# you would



## star5432

There is a phrase in English, I suppose it is slang, that is "You would (do something)..." For example, if someone is just a big dork and they mention that they love the website Slashdot.org and then another person would say "YOU WOULD love Slashdot.org" or whatnot...

I hope I explained that well, anyway-some suggestions would be nice


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## Thomas1

Hm, not sure if what I'm going to write is relevant here, so sorry if it's not.

In French you would add an appropriate ending to form a sentence of this kind, for instance:
YOU WOULD love Slashdot.org
would be:
_tu aimerais Slashdot.org_
or (when directed to more than one person
_vous aimeriez Slashdot.org_
plus propper intonation.

For what it's worth,
Tom


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## Suehil

I think I've heard the expression 'C'est bien de toi d'aimer slashdot.org'


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## star5432

Thanks for the suggestion.  I guess let me try to clarify some more, the phrase I'm thinking of I guess would literally be like "You seem like you would...etc."

ie: (Tu sembles que) tu aimerais Slashdot.org" except without the "you seem like" is more sarcastic/funny in English-would this be the same for French?


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## Suehil

Do you mean 'it's typical of you to like something like slash.org' ?  Or 'slash.org is something that you would like' ?
Normally you can tell the difference by intonation, but on the page it's a little more difficult...


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## star5432

Yes, I mean "it's typical of you to like something" like that...would I use "C'est bien de toi d'aimer slashdot.org" ?


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## Minymaan

star5432 said:


> Yes, I mean "it's typical of you to like something" like that...would I use "C'est bien de toi d'aimer slashdot.org" ?



Hello Star5432,

"c'est bien toi d'aimer" is not french at all.

If you've already wrote something about the site shlashdot.org before, you can say "C'est tout à fait ton style d'apprécier/aimer ce genre de site".
or if you need to put shlashdot.org in your sentence
"C'est tout à fait ton style d'apprécier/aimer des sites tels que shlashdot.org"


If you speak to someone you can say "T'aimerais shlashdot.org, j'en suis sur!" (T' = Tu)

I hope it'll help you


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## gliamo

star5432 said:


> Yes, I mean "it's typical of you to like something" like that...would I use "C'est bien de toi d'aimer slashdot.org" ?


"C'est bien de toi" doesn't fit here, but you can use a similar one: "C'est tout toi"

Edit: it means the person you're talking to has already done something or likes something and that is typical of them.


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## star5432

ok thanks for the suggestions, I'll try it out!


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## Mezzofanti

I am astonished that two native speakers are rejecting the  option "c'est bien de toi". So much so that I am wondering if they have correctly grasped the meaning of the English "You _would_!" I maintain, with Suehil, that "C'est bien de toi" is very common French and conveys exactly what we mean in English by "You _would_!"


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## gliamo

Mezzofanti said:


> I am astonished that two native speakers are rejecting the  option "c'est bien de toi".


Apologies are in order... I had to check, and you are right, "c'est bien de toi" is ok. It has the same meaning as "c'est tout toi", but for some reason I had never used or heard the former...
It may be regional though.


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## Mezzofanti

Yes it may well be regional, as I have often heard it but never heard "c'est tout toi". Although I live in the Gironde I am chiefly exposed to French from the Touraine Anjou regions.


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## Argyll

Hi all,

I would suggest 'ça ne m'étonne pas de toi.'

I am aware of the existence of 'c'est bien de toi', but it is not a phrase I would think of using, although I spent the first 20 years of my life in Angers.


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## badgrammar

I agree with Argyll "Ouiah, ça m'étonne pas..."


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## ben62

My tries: "T'es bien le style de gars à aimer slashdot.org"
             "T'es du style à aimer slashdot.org"

I hope I grasped the meaning though.

ben


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## badgrammar

Also an excellent suggestion "T'es bien du style à aimer..."


