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Translation help needed: any Frenchman out there?

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#1 · Posted: 21 Apr 2007 22:13

I need some help here ...

I can't make head nor tail out of this sentence, "Je veux en avoir le coeur net!" The closest I came was something like "I want to have a clear heart!" which doesn't make any sense ...

Is it a saying maybe? ... Like "He touches his marble"?

Anybody out there know what it means?

skut
Member

#2 · Posted: 22 Apr 2007 03:40

I would interpret this as "I want a clean heart", which would imply "I want a clear conscience" or "I don't want to have anything bad in my heart". (???)

jazzy
Member

#3 · Posted: 22 Apr 2007 13:49

Hello ! I'm a french member (excuse my English which
is not very good ! )
This sentence " je veux en avoir le coeur net!" means:
I want to know if what I think is right, I want to know everything or I want to be sure of this ...
You will say this sentence in France when you're not sure of something and you want to prove, to confirm it.

Borschtisov
Member

#4 · Posted: 23 Apr 2007 01:48

Thanks, jazzy! You're answer sounds like what I'm looking for ...

And thanks for trying to help, skut!

Borschtisov
Member

#5 · Posted: 7 May 2007 17:25

Here I go again. What does "coupe lâ€™herbe sous le pied" mean? I know in one poem its "cuts the grass below his feet" but that doesn't fit. Is it maybe something like pulling something right out from under someone ...?

Maybe jazzy could help again. Or another member ...

waveofplague
Member

#6 · Posted: 9 May 2007 03:04

Here I go again. What does "coupe lâ€™herbe sous le pied" mean? I know in one poem its "cuts the grass below his feet" but that doesn't fit. Is it maybe something like pulling something right out from under someone ...?

You seem to have the literal translation right, but it must be a French idiom of sorts. I'm curious, where in the Tintin books is that phrase used?

castafiole
Member

#7 · Posted: 23 May 2007 19:17

"Couper l'herbe sous les pieds" is similar to the English expression "to shoot oneself in the foot".

Borschtisov
Member

#8 · Posted: 8 Feb 2008 22:07

Hi again.

Can anyone make sense out of "le monde tel que le voudrait Flupke"?

Any help much appreciated.

tintinagalog
Member

#9 · Posted: 9 Feb 2008 12:46

uhmmmm... as far as I understood, it's "the world such as would like Flupke"

By the way, may I suggest to you, Borschtisov, that you should try logging in to www.online-translator.com. Although there's no online translator that can be able to translate perfectly, at least it can help you solve troubles with your "deep-fried French fries"

That's what I always do anytime I receive messages in foreign languages. It really does educate me this way.

Borschtisov
Member

#10 · Posted: 9 Feb 2008 13:49

Thanks, tintinagalog, but I do use an online translator (Babel-Fish), and I came up with "the world such as would like Flupke". However, that does not make a lot of sense to me. I usually can decode the French grammar, but this one is a bit of a puzzler.

I'm not looking for an exact literal translation. I get that all right with the online translator. I'm trying to find out what it means. But thanks, anyway, tintinagalog.

Anyone else?

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