The French expression si tu veux can mean more than just "if you want." Click the link above to learn all about it, and then come back here to share your thoughts.
More: French expressions
More: French expressions
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Voila! je viens de comprendre un des dialogues d’un film français:Merci infiniment
Re: ‘si tu veux’. I would like to add 2 other possible translations: ‘if you wish’ and ‘as it were’.
Keep up the good work, your website is excellent.
Interesting analogy to Enlish “if you will,” used as a filler in about the same way.
Just stumbled on your site–looks quite impressive. I majored in French (>25 years ago) and with a few trips to Paris this year I’ve enjoyed speaking French again!
I think sometimes it could be used for “you might say”:
It was an unusual decision–or, you might say, illogical.
I find this expression predominantly as a filler meaning “so to say” or “actually”, always used between commas.
you might say=on peut dire,peut-on dire
so to say= si on peut dire,(même sens),ou “pour ainsi dire”
Mais si “actually=in fact”,it’s not the true sens(malgré l’analogie formelle) ,because “si tu veux”,dans le sens détourné,se réfère non au factuel mais à l’idée qu’en a chacun,ou a la façon dont il préfère l’exprimer.
“En fait” voudrait dire: vous vous trompez,ce n’est pas cela du tout,puisqu’en fait,en réalité c’est …etc.Alors que “si tu veux,si on veut”=c’est simplement une façon différente de dire la même chose,au moins à peu près.
I recently offered to make a fancy walking cane for a French neighbour who replied “Si tu veux”, which I thought was quite rude.
Am I missing something here?
Obviously, it depends on what your relationship is like, but with the little you’ve shared, I’d say this person isn’t terribly interested in your offer, and the words can be taken literally: “if you like (go ahead and make it)”