Dont Use Je Suis Fini

Dont Use Je Suis Fini To say Je suis fini in French is a serious mistake and one to be avoided.   This mistake is caused in part by the fact that in the English translation finished is an adjective, while in French its the past participle of a verb. So when you want to say I am finished, it seems logical to translate that as Je suis fini. Unfortunately, this is quite a dramatic thing to say in French and it means I am dead, Im finished! Im done for! Im ruined! or Im all washed up! Imagine the look on your French girlfriends face if you say, Je suis fini! Shell think youre about to expire! Or shell burst out laughing at your mistake. Either way, not so good. Never use  Ãƒ ªtre fini  and  ne pas à ªtre fini  when referring to people, unless you have something pretty earth-shattering to announce or youre maliciously insulting someone. To avoid this scenario, think of the English as I have finished instead, and this will remind you that you need to use the passà © composà © in French  and that the auxiliary verb for finir is avoir, not à ªtre.  Thus, avoir fini is the correct choice. Even better, use the colloquial avoir  terminà ©, especially when referring to the completion of a task or activity. For instance, if a waiter asks  if he or she can take your plate, the correct (and polite) expression is: â€Å"Oui, merci, j’ai terminà ©.†Ã‚   The Wrong Way and the Right Ways In brief, these are your options: Avoid using finir with à ªtre:   Être fini   to be done for, washed up, finished with, ruined, kaput, dead, or dying.   Choose verbs with avoir: Avoir fini   to be done, to be finishedAvoir  terminà ©   to be finished, to be done Examples of Je Suis Fini Si je dois les rembourser,  je suis fini.  Ã‚  If I have to refund their money,  Im done.Si à §a ne marche pas,  je suis fini.  Ã‚  If it doesnt work out,  Im through.Mà ªme si on sen sort,  je suis fini.   Even if we get out of here,  Im finished.Si je la perds,  je suis fini.  Ã‚  If I lose her,  Im finished.Je suis fini.   My career is over. / I have no future.Il nest pas fini.  (informal)   Hes retarded / a moron. Examples of Jai Fini   Jai donnà © mon à ©valuation, et  jai fini.  Ã‚  I gave my assessment, and  Im done.Je  lai fini  hier soir.  Ã‚  I finished  it last night.Je  lai fini pour ton bien.  Ã‚  I finished  it for your own good.Grà ¢ce toi,  je  lai fini.  Ã‚  Thanks to you,  I finished  it. Examples of Jai Terminà © Je vous appelle quand  jai terminà ©.  Ill  call you when  Im done.Donc  je  lai terminà ©Ã‚  au bout de quelques jours. So  I finished  it in a couple days.Jai presque terminà ©.  Ã‚  Im nearly finished.Ça suffit,  jai terminà ©.  Ã‚  Thats all;  Im done.Jai adorà © ce livre. Je  lai terminà ©e  hier soir. I loved this book.  I finished  it last night.  Je suis bien soulagà © den avoir terminà © avec cette affaire. Im so relieved to have seen the end of this business.

7 Grammatical Errors That Arent

7 Grammatical Errors That Arent 7 Grammatical Errors That Aren’t 7 Grammatical Errors That Aren’t By Mark Nichol There are two types of grammar: Descriptive, which describes what is customary, and prescriptive grammar, which prescribes what should be. A tension between the two systems is inevitable and healthy; it keeps us thinking about what we’re saying and writing. Allowing mob rule at the expense of some governing of composition is madness, but a diction dictatorship is dangerous, too. As with any prescription, an overdose is contraindicated. Here are some hard pills to swallow for language mavens who require a strict adherence to rigid syntactical patterns at the expense of, well, language: 1. Never split an infinitive. It isn’t wise to always ignore this fallacious rule against dividing the elements of the verb phrase â€Å"to (verb)† with an adverb, but to blindly follow it is to prohibit pleasing turns of phrase one of the best known of which is from the introductory voice-over from all the Star Trek television series: â€Å"to boldly go where no one has gone before.† (The original series, produced before the more recent sensitivity to gender bias, put it â€Å"no man.†) 2. Never end a sentence with a preposition. This rule is ridiculous, to start with. If you believe it, please tell me what planet you are from. What are you striving for? Give it up. Am I getting my point across? The stricture against closing sentences with words that describe position stems from an eighteen-century fetish for the supposed perfection of classical Latin, which allowed no split infinitives for the excellent reason that Latin infinitives consist of single words. English, however, being a distant relative of that language, should be allowed to form its own customs. 3. Never begin a sentence with a conjunction. And why not? For an honorable tradition of doing just that exists. But some people persist in prohibiting this technique. Yet we defy them. Or we simply ignore them or laugh at them, neither of which they appreciate. Nor do they understand our attitude, though we try to convince them, and will continue to do so. So there. The words beginning each of these sentences are conjunctions, easily recalled with the mnemonic FANBOYS. Every one is perfectly acceptable at the head of a sentence. As is obvious from the previous paragraph, however, a little goes a long way. 4. Distinguish between while and though. Petty prescriptivists would have you reserve while for temporal usage only: â€Å"While I agree, I resist,† they say, should be revised to â€Å"Though I agree, I resist.† I freely admit that I often change while to though, and while I understand I’m sorry, I can’t stop myself and though I understand that it may seem pedantic, I think though reads better. 5. Distinguish between since and because. Ditto. And ditto. I concur that indiscriminate replacement of since with because may seem persnickety, but since ahem because I find the latter word more pleasing, I will reserve the right to prefer it. 6. Use data only in the plural sense. Where did they get this data? The alternative is to use datum in the singular sense, which makes you sound like a propellerhead. (Look it up, kids.) People who say â€Å"datum† get data, but they don’t get dates. 7. Use none only in the singular sense. None of these rules, followed strictly, allow for a vernacular ease with language. Did that sentence hurt? Did the waves stop crashing to shore? Did Earth stop spinning? If you wish to replace none with â€Å"not one† or â€Å"no one† (â€Å"Not one person admitted guilt†; â€Å"No one saw that coming†), by all means, do so, but fear not none in a plural sense. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Royal Order of Adjectives How to spell "in lieu of"50 Words with Alternative Spellings