# You Better Run



## neo_gamma

How would you say "you better run" in French for example when someone is chasing someone else and says "you better run".


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## Bobbum

Tu as intéret à courir.


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## hampton.mc

Cours ! ...
Tu ferais mieux de courir


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## Maxzi

Wouldn't it be '_you'd better run_'?

Or am I totally mistaken?


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## hampton.mc

Maxzi said:


> Wouldn't it be '_you'd better run_'?
> 
> Or am I totally mistaken?



Yes You are right.


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## Nicomon

Maxzi said:


> Wouldn't it be '_you'd better run_'?


 Ideally yes. Or the uncontracted form : _you had better_. 

However... as copied from *this thread*: 

The following is from the entry "better" in _*Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage*_: 





> The use of _better_ for _had better_... is rejected by a couple of critics, but Copperud [_American Usage: The Consensus_] 1970 says that the consensus is that it is not open to serious criticism.


 And from *this page* :





> In casual speech, it’s common to say things like “you better make your bed before Mom comes home.” But in writing and in formal speech, the expression is “you _had_ better.” Slightly less formal but still fine is the contracted version: “you’d better.”


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## BAlfson

This is a bit idiomatic because there's _une partie sous-entendue_: "You had better run because you cannot hide."

"Tu ferait du fuir puisque tu ne pouras pas te fourir!"

Cheers - Bob


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## SwissPete

> "Tu ferait du fuir puisque tu ne pouras pas te fourir!"


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## hampton.mc

BAlfson said:


> This is a bit idiomatic because there's _une partie sous-entendue_: "You had better run because you cannot hide."
> 
> "Tu ferait du fuir puisque tu ne pouras pas te fourir!"
> 
> Cheers - Bob



Trop mignon 

Tu ferais bien de courir si tu ne peux pas te cacher.


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## Maxzi

> "Tu ferait du fuir puisque tu ne pouras pas te fourir!"


Contrepèterie ?


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## Bobbum

avoir intéret à = warning
faire mieux de = advising

I was just wondering, how would it be if one said: _Il serait bon que vous couriez?_


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## hampton.mc

Il serait bon que vous couriez
It would be good if you could run ? (you are the native!)


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## florence a

I suggest: File, ça vaudra mieux!

The idea is to use a colloquial word (file) to transpose the colloquial grammar (you better)


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## Cath.S.

Bobbum said:


> Tu as intér*ê*t à courir.


My personal favorite.


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## Bobbum

Merci. Mes circonflex ne marchent pas.
Une fois en France on m'a dit: _Il serait bon que nous nous dépechions. _Pour cette raison je croyais  ... _que vous couriez _... serait correct.


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## Cath.S.

Bobbum said:


> Merci. Mes circonflex ne marchent pas.
> Une fois en France on m'a dit: _Il serait bon que nous nous dépechions. _Pour cette raison je croyais  ... _que vous couriez _... serait correct.


C'est tout à fait correct. Un peu soutenu, par rapport au ton de l'original, cependant.

Pour tes circonflex*es* et autres diacritiques, avant d'écrire un message va en mode avancé, tu y trouveras toutes les voyelles accentuées couramment employées en français ; il n'y a qu'à cliquer dessus pour les insérer à l'endroit désiré.


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## Bobbum

Comment va-t-on en mode avancé? Actuellement j'utilise le Alt et le petit clavier à droite. Mais quand j'essaye les circonflexes la page disparait et il faut repartir à zéro.


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## Cath.S.

On every forum thread page at the bottom right of the "Quick Reply" box, there is a "Go Advanced" button that offers all sorts of text functionalities.


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## Bobbum

Ca se voyait comme le nez au milieu de ma figure. êêêêêê ...


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## BAlfson

Maxzi said:


> "Tu ferait du fuir puisque tu ne pouras pas te fourir!"
> 
> 
> 
> Contrepèterie ?
Click to expand...

