# EN: cette question, je te la poserai à nouveau



## Lang-learner

Hello

The correct form for "_Poser une question à quelqu'un" _is "To ask somebody a question"  (like to "give somebody something").

Ex : 
_"Jean, je te poserai à nouveau cette question la semaine prochaine !"
_"John, I will ask you that question again next week !" is correct.

But is is correct to translate _"Jean, cette question, je te la poserai à nouveau la semaine prochaine !"_  as follows  "John, that question, I will *ask it to *you again next week !" ?

Thanks !


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## Helplessness Blues

Hi! To me, the structure 'I will ask it to you again' sounds very unnatural, I would definitely avoid it. I'm having difficulty coming up with a word order that has 'that question' at the beginning, though. I suppose in spoken English you might say something like 'Ok John, that question, I'll ask you it again next week', but you definitely wouldn't write that. It might be said but it's not very 'correct'.

Someone else might have a better idea, though!


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## Maître Capello

You could also simply omit _it_, i.e., say, _I'll ask you again next week_.


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## Lang-learner

Your points of view are interesting.

With the verb "to give" it is quite correct to say _"John, that book, I will *give it to *you next week !_", so I thought I could use the same grammatical form with "to ask".

So, is "Ask" a tad different from "Give" ?

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## Helplessness Blues

I don't think the two verbs are completely comparable.

You're completely right, the verb 'to give' can be in the form 'to give something to somebody' OR 'to give somebody something'.

In other words the direct object can precede the indirect object, in which case you need to use the word 'to', or the indirect can precede the direct.

With the verb 'to ask', however, it only sounds natural to me to have the indirect object before the direct: 'to ask somebody something'.

For example:

I gave the book to John.
I gave John the book.

I asked John the question.
To bring the word 'question' before 'John', I'd probably use a different verb: 'I posed the question to John', perhaps.

I hope this is helpful!


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## Lang-learner

I can feel the thing better now.

So, I think it is correct to say _"John! If you can't find that book in the bookstore, ask me !" _meaning that I can lend my own book to John if he can't buy one.

or _"John! If you can't solve your math problem, ask me !" _meaning that I can suggest John a solution to his math problem if he can't solve it.

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## Helplessness Blues

Yes, both phrases are completely correct and sound very natural.

I understood them slightly differently though. I read them as 'if you can't find the book, ask me and I'll help you find it', and 'if you can't solve the problem, ask me and I'll help you solve it' (I suppose this is more or less your explanation too, actually).
That's possibly not that relevant to your question, though!


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## Lang-learner

If the grammatical forms are correct, it's OK for me.

I just took 2 examples, one with a real object (book) and one with a fact or idea (to solve) for a use with "Ask" and I think it's much clearer in my mind now.

Thanks

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## Helplessness Blues

I thought that might be the case. Glad you've worked it out


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## afbyorb

John, that question, I will ask it *of *you ....
Phantom of the Opera:  "... that's all I ask _*of*_ you ...."


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## Helplessness Blues

afbyorb said:


> John, that question, I will ask it *of *you ....
> Phantom of the Opera:  "... that's all I ask _*of*_ you ...."



For me, if you 'ask something *of* somebody' it's the same as if you 'ask somebody *to do* something', rather than simply 'asking them something', ie. 'asking them a question'.

The phrase 'John, that question, I will ask it *of *you' sounds unnatural to me (perhaps this is a British vs American English difference, or perhaps it's just my personal take on things).


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## Lang-learner

Coincidence

Christmas coming with big steps, I'm reading  A christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and in stave 1 Ebeneezer Scrooge's nephew Fred utters : _"I want nothing from you; *I ask nothing of you*; why cannot we be friends ?"._

_To_ a_sk somebody something* _being different from_ to ask somebody a question** _(as you say), in french we make the distinction using 2 different verbs.

* Demander quelque chose à quelqu'un

** Poser une question à quelqu'un.

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## jann

Lang-learner said:


> _To_ a_sk somebody something* _being different from_ to ask somebody a question** _


This isn't quite right. 

