# FR: He offered to pay him



## notsirk

Bonjour!

I'm trying to say "He offered to pay him (to do something)" in French.  I know that you must contract de + le = du but what if le is a pronoun and not an article?  Which is correct?

<<Il a offert de le payer...>>
<<Il a offert du payer...>>

Merci!


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## Lezert

Bonjour,
If "le" is a pronoun and not an article, there is no contraction:_ Il a offert de le payer_


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## Barsac

Il a offert de le payer.

There are two different "le";
One is the article le (la, les) : le pain, *the* bread.
Example : il a offert du pain (= de le pain)
Test : he offered *what *? Bread !

The other one is a pronoun : le = him (in your example).
Test : he offered to pay *whom *? Him !


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## janpol

<<Il a offert de le payer...>>*correct
<<Il a offert du payer...>> incorrect
<<Il a offert de le payer...>> "de" n'est pas un article ici, c'est une préposition


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## Grekh

Il a offert de le lui payer....? He offered to pay it to him


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## Aeronth

Good evening.

You mustn't contract de + le in this context. You were right : it depends on the meaning of "le".
The correct sentence is : "Il a proposé de le payer" (_offrir de faire qqch_ doesn't exist in French, plus you can't translate _offer to_ by _offrir_).


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## janpol

c'est parfaitement correct (cf le post de Grekh)


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## Lezert

Aeronth said:


> (_offrir de faire qqch_ doesn't exist in French, plus you can't translate _offer to_ by _offrir_).


I don't agree with Aeronth.
Ce n'est pas ce que dit l'Académie Française:
(see here : http://www.mediadico.com/dictionnaire/definition/Offrir/ what says "l'Académie Française":


> > OFFRIR
> (J'offre; nous offrons. J'offrais. J'offris. J'offrirai. J'offrirais. Que j'offre. Que j'offrisse. Offert.) v. tr.
> Présenter ou proposer quelque chose à quelqu'un, en souhaitant qu'il l'accepte. Offrir un présent. Offrir de l'argent. Il m'offre sa maison, sa protection, son crédit, son secours, ses services. Il m'a offert de venir me chercher. Il s'emploie aussi avec une personne comme complément direct. Il a offert son fils pour les guider. Il s'est offert de lui-même à me servir.


, "Offrir de le payer" is correct.


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## notsirk

Merci, tout le monde!  C'est comme je pensais.


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## Aeronth

My apologies.


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## yuechu

Could the "le" here refer to the person (him) or only what's being paid for?

If one wanted to say for example "I paid the waiter." (without specifying what is being paid for), would you normally say "J'ai payé le serveur" or "J'ai payé au serveur" ?
According to this website:
http://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/angl-engl/syntax-fra.html
It would be "J'ai payé au serveur.", yet it is not a structure I have ever heard before (without having the direct object included. yet this may just be because I don't hear French very often!).
Would Francophones also say "J'ai payé le serveur" ?
Merci d'avance !


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## SwissPete

J'ai offert de le payer - I offered to pay him.
J'ai offert de la payer - I offered to pay her.
J'ai offert de les payer - I offered to pay them.

J'ai payé la facture au serveur - I paid the bill to the server.
J'ai payé le serveur - I paid the server.


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## yuechu

Thank you for your reply, SwissPete!

It looks as though the website does not give a common (or perhaps even correct.. ?) formulation, right?
http://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/angl-engl/syntax-fra.html

Therefore, "Pay the server." (, quoting this example from the website, ) would normally be translated as "Payez le serveur." and not "Payez au serveur." (when one is not specifying what is being paid for). Would this be an error on the website? (that they are recommending "Payez au serveur." and calling "Payez le serveur." incorrect?)
I do find that the "anglicismes" websites sometimes give hypercorrections or uncommon variants...


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## SwissPete

I very much doubt that an official language website from Canada would contain errors,
but I am surprised that _payer le serveur_ is shown as a form to avoid.

Perhaps we need some French Canadian input...


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## geostan

It is strange that this government website finds payer + a personal object a structure to be avoided. The TLFi Portail lexique gives the following:


> *C. −* *Qqn paye qqn (de qqc.)**1.* *Qqn paye qqn.* Donner (à quelqu'un) ce qui (lui) est dû (le plus souvent de l'argent) en échange de quelque chose (travail, loisir, objet). _Payer  un commerçant, son propriétaire, ses employés, ses fournisseurs; _[...] _Il faudrait (...) établir des différences dans la manière de payer les professeurs _(Condorcet,_Organ. publ. instr.,_1792, p.492). [...]


So payer le serveur would appear to me to be correct. Perhaps the website should be contacted for a comment.


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