# FR: She will not be seeing me today



## garydpoole

Bonjour tout le monde !

I'm trying to write the expression, "she will not be seeing me today"

But I'm struggling with the "be seeing" part, as my attempt: 

"elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui" translates to "she will not see me today" which, obviously isn't the same thing !

Any help much appreciated !

Salut

Gary


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## Maître Capello

In French we don't have progressive tenses. Therefore, both "will see" and "will be seeing" should be translated as _verra_.


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## garydpoole

Maître Capello said:


> In French we don't have progressive tenses. Therefore, both "will see" and "will be seeing" should be translated as _verra_.



I guess the lack of progressive tenses tends (well for me at least) to suggest subtle differences in the meanings. For example, in the above, "she will not see you" has a slightly "abrupt" tone to it, whereas, "she will not be seeing you" tends to sound more matter of fact.

Thanks

Gary


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## geostan

To me as well. She will not see me today means She doesn't want to see me today. Elle ne veut pas me voir aujourd'hui.  I don't know whether the French sentence can convey both nuances.


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## Oddmania

geostan said:


> To me as well. She will not see me today means She doesn't want to see me today. Elle ne veut pas me voir aujourd'hui.  I don't know whether the French sentence can convey both nuances.



Hi,

I would say it doesn't. To me, _She won't see me _→ Elle refuse de me voir (or _Elle ne veut pas me voir_, as you suggested).


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## billym

elle ne sera pas dans le processus de me voir aujourd'hui   just another Form To Consider.


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## AmaryllisBunny

_She will not be seeing me today.
_
In a neutral stance: she has other plans and therefore can't see me today.
Elle n'a pas prévu me voir aujourd'hui.

less neutral:
Elle (a) fait exprès de ne pas me rencontrer aujourd'hui.


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## Maître Capello

billym said:


> elle ne sera pas dans le processus de me voir aujourd'hui   just another Form To Consider.


 I'm afraid no native would ever say that.

To render the volition aspect of _will_, Geostan's suggestion is a very good option.

She *will not* see me today → _Elle *ne veut pas* me voir aujourd'hui_ / _Elle *refuse* de me voir aujourd'hui_ (stronger).
She *will not* be seeing me today → _Elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui_ / _Elle n'a pas prévu de me voir aujourd'hui_ / _Elle *ne pourra pas* me voir aujourd'hui_.

Anyway, I'm wondering whether the English sentence could be ambiguous: could it mean either "She doesn't want to see me today" or "She won't be able to see me because I won't show up"? I'm indeed asking this because _Elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui_ can convey either nuance meaning!


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## AmaryllisBunny

Maître Capello said:


> Anyways, I'm wondering whether the English sentence could be ambiguous: could it mean either "She doesn't want to see me today" or "She won't be able to see me because I won't show up"? I'm indeed asking this because _Elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui_* *can convey either *nuance*!



No "s" unless you say _either of the(se) nuances_. However, it isn't a nuance, because the differences in meaning are substantial (use [meaning] instead).

In choosing the continuous tense, the English construction becomes ambiguous, due to the emphasis on the "_continuousness/continuity_ of the idea." Since it isn't the plain statement (general use) - _she will not see me today, _the idea [_will not be seeing me_] tends to spiral.


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## Maître Capello

So is _She will not see me today_ totally unambiguous? What about _She *shall* not see me today_?


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## JeanDeSponde

I'd translate _she will not be seeing me today_ with _elle ne pourra pas me voir aujourd'hui.
_I don't really see a progressive tense in _will not be seeing_ — rather a way to get round the lack of a future tense for _can_...


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## Maître Capello

JeanDeSponde said:


> I don't really see a progressive tense in _will not be seeing_ — rather a way to get round the lack of a future tense for _can_...


Mais dans ce cas, ce serait : _will not *be able to* see me_… Les deux sens sont certes proches, mais pas identiques.


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## geostan

MC,

Re: will and shall.

She will not see me today. could mean either she refuses to or I won't let her, the first version being the more likely.
She shall not see me today. While shall is not commonly used any more, at least in North American English, it would undoubtedly mean I will not let her.

A very interesting thread!


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## Maître Capello

Thanks Geostan!

So, just as I had thought and contrary to what AmaryllisBunny's post led me to believe, the sentence in the simple future is also ambiguous, not just the one in the future continuous. In other words, although _She will not see me_ means _She doesn't want to_ in most contexts, it can also mean _I won't let her_. In that case, the French translation should be different.

_Elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui_ is ambiguous as well, but the more likely meaning is rather the other one, i.e., _I won't let her_, although I believe it is much more neutral than in English and therefore closer in meaning to the continuous version _She will not be seeing me_.

She will not *see* me today:


She doesn't want to see me → _Elle ne veut pas me voir aujourd'hui._ 
I won't let her see me → _Je ne veux pas qu'elle me voie aujourd'hui._ 
She will not *be seeing* me today → _Elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui. / __Elle ne pourra pas me voir aujourd'hui_. (both French sentences are ambiguous)


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## geostan

I won't let her see me → _Je ne veux pas qu'elle me voie aujourd'hui._

        I don't think I won't let her see me and I don't want her to see me are exactly equivalent. The English is closer to Je refuse de la laisser me voir aujourd'hui.


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## AmaryllisBunny

Maître Capello said:


> So is _She will not see me today_ *totally* unambiguous? What about _She *shall* not see me today_?



It is not *totally* unambiguous but there is less intent involved. It states a fact (declarative sentence) rather than adding emphasis on that "idea..." One may still wonder why, but once again less "spiraling"... _Shall_ is not used in this case in spoken or written, unless for stylistic purposes. This is because _shall not_ (archaic) implies, she does not have permission to [see me today].


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## billym

billym 






Junior Member


Join DateApr 2015LocationCordele, GANative languageEnglish-USPosts7​

it is still grammatically Correct.​


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## billym

_Elle ne me verra pas aujourd'hui will NEVER MEAN _She doesn't want to see me today!


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