In a mad moment, I decided to finance the republication of a children's book. The plot hinges around a French inscription: "La caverne des morts sera ouverte par les Anglais." (The cave of the dead will be opened by the English."
I decided to write a foreword, in which I pointed out whimsically that the cave had now been re-opened by the English, and using my schoolboy French, came up with "La caverne des morts a été ouverte encore par les Anglais."
The (allegedly) bilingual lady next door passed this, but various colleagues are now suggesting that it should be: "La caverne des morts a été ouverte encore une fois par les Anglais."
Could anyone give authoritative guidance?
2007-10-16 20:09:31 · 3 answers · asked by Harry W 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Thank you, so if I understand this correctly,
'La caverne des morts a été encore ouverte par les Anglais.' would be..
The cavern of the dead has been opened once more by the English, but
La caverne des morts a eté réouverte par les anglais, would be
The cavern of the dead has been re-opened by the English.
Should "Anglais" have a capital "A". The grammar guides say not, but I find it with a capital "L" in literature.
2007-10-16 23:40:37 · update #1
The reason Anglais needs to be capitalized is because it's a noun. Or as Wordperfect tells me:
Mettez une majuscule si vous désignez l’habitant (p. Ex. “les Allemands”). La langue s’écrit avec une minuscule (p. Ex.”parler l’allemand”).
2007-10-18 13:14:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
La caverne des morts a été rouverte par les Anglais
2007-10-17 04:10:32 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Careful - if you use 'reopened' it's 'rouverte' and NOT 'réouverte,' even though it looks a little weird.
I'd use your original with a slight change in word order - 'La caverne des morts a été encore ouverte par les Anglais.'
2007-10-17 04:07:48 · answer #3 · answered by JJ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