French Question

lonestarlibrarian

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One well-bred young lady has a medical emergency, gets taken in to the home of an even more well-bred young lady, and awakens. WBYL#2 observes WBYL#1 stirring and says, "You are awake."

But she says it in French.

What would be the correct way of phrasing it so that my gender-endings and other such things match the gender and class of the people involved? If it was set in Napoleonic times, would it still be the same, or is there an antiquated form of French she might have used?

Thanks!
 

Deb Kinnard

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I think "Vous êtes éveillé", using the formal "you" word. Someone else with better French than mine may validate.

To my knowledge, Napoleonic era French was pretty close to modern.
 

Jason

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I would think that the sentence would start with an "Ahhh...."

So, "Ahhh...vous êtes éveillé!"

But I agree with the above.

Disclaimer: My father was a French professor for 20 years, and some of it rubbed off, but I am illiterate in 3 languages: French, Spanish, and English (these are ordinal from worst to first)
 

Ariella

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Isn't éveiller more of a literary word, kind of like awaken in English? I think a closer translation might be Vous vous êtes réveillée (reflexive verb, agreeing with feminine subject), but hopefully there's a native speaker around who can confirm.
 

firegazer

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Take with a grain of salt: this is from a modern, Quebec-based French speaker. That said, if you wanted to be formal and flowery, as befits the era and their stations, you could say "Vous avez reveillée!" which is more like "You have awoken!" (it's a little less awkward in French than it is in English)
 

firegazer

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If you ever need relatively small French phrases, feel free to PM! I can't promise they'll be old-timey French, but I can at least promise they pass the native smell-test.
 

rosehips

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I don't know if it's different in Canadian French, but in Euro French "reveiller" is reflexive and uses "to be" instead of "to have" in the past tense. "Elle s'est reveillée, Vous vous êtes reveillé(e)" etc. "Vous avez reveillé" needs an object, like "Vous avez reveillé les voisins." (You have awoken the neighbors.)

So, OP, for your situation, here are a few options. I agree that an interjection makes sense to begin with.

Ah, vous vous êtes reveillée. (neutral)
Alors, vous vous êtes reveillée. ("So, you have awoken." Neutral)
Et bien, vous vous êtes reveillée. ("Well, you have awoken." Implies perhaps some impatience with how long it took for her to wake up)
Ciel, vous vous êtes reveillée. ("Heavens, you have awoken." Implies some surprise or shock at her waking up)
Quelle chance, vous vous êtes reveillée. ("What luck, you have awoken.")
 

firegazer

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Yeah, part of why I try to caution on Quebec French. Even a lot of stuff that sounds fine to natives here can be like 'sounds about right, go with it', but won't sound right to Europeans. Also, we have a *ton* of different accents and parlances from immigration. I once had a guy on the phone who, no joke, sounded like a French pirate because of his province/country area. :)
 

rosehips

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I bet that was a trip!

I am often struck by how different Quebec French is when I hear it. I was raised by my mother speaking Euro French and while I'm not as proficient in it as I am in English, having learned the grammar etc. later in life, I am fluent. But I often can't understand Quebec speakers. :)
 

King Neptune

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I bet that was a trip!

I am often struck by how different Quebec French is when I hear it. I was raised by my mother speaking Euro French and while I'm not as proficient in it as I am in English, having learned the grammar etc. later in life, I am fluent. But I often can't understand Quebec speakers. :)

I have the same problem with Quebecois. It is quite unlike French in sounds and vocabulary.