17:43 Nov 6 

Just to pour oil on the fire: you can talk about "leur vie de couple" as the two partners' relationship inside the broader contexte of their "vie de famille" (family life) - the twosome within the family, if you will. Sociological questionnaires do that all the time.

17:29 Nov 6 

It sounds very grim indeed. Have a few stiff drinks when you have finished the translation. You will have deserved it!!!

17:24 Nov 6 

This is in a document about why it is usually the women in relationships who initiate breaking up, separation and divorce. A depressing 11,000 words indeed...

17:21 Nov 6 

I was actually inferring that the author's rather depressing conclusion may be why people don't get married so much these days ... not intended to be deeply meaningful or anything, I do agree with relationship though as it is the more concise version which Hattie asked for.

17:21 Nov 6 

CHRIS ET MERCI POUR TES VOEUX

17:11 Nov 6 

Not suire I understand the question or its potential inferences but, yes, I do. If you read the French and mentally translate it as you go along, you find yourself thinking "relationship" at once quite spontaneously. Whence the importance of context - need I say more?

17:11 Nov 6 

There is absolutely nothing with "life as a couple".

However, please refer to Hattie's comment. Hattie requested something more concise than this, which I tried to provide her with.

17:08 Nov 6 

That's what the French says. I think this forum should be for words and phrases that you don't understand.

17:04 Nov 6 

Do you think the answer to this lies in the sentence? :)

17:02 Nov 6 

People tend to be engaged for a lifetime nowadays (myself included) before actually getting married. I agree with you polyglot45.

17:00 Nov 6 

of course, in the old days, it would have been "married life" but who gets married these days?

17:00 Nov 6 

"relationship" probably works in both of those instances...

Duhhhhh me. Sometimes the answer is so obvious you just don't see it.

16:58 Nov 6 

but I would probably say slightly outdated and archaic. *HOWEVER*, IF it is from an old text (which without context is impossible to know), then this is a very worthy suggestion.

16:58 Nov 6 

Notre modèle explicatif repose sur l’hypothèse selon laquelle, de façon générale, les hommes accorderaient plus d’importance que les femmes aux gratifications sexuelles tandis que les femmes accorderaient plus d’importance que les hommes aux gratifications émotionnelles que leur procure – ou non – leur vie de couple.

D’un côté, un individu insatisfait de la fréquence et de la diversité de la dimension sexuelle de sa vie de couple peut être tenté de cumuler des relations sexuelles conjugales et extraconjugales : ...

16:57 Nov 6 

coupledom, but I won't post it as an answer since it would come under the clumsy tag.

16:56 Nov 6 

I agree with Chris - without the sentence its too difficult to say

16:50 Nov 6 

Maybe you could provide the sentence which would certainly help me out giving you a definitive answer.