# Occitan niçard: Aloura, esplica vous comme voulâ, ma pressas lou pas!



## adj1001

Would some kind person out there help me? In a 1933 novel I've come across a phrase in Niçois (at least according to the author) and have no confidence in my translation of it.

"Aloura, esplica vous comme voulâ, ma pressas lou pas!"

My best guess is, "Well, say what you like, but don't rush (us?)!"

Is it Niçois? And what does it really say? Thank you very much for any help you can offer.


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## janpol

alors, explique ce que tu veux mais presse le pas (marche plus vite)


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## CapnPrep

Like janpol said, but with _vous_: _Alors, expliquez-vous comme vous voulez, mais pressez le pas_.

In case you're interested in the pronunciation, all of the verbs are accented on the last syllable: _espli*ca*-vous_, _voul*â*_, _pres*sas*_.


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## deca dela

I'm no  expert at Niçois but it looks like " Well explain (it) however (or say whatever ) you want but for (goodness sake) hurry up (about it)" or "get a move on"
Something along these lines would work colloquially in English, depending on context


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## adj1001

Wonderful! Thank you all very much.


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## ryba

adj1001 said:


> Is it Niçois? And what does it really say? Thank you very much for any help you can offer.



Hello.

Yes, it sounds plausible. The standard Occitan spelling of the sentence would be "Alora, explicatz-vos coma volatz, mas pressatz lo pas!" I'm not sure if you speak French (your profile doesn't state it), so here goes my English translation of the segments of the sentence. I "fixed" the mistralian (romanilhan) spelling of some words for the sake of clarity and included the standard transcription for each part.

*Aloura* | _Alora_ (italianism, possibly a ligurianism): 'now', 'well', 'so';
*esplicà-vous coume voulà* | _explicatz-vos coma_ (more dialectally, _come_) _volatz_: 'explain yourself/ves how(ever) you wish'; _volatz_ is Subjunctive, hence the _however_ thing; 'say what you will in your defense' is also a possible translation;
*ma* | _mas_: 'but';
*pressàs lou pas* | _pressatz lo pas_: 'hurry up' (imperative); (literally, 'hurry your step up', cf. French _pressez le pas_ 'hurry up');


Sources: own knowledge and glottophile.forumperso.com/t189-fiche-provencal
As you can see, I'm not a native speaker of English, so forgive me if any of the translations sounds odd.


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## adj1001

Thank you very much for the spelling help (I'm happy to be able to correct it) and the translation suggestion, which is very much along the lines I had in mind (no need to apologize at all).


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