# au fur et à mesure que



## vina

Que signifie au fur et à mesure en ce contexte:

( Observez les expressions d`elle au fur et à mesure que son mari lit le journal)

Moderator note: several threads in the same topic were merged.


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## Malice

Well it's tricky to explain in English, but it means that her expression is gradually changing while her hausband reads out, because of what she hears (for instance it goes from bad to worse or something, so she is more and more ashen-faced).
I don't know an equivalent expression in English, sorry.


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## pieanne

I wouldn't say "les expressions *d'elle*"
It should be either "ses expressions", or "les expressions de la femme".


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## texasweed

observez ses réactions *as *her husband reads the newspaper


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## shaloo

Bonsoir tout le monde,

Qu'est-ce que cela veut dire?​


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## njcaviet

"au fur et a mesure" gives a sense of something being done progressively.

E.g. Il l'a fait au fur et a mesure = he did it as he went along

Give us the whole sentence and it'll be easier to translate it properly


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## shaloo

the original sentence was:

_*Formulez de nouvelles hypotheses au fur et a mesure que vous avancez dans la lecture et que vous decouvrez de nouvelles choses.*_

_and what does "fur" exactly mean?_


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## willeman3

WR Dictonnary :  Au fur et à mesure = as one goes along

Didn't you find it ?


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## shaloo

of course, i found it
its only after trying out at the dico that i posted this thread,
but i couldn't figure out the meaning of 'fur'
please help.


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## Lezert

"fur" had the meaning of "proportion" ( au fur = à proportion"), but now, it has only remained in french in the expression "au fur et à mesure"


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## njcaviet

"au fur et a mesure" is a fixed phrase that, as a whole, means "as one goes along". In your sentence, I'd translate it simply "as":

"Formulate new hypotheses *as* you progress through reading and discover new things"

Don't worry about what "fur" means on its own - it only works in the whole phrase

Hope that helps! Good luck


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## willeman3

I'm french, and never tried to know what "fur" means, mostly because this world doesn't even exist... 
I'm pretty sure this world isn't used nowadays, therefore I think you may not try to understand one world, but the whole sentance, which has already been explained.

Hope it helps!


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## shaloo

thanks a lot, willeman3, njcaviet and lezert.
it helped.


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## willeman3

Merci pour la traduction Lezert, je n'aurai pas imaginé que le sens de ce mot soit encore connu par quelqu'un tant il parait ancien et inutilisé. Le vieux françois nous réserve bien des surprises...


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## talialeen

How do you translate the following sentence in English?

The old products will be phased out *"au fur et à mesure que"* the clients will buy new products.

Thanks for your help.


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## pieanne

As the clients buy new products?


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## Highstep

Je pense que avec cet phrase "au fur et à mesure", il y a une indication de lent ou avec soin.  

Est-ce que c'est correcte?


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## Paf le chien

Highstep said:


> Je pense que avec cet phrase "au fur et à mesure", il y a une indication de lent ou avec soin.
> 
> Est-ce que c'est correcte?



No, I don't feel that. Simply "as it comes" sounds good enough...


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## Tresley

Hello Talialeen,

'Au fur et à mesure' can be translated in various ways in English. It all depends on the context.

For example:

progressively
gradually
little by little
as you go along
as and when
I would phrase your sentence as follows:

The old products will be *gradually* phased out as customers (start to) buy the new products.

I hope this helps.


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## Highstep

Yes, I like "as you go along" the best.  I am quite sure that is how my professor used it.


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## broglet

Absolutely right Tresley.  The only slight change I would make would be to avoid the repetition of 'products':   
"The old products will be gradually phased out as customers start buying the new ones"



Tresley said:


> Hello Talialeen,
> 
> 'Au fur et à mesure' can be translated in various ways in English. It all depends on the context.
> 
> For example:
> 
> progressively
> gradually
> little by little
> as you go along
> as and when
> I would phrase your sentence as follows:
> 
> The old products will be *gradually* phased out as customers (start to) buy the new products.
> 
> I hope this helps.


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## philipmay

Oui.  Quand je cherche le mot «fur» dans mon Robert, il dit simplement: «au fur et à mesure.»


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## Jerome RANDOU

Hello,

*Au fur et à mesure* is a fixed expression and, as a French, I'm incapable to tell you the meaning of each word as they mean nothing separately.

