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y ou lui(téléphoner à la police)

French translation: les/leur

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06:06 Oct 20, 2009

French to French translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics

French term or phrase: y ou lui(téléphoner à la police)

Bonjour. Dans la phrase:"je téléphone à la police", on peut dire ausi: "je téléphone à elle." Si on veut employer un pronom il faut dire:"je lui téléphone", ou" j'y téléphone".?

lefeu

French translation:les/leur

Explanation:
en fait on dirait "je les appelle", "je leur téléphone"

Selected response from:

Françoise Vogel
Local time: 03:49

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +3

les/leur

Françoise Vogel

4 +1

lui (but careful)

Ysabel812

4 +1

lui =pronom personnel object indirect

Constantinos Faridis

Discussion entries: 9

Answers

44 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

les/leur

Explanation:
en fait on dirait "je les appelle", "je leur téléphone"

Françoise Vogel
Local time: 03:49
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

neutral

Ysabel812: C'est vrai., "police" est un nom singulier et n'est pas un très bon exemple pour illustrer ce point de grammaire (car on emploie le pluriel)

2 mins

-> ta réponse avec invitation à la prudence était excellente

agree

Beila Goldberg

4 mins

-> Merci !

agree

Chéli RIOBOO: Absolument:on ne peut pas "parler" à une entité, mais à ses représentants...

1 hr

-> Bonjour et merci !

agree

Philippe ROUSSEAU: Toutefois, dans certains cas, le singulier est envisageable. Ex. dans ce dialogue : "STP, appelle la Police !" "D'accord, je l'appelle tout de suite !"

4 hrs

-> oui, mais "je lui téléphone" ? En tout cas merci, c'est peut-être la meilleure façon d'être utile à notre "asker".

agree

Palma CHATONNET-MARTON: je les appelle

6 hrs

-> merci Palma !

disagree

Christiane Bujold: les ou leur réfère au policier et non à la police en général. Si l'on dit je leur téléphone, on veut dire je téléphone aux policiers.

1 day15 hrs

20 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

lui =pronom personnel object indirect

Explanation:
y - adverbe de lieu

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 ώρες (2009-10-20 09:25:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

j'ai dit: je lui téléphone. Pas "y"

Constantinos Faridis
Greece
Local time: 04:49
Native speaker of: Greek

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

lui (but careful)

Explanation:
Sorry, wanted to restate my earlier answer.

Explanation:
Hello,

We don't say "je téléphone à elle." We have a choice between "je téléphone à (whatever the direct object)" or "je lui téléphone." "Lui" replaces the indirect object, whether masculine or feminine, and must come before the verb. Ex: "Je lui parle." Without context, we don't know whether the indirect object is a man or a woman.

Bonne chance!

Also, "police" isn't such a great example here for "je lui téléphone" as it isn't particularly idiomatic. Here, you will see that people have suggested "je leur téléphone," which is what a French person would actually say in the context of calling the police, as they are thinking of several police officers.

But in actual grammar, if the indirect object is singular, whether M or F, you will use "lui" before the verb.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-10-20 10:03:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, I meant to say "indirect object" rather than "direct."

Ysabel812
Native speaker of:

English

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y ou lui(téléphoner à la police)

French translation: les/leur

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y ou lui(téléphoner à la police)

French translation: les/leur

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.