Feb 14, 2013 15:40
11 yrs ago
French term

il n'avait qu'à

Non-PRO French to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
From a transcript of spoken French. A woman is giving an account of arguments that she had with her boss. I just don't understand this construction:

"Je lui ai dit qu'il n'avait qu'à me licencier et il m'a répondu qu'..."

My guess is "I told him that all he had to do was fire me and he replied..."
But I'm really unsure about the "all he had to do was fire me" bit

Thanks in advance!
Change log

Feb 14, 2013 17:19: Nikki Scott-Despaigne changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Feb 15, 2013 03:34: Yolanda Broad changed "Term asked" from "il n\'avait qu\'a" to "il n\'avait qu\'à"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Catharine Cellier-Smart, Carol Gullidge, Nikki Scott-Despaigne

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Paul Hirsh Feb 15, 2013:
Imogen, I didn't see your guess before putting my answer down, word for word the same as yours!
writeaway Feb 14, 2013:
your 'guess'??? surely you aren't just guessing? No need to guess-and yes your 'attempt/suggestion' is perfectly fine. No real need to change it.
@Imogen Oui, votre interprétation est correcte.
Carol Gullidge Feb 14, 2013:
what DID he reply? More context will show whether your (on the face of it, perfectly reasonable) suggestion is the right one
Catherine De Crignis Feb 14, 2013:
Your understanding Imogen is correct and this is what I was going to suggest, until I realised you had done so yourself.
Matt Stewart Feb 14, 2013:
Seems fine to me.

Proposed translations

+3
17 hrs
Selected

(I told him to) go ahead and

Go ahead...make my day! :-D
Example sentence:

I told him to go ahead and fire me then, and he replied...

Peer comment(s):

agree Carol Gullidge : sounds natural.
58 mins
Thanks Carol.
agree emiledgar : natural
1 hr
Thanks emiledgar.
agree Paul Hirsh
2 days 9 hrs
Thanks Paul.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This sounded natural to me too, thank you."
+13
36 mins
French term (edited): il n'avait qu'a

all he had to do was

or "he could just/simply fire me
Note from asker:
thanks
Peer comment(s):

agree FoundInTrans : for sure
9 mins
thanks!
agree Ingeborg Gowans (X) : absolutely
10 mins
thanks!
agree Verginia Ophof
35 mins
thanks!
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne
1 hr
thanks!
agree kashew
1 hr
thanks!
agree guillaumeratel
2 hrs
thanks!
agree Jean-Claude Gouin
3 hrs
thanks!
agree Wolf Draeger : He could just fire me, then.
4 hrs
thanks!
agree ACOZ (X)
7 hrs
thanks!
agree David Hollywood : bien soeur
9 hrs
thanks!
agree Michele Fauble
13 hrs
thanks!
agree Louisa Tchaicha
15 hrs
thanks!
agree James Perry
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
+4
1 hr
French term (edited): il n'avait qu'a

(I said ) why didn't he fire me then

I think your formulation is fine, but this was just another idea that came to mind. It seemed a bit more like something one might say in the heat of an argument (albeit with one's boss!)
Note from asker:
Good alternative, thanks
thanks
Peer comment(s):

agree Jane F : it sounds authentic!
2 mins
Thanks Jane :-)
agree Matt Stewart
10 mins
Thanks Matt :-)
agree ACOZ (X)
7 hrs
Thanks ACOZ :-)
agree Carol Gullidge : this also sounds natural
1 day 1 hr
Thanks Carol :-)
Something went wrong...
1 hr
French term (edited): il n\'avait qu\'a

he just had to

An alternative although my peers' suggestions are perfectly fine.

""Je lui ai dit qu'il n'avait qu'à me licencier et il m'a répondu qu'..."

"I told him he just had to fire (US)/sack (UK) me / make me redundant..."

Obviously the translation of "licencier" depends on the context i.e. is it "dismiss" for gross misconduct or "make redundant" for financial reasons.
Note from asker:
thanks
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search