Hope this helps


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## monadevi

comment peut-on traduire en anglais au fur et à mesure ?


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## harrythelm

Bienvenue sur le forum !

Il faut le contexte, mais normalement on dit  "as you/he/it/etc. + verbe" Par exemple : Forward the letters to us as they come in (au fur et à mesure qu'elles arrivent)


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## monadevi

merci au "senior member" pour la réponse. 
dans une phrase comme : il faut faire les choses au fur et à mesure si on ne veut pas être débordé vous traduiriez comment ?


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## harrythelm

You have to do things as they come up if you don't want to be swamped with work.
You have to do things as they come up otherwise you'll be snowed under with work.


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## pepskrik

hell oeveryone , 
I wouldl iek to say in Englsih " il était inerte au début de la leçon mais cela allait mieux au fur à mesure que le cours avançait "; my guess would be " he was listless first but it was getting better as the lesson came along"


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## WillHelpIfICan

as the lesson progressed


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## pepskrik

thank you !


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## akawa

Bonjour,

Je ne sais pas si la grammaire est bonne dans la phrase suivant:

En gros, j'aimerais simplement dire: au fur et à mesure qu'ils deviendrait plus stable, l'utilisation de l'ACU représenterait (ou pourrait consistuter) un bon moyen pour... (on est dans un futur hypothétique).

ce qui donne:

"As the East Asian exchange rates would become more stable against the regional basket, and therefore against each other, the ACU would represent a vehicle for encouraging trade, investement and financial trasactions within the region."

peut etre que je peux remplacer "as" par "when" ?

When the East Asian exchange rates would become more stable against the regional basket, and therefore against each other, the ACU could act as vehicle for encouraging trade, investement and financial trasactions within the region".

Qu'en pensez vous?

Merci


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## AnnieF

Hi akawa

In BE, you could say 'As and when East Asian exchange rates become more stable ... the ACU could act as ....'


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## akawa

Ok so, i don't need "would" because "when" introduce the conditional... is it right? it gives

When the East Asian exchange rates become more stable against the  regional basket, and therefore against each other, the ACU could act as  vehicle for encouraging trade, investement and financial trasactions  within the region".

thank you very much


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## Franco-filly

"*As and when* the ...." is better, as suggested by Annie, as it suggests a gradual change/stabilisation or a possible fluctuation of the exchange rate.


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## akawa

ok thank you, i've never seen this. Do you think "As and when" is appropriate in an academic article?

thank you


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## Itisi

As and when the....bec*a*me more stable, the...might... (puisqu'il s'agit d'un futur hypothétique).


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## Budd

As many have aid here, there are several plausible translations for au fur et à mesure. One I haven't noticed is "to the extent that." For example: 


talialeen said:


> The old products will be phased out *"au fur et à mesure que"* the clients will buy new products



"Old products will be phased out _as _clients buy new products." Or "old products will be phased out _to the extent _clients buy new products." The second version emphasizes more the idea of progression and can leave open the possibility that clients won't buy the new ones.


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## Guy B.

I was looking for a way to translate the same expression to put it in a recipe, and turned to wordreference as usual 
Although this tread is quite old, i think it may serve to explain the exact meaning of the words:

"Fur", in French, is an old word indicating proportion, or a ratio.

The literal meaning of this expression, therefore, could be something in the line of

" following proportionally (*au fur*)_ [the changes that operates in time]_ and according to the measurement, progressively (*à mesure*)"

indicating something that happens at the same time, simultaneously and in equal proportions (eg, adding liquid to maintain evaporating water to a given level).

Most of the given suggestions are adapted to my case; but I was wondering what is the English commonly used expression (if there is  one) in kitchens, when explaining a step in this kind of situations.


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## Franco-filly

You could say "Gradually add more water/stock as the liquid is absorbed" for a risotto recipe for example.


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## joelooc

with such adverbs as gradually, progressively etc... I am surprised not to see any be + ing form. Is there any reason for not considering "as her husband *is* read*ing* his newspaper " "as the liquid is being absorbed" as possible translations?


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## AnnieF

You could say "gradually adding more stock ..." if this is a continuation of a previous instruction and within the same sentence, but not if this instruction is in a separate sentence.


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## Phil512

Trying another approach, less literal :
The more East Asian exchange rates become more stable/stabilize against the regional basket, and therefore against each other, the more the ACU could act as vehicle for encouraging trade, investment and financial transactions within the region".


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