"To ask somebody something" *does* mean that you ask them a question.  For the idea _demander quelque chose à quelqu'un_ we say "to ask somebody for something" or "to ask something of somebody" in English.


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## Lang-learner

The use of "Ask" is rather complex (to me).

"Je lui ai demandé son crayon" --> _"I asked him *for* his pencil" _or _"I asked him his pencil"_ - which one is correct ???

"Je lui ai demandé de déplacer sa voiture" --> _"I asked him to move his car" - _I think this is correct; and *for *is not used ???

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## timpeac

Lang-learner said:


> The use of "Ask" is rather complex (to me).
> 
> "Je lui ai demandé son crayon" --> _"I asked him *for* his pencil"_or _"I asked him his pencil"_ - which one is correct ???
> 
> "Je lui ai demandé de déplacer sa voiture" --> _"I asked him to move his car"__ - _I think this is correct; and *for *is not used ???
> 
> ///



You ask someone to do something - I asked him to move his car.
You ask for an object - I asked him for a pencil.
You ask a question - I asked him a question (_but _I asked him for an answer). Similarly "I asked what the time was">"I asked the time", "I asked her what her secret was">"I asked her her secret". I asked her her name, etc.

At the risk of overcomplicating things, the only time I can think of using for and an infinitive is where we want someone to do something but are not necessarily asking the person directly: I asked for him to move his car. In this example the speaker might have spoken to his wife and asked her to pass on the message.

Another example - "when I wrote in to complain I asked for the manager to reply to me". Here we don't know that the manager will read the letter, but we want the person who reads the letter to speak to the manager and ask him to reply.


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## Lang-learner

Thank you timpeac !

That's clearer in my mind.

Some of my attemps :

"Je lui demanderai de me prendre à la gare demain" --> _"I will ask her to pick me up at the railway station tomorrow"

_"Je lui ai demandé les clés de la voiture" --> _"I asked her for the car keys"

_"La question que je lui avais posée hier était simple" --> _"The question I asked her yesterday was simple"

_"Si tu ne comprends pas, demande à Pierre" -->_ "If you do not understand, ask Peter"

_"Si tu as besoin d'une lampe, demande la à Pierre" -> _"If you need a lamp, ask Peter"

_"C'était trop difficile alors j'avais demandé à Pierre de m'aider" --> _"It was too difficult so I asked Peter to help me"

_"Je savais que nous serions trop peu nombreux pour préparer la fête au bureau alors j'avais demandé à ce que d'autres personnes nous aident" --> _"I knew we would be too few to prepare the office party so I asked for the other people to help us"

_"Je savais que nous serions trop peu nombreux pour préparer la fête au bureau alors j'avais demandé aux autres personnes de nous aider" --> _"I knew we would be too few to prepare the office party so I asked the other people to help us"



_Ai-je tout compris ?

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## timpeac

Yes - it sounds like you've got it. The only thing I'd say is that in the penultimate example it should be "I asked for other (_or _more) people to help us" - I think the English grammar is reflecting the French here.


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## Lang-learner

Many thanks ! (OK for "_other"_ and "_the other peo..."_)

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## Fred_C

Bonjour, Lang-Learner.

En réalité le verbe «ask» dans le sens de poser des questions est un cas particulier en anglais comme beaucoup d’autres langues, mais pas comme le français : ses deux compléments sont des compléments directs. C’est comme si ce verbe signifiait tout à la fois «demander quelque-chose» et «interroger quelqu’un» dans une seule phrase.
Si vous apprenez d’autres langues, (l’allemand, le latin, le grec...) et que vous vous souvenez de cela, ça vous aidera.


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## Lang-learner

Merci pour votre intervention Fred_C.

Ah, le latin au lycée... ça date de... très loin .

Je pense que j'ai compris comment utiliser ce verbe To Ask par les nombreux exemples. (timpeac a bien expliqué)

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