If it was, it was unconscious! I just about had a _fou rire_ when I came back here a few minutes ago. I meant to write "_Tu ferais mieux de fuir puisque tu ne pourras pas te terrir_" as in "go to ground." hampton.mc's suggestion of "_cacher_" is exact, but I was trying to choose a more-colorful term. _Évidement, je suis allé chercher trop loin! _

Cheers - Bob


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## mgarizona

In my experience "You better run" is something called out to someone who is already running away, accent on the 'better.'

So I would offer: Oui, c'est ça, file, toi!

(Usually followed by an "If I get my hands on you ... " ... "Si je te met la main dessus ... ")


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## BAlfson

I really like this. There is indeed the sense of:
_Oui, c'est ça, file! (Je t'aurai!)_​Sometimes, we also use this in a situation like when one gets a letter from the IRS (_le fisc aux USA_), we might observe, "Well, you can run, butcha can't hide." ("butcha" = "but you").

Cheers - Bob


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## pointvirgule

mgarizona said:


> So I would offer: Oui, c'est ça, file-toi!


One small point: _filer _is not pronominal.


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## mgarizona

Might I have heard "File, toi!" then???


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## pointvirgule

mgarizona said:


> Might I have heard "File, toi!" then???


It's entirely possible.


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## BAlfson

Maybe _sauve-toi_ instead of _file-toi_?  Or can I use _file_ both ways?

Cheers - Bob


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## mgarizona

pointvirgule said:


> It's entirely possible.



LOL! ... well I hadn't necessarily meant that I'd heard it in direct address!


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## Cath.S.

_Cours, t'as raison !
T'as raison de courir !_


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## pointvirgule

mgarizona said:


> LOL! ... well I hadn't necessarily meant that I'd heard it in direct address!


 That's not what I meant! (And you wouldn't hear it in these forums, esteemed fellow forero. )

... Pour ajouter aux possibilités :
_Sauve-toi avant que je t'attrape !
Tu ferais mieux de prendre tes jambes à ton cou_*_ !_

-----
* Ce qui peut être assez inconfortable si vous avez l'estomac dans les talons.


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## Oddmania

Bonjour,

Would saying _best_ instead of _better_ be correct as well?

_You'd best run..._

Is there a difference, that is, perhaps the sentence with _best_ means that it would be the best thing you could do?


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## BAlfson

You're grammatically correct, but the expression is never spoken (or written) correctly.  It's in the vernacular as "you better."

Then again, maybe the Queen of England, discovering that her friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had been stealing, might say, "You'd best run."  I can't think of any other situation though. 

Cheers - Bob


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## mgarizona

Oddmania said:


> Bonjour,
> 
> Would saying _best_ instead of _better_ be correct as well?
> 
> _You'd best run..._
> 
> Is there a difference, that is, perhaps the sentence with _best_ means that it would be the best thing you could do?



It's correct, what it lack is the sense of threat carried by 'You better run.'

It sounds more like someone telling someone that they'd be wise to hurry.

"You'd best run (along now) or you'll be late for school."
"You'd best run or you'll miss the bus."
"You'd best run or you won't be able to catch up with them."

It can be used as a warning too--- If you see Dick Cheney with a shotgun, you'd best run--- but again a warning is not a threat.


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## Cath.S.

_You'd best run_ correspondrait au français _tu ferais bien de courir/il vaut mieux que tu coures._


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## BAlfson

So, Cath, you're confirming that mgarizona's formulation _"Oui, c'est ça, file, toi!"_ has the right "feel" and that _"tu ferais bien de courir/il vaut mieux que tu coures"_ is a little more formal than "you better run!"?

Cheers - Bob


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## Cath.S.

Hi Bob, I already said what my favorite translation (apart from my own suggestions ) was. _File, toi_, is ok but that's not what I would personally use.

About _tu ferais bien de courir_, it's not a matter of being formal or not, it's about expressing the slight difference of meaning between _you'd best run_ and _you better run_, at least if you agree with MgAz's message #32 which I do.


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## BAlfson

> at least if you agree with MgAz's message #32


Perfect!  I think we've nailed another one down!

Cheers - Bob


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