted hypothetically
3 +3 accept conditionally
4 +1 cautiously believe
4 +1 I'll take that as a "Maybe"
4 +1 words not to be taken as fact
3 +1 To take something with a grain of salt
4 words pertaining to the realm of possibility
3 not to take seriously

Discussion

Laurel Clausen Aug 18, 2011:
KudoZ context rule In the interest of moving on from the discussion as to whether or not further context is required, I would like to refer to KudoZ rule 2.4 - http://www.proz.com/siterules/kudoz_asking/2.4#2.4 - which states that sufficient context should be provided with each question.
polyglot45 Aug 18, 2011:
to know how to translate this you also need to understand why the expression is used and its implications. This specific usage explains why it is particularly important in this case to have the exact context, which is not saying that context is not always vital (IT IS).
Marc Nager (X) Aug 18, 2011:
The question of CONTEXT. For EVERYBODY (and NOT ONLY THE ASKER) to find out/know what's the most suitable/best answer of SO MANY POSSIBLY RIGHT answers we should indeed have the SAME context as the asker. If we don't, KudoZ gets degraded to a tool for egomaniacs only... Wouldn't that be sad and just confirm the decadence and more and more selfish way our society is taking ???
Bourth (X) Aug 17, 2011:
@ Straightoff Hear, hear (yet again).
writeaway Aug 17, 2011:
More context isn't necessary? Then peer comments are meaningless because we have no idea which answer is best. Kudoz isn't supposed to be a private help service just for askers.
Bourth (X) Aug 17, 2011:
Isn't Google marvellous! "prendre au conditionnel" gets 402,000 ghits.
"take things hypothetically" - 2
"take hypothetically" - 2,340 (few of which appear to be relevant)
"take that as a maybe" - 183,000
Say no more.
Verginia Ophof Aug 17, 2011:
hypothecially or theorectically as in "what if's" or "suppose-its"
Nadia Stephanov (asker) Aug 17, 2011:
What context? I don't think more context is needed, thank you. "To take things hypothetically" is perfect, I will grade the answer as soon as possible.
philgoddard Aug 17, 2011:
Asker Unless you provide proper context as requested when you posted the question, this is impossible to answer.

Proposed translations

+3
9 mins
Selected

to be interpreted hypothetically

In linguistics, the conditional mood (abbreviated cond) is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a HYPOTHETICAL STATE OF AFFAIRS, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances. This mood differs from the subjunctive mood, which occurs in dependent clauses.

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Note added at 15 mins (2011-08-17 19:50:16 GMT)
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Or simply ''taken hypothetically''.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 mins (2011-08-17 19:51:48 GMT)
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But more context would be helpful!
Peer comment(s):
agree Vic Ward
1 hr
Thanks!
agree Marc Nager (X) : probably yes, depending on the context !!!
4 hrs
agree Lara Barnett
5 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
10 mins

cautiously believe

not 100% sure!
Peer comment(s):
agree Marc Nager (X) : probably yes, depending on the context !!!
4 hrs
thanks
Something went wrong...
+1
46 mins

To take something with a grain of salt

Depending on the context, this might work.

From Collins/Reverso:

" with a grain or pinch of salt: without wholly believing: skeptically"
Reference:

http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/with%20a%20grain%20or%20pinch%20of%20salt

Peer comment(s):
agree Marc Nager (X) : probably yes, depending on the context !!!
3 hrs
Thank you for your comments Marc. Context is key indeed!
Something went wrong...
+3
1 hr

accept conditionally

e.g. Conditionally accepted means accepted but under a certain conditions.
Maybe it's too much of a bon ami?
Peer comment(s):
agree Marc Nager (X) : probably yes, depending on the context !!!
3 hrs
Thanks
agree amanda solymosi
14 hrs
Thanks
agree Kaj Genell
41 days
Something went wrong...
+1
3 hrs

I'll take that as a "Maybe"

is often how we might express this in English. Up to you to work that into your text, unless you want to give us some real context to sink our teeth into and come up with something idiomatic.
Peer comment(s):
agree Marc Nager (X) : probably yes, depending on the context !!!
58 mins
Something went wrong...
+1
4 hrs

words not to be taken as fact

Hello,

It means "not as fact"

http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/co...


I hope this helps.

Peer comment(s):
agree Marc Nager (X) : Not to be taken as A fact; but probably yes, depending on the context !!!
31 mins
Thank you, Marc! I appreciate it. You can say "taken as fact" in English. It's perfectly acceptable.
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

not to take seriously

"Words, not to be taken (fully) serious(ly)."
To contribute with another POSSIBLY right answer, all depending on the EVER SO IMPORTANT CONTEXT (lesson 1 of the "small guide to translation") ;-)
Something went wrong...
2 days 13 hrs

words pertaining to the realm of possibility

It seems difficult to render the ironical tone of the original. The problem here I think is that English speakers are not really familiar with the conditional mood.
-these words must be understood as pertaining to the realm of possibility- maybe this kind of indirect formulation conveys part of the original irony
Something went wrong...
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