# FR: I'm good at it



## GenericVillain

You could say "Je suis fort en maths" I think, but how would you say "I'm good at it".


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## giannid

Doesn't that mean the same thing?


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## GenericVillain

They mean the same thing, but what I want to know is how do you replace maths with "it". 

Obviously in a sentence, you wouldn't say "I like maths, and I am good at maths" you'd replace the noun with it the second time.


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## Fred_C

Hi,
This is a very good question.
Usually, you use the disjunctive pronouns "lui" or "elle" (according to the gender) after a preposition.
For example : "Je vote pour lui", "je crois en elle", "je me blottis contre lui", etc...
You could hope that you could do the same to translate <preposition + "it">, since nouns have a gender in French, but unfortunately, this usage is reserved when the pronouns refer to _*people*_.
When it refers to objects instead, the rule is to chose an adverb.
For each preposition, there exists a corresponding adverb that is used instead of the group "preposition + pronoun".
For example : the adverb that corresponds to the preposition "à" is "y".
"Je pense à la fête" -> "j'y pense".
The adverb that corresponds to "de" is "en".
"Je parle du film" -> "j'en parle".
The adverb that corresponds to "dans" is "dedans" : "Le livre est dans le tiroir" -> "Le livre est dedans".
for "pour" it is "pour" : "Je vote pour la loi", -> "Je vote pour."
For "sur", it is "dessus". 
for "sous", it is "dessous".

Unfortunately, for some prepositions, there does not exist such an adverb.
"en" and "par" belong to these "unfortunate" prepositions.

So strictly speaking, you cannot say "I am good at it", in French, because the needed preposition is "en".
You can try to say "I am good at that", instead (using a demonstrative): "Je suis bon en cela". But that does not mean exactly the same thing, does it? 
Or you can just say "I am good". (Je suis bon).
That is all that grammar will allow you...


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## Maître Capello

We would say something like:

_J'aime les math et je suis fort dans cette matière/branche._


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## lutters

Hello

I was wondering if someone could help me with the following?

When you say that you are good at something in French , do you say:

J'aime la géo parce que j'en suis fort(e)
or 
J'aime la géo parce que j'y suis fort(e)

Many thanks in advance.


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## Lacuzon

Hi and welcome,

[...] j'*y* suis fort [...] just because on est fort *à* ou *en* quelque chose (fort au tennis, à la course à pied, en mathémathiques, en anglais, en cuisine...)

J'*en* suis fort would mean we say fort *de* quelque chose (fort de exists but the meaning is different, it means because of)


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## lutters

Many thanks for your suggestions. It's not as straightforward as I had first thought!


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## Ezekiel2510

Hi,


I'm just posting this to make something clear, in case someone stumble upon this.

You don't say "...j'en suis fort...", never, except to say "J'en suis fort aise".  And believe me it's kind of an old saying.
lutters : it's  "J'aime la géo parce que j'y suis fort(e)."  , you've got also "J'aime la géo parce que c'est mon point fort."

As for the traduction of "I'm good at it", literally it's "Je suis fort à ça" but it's a bit awkward. "J'y suis fort" it's better


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## Beauceron-puppy

Ezekiel =>  Even "J'aime la géo parceque j'y suis fort" sounds very odd
You just can' translate in a litteral way " I like..and I'm good at it"
I like Maitre Capello's proposition better.  "J'aime la géo parceque je suis fort dans cette matière"
This way, foreigners will be sure not to hurt any teachers eyes/ national's ears

BP


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## veggie21

Hello

I was wondering, if I want to say I am good at a subject I can say, ‘je suis fort(e) en anglais’, for example.

but how would I say I am good at it?

je suis fort(e) en lui ? (anglais)

je suis forte) en elle ? ( chimie)

je suis fort(e) en elles ? (sciences)

It sounds strange to me.

Thank you!
Veggie21


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## Yendred

_Je suis fort en cela _(formal)
_Je suis fort là-dedans_ (colloquial)
or a periphrasis:
_Je suis fort dans cette matière / dans ce domaine._

[…]


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## veggie21

Merci Yendred
je viens de regarder le fil. Une dernière question; puis-je dire ‘je suis fort *en* cette matière’ ou dois-je utiliser la préposition ‘*dans*’ ?


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## Seeda

Je suis fort en anglais / dans cette matière.


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## veggie21

Alors, je suis fort en + anglais, maths, sciences, biologie etc. mais je suis fort dans cette matière!

Merci bien!


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## atcheque

@veggie21 : il y a déjà plusieurs fils sur le sujet :
good at it - English-French Dictionary WordReference.com
fr good at it - English-French Dictionary WordReference.com


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