Franglish Untranslatables: shall

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Friday, April 15, 2016

#23 - Shall

"Shall" is a rather tricky word since it lacks a concrete definition. It's what you would call an auxiliary verb--a verb that doesn't necessarily mean anything by itself, but which serves a purely grammatical function. Take this simple example:

Does he go? (Est-ce qu'il va ?)
Did he go? (Est-ce qu'il est allé ?)

Would he go? (Irait-il ?)
Will he go? (Ira-t-il ?)
Shall I go? (Préférez-vous que je m'en aille ?)

About Franglish Untranslatables

French and English are like step-sisters. We're not from the same branch of the language family tree, it's true, but we've grown up together and a LOT of vocabulary as been begged, borrowed, or stolen both ways across the Channel in the hundreds of years that we've known each other. Much as we might hate to admit it, we have a lot in common.

However, since I've been living in France for the past year, I've come across a lot of words and concepts between French and English that, often surprisingly, don't have a real equivalent in the other language. I thought it'd be fun to explore these and share them with you by making a kind of dictionary of these untranslatable words!

I hope you find it helpful, informative, and entertaining. ^_^