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## boterham

Mezzofanti said:


> I am astonished that two native speakers are rejecting the option "c'est bien de toi". So much so that I am wondering if they have correctly grasped the meaning of the English "You _would_!" I maintain, with Suehil, that "C'est bien de toi" is very common French and conveys exactly what we mean in English by "You _would_!"


 
Sorry, but 'C'est bien de toi' isn't standard French at all. It sounds very clumsy.
'C'est bien ton style '
or
'Toi , tu es du style à aimer slashdot.org'
are safer options that convey the exact same meaning as the English 'you would'


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## Mezzofanti

Dear Boterham,


> Sorry, but 'C'est bien de toi' isn't standard French at all.


Either you mean that French people _don't_ say it, in which case you are mistaken, or else you mean that they _shouldn't_ say it, which is merely irrelevant.


> It sounds very clumsy.


Not to the 239 000 people who have used it on Web pages it doesn't.

If it sounds unfamiliar to your ears is it not obvious that it must be, as has been suggested, a regional usage?

I have a French wife and seven French children, I have lived in France for many years during which French has been my normal everyday language of communication and I am not _inventing_ the fact that I have often heard this expression.


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## gliamo

Mezzofanti said:


> Not to the 239 000 people who have used it on Web pages it doesn't.


I wouldn't put much trust in that number as "_c'est bien de toi_" can be used in a variety of contexts:

-_ C'est bien de toi que l'on parle
_-_ Pourtant c'est bien de toi qu'il tient ce talent d'artiste?_
_- C'est bien de toi que j'ai besoin
- Dans une de tes biographie, tu dis que la technique doit être au service de la sensibilité. C'est bien de toi ?_
-...(all exemples from google)

That said, a good few hits are used in the sense of "it is typical of you" (as you've heard it yourself), so we can all agree that it is definitely used by some French speakers.


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## boterham

Mezzofanti said:


> Dear Boterham,
> 
> Either you mean that French people _don't_ say it, in which case you are mistaken, or else you mean that they _shouldn't_ say it, which is merely irrelevant.
> 
> Not to the 239 000 people who have used it on Web pages it doesn't.
> 
> If it sounds unfamiliar to your ears is it not obvious that it must be, as has been suggested, a regional usage?
> 
> I have a French wife and seven French children, I have lived in France for many years during which French has been my normal everyday language of communication and I am not _inventing_ the fact that I have often heard this expression.


 
Sorry for the late answer. Lunchtime, you know what it's like in France.
Looking at your post, I'd say that there's no need to get angry my dear friend. I am just saying that "C'est bien de toi" on its own doesn't mean anything at all (except if it's a question as in 'is it you who wrote this?'). And if some people do say it, then it must be a regional usage. Personally I've never heard anyone say this and as I said this isn't standard French (this isn't high French if you see what I mean) and I don't recommend anyone to ever say this at the risk of not being understood in other parts of France (or even maybe outside your village ).
It is only used as the start of a sentence as gliamo rightly points out in post #19 in sentences like "c'est bien de toi dont il s'agit".
The nearest expression I can think of is "c'est bien toi, ça !" which means "ça te ressemble bien de faire/dire ça".


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## Mezzofanti

Dear Boterham,

Today we had a priest round to lunch.  He is a native of Lyon and a former headmaster of a school.  I took the opportunity to discuss with him the expression "c'est bien de toi".  Not only was he familiar with it, in the sense being discussed, but he was incredulous that any Frenchman could not know of its frequent use. Lyon is a long way from my village.

I accept, of course, that not all the 239 000 Google hits correspond to the meaning we are discussing, but a great many of them clearly do.  The expression "c'est bien de toi, ça" gets over 4000 hits and "c'est bien de lui, ça" about 1500, and they must be practically all examples of the meaning we are discussing.


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## orc13

Well I'm certainly not a native speaker, but my first instinct was "ça m'étonne pas de toi" (said without anything following, as in "you WOULD!").  I also like the "T'es du style à aimer..." (for "you WOULD like slashdot.org) .  I don't think I've ever heard my French entourage say "c'est bien de toi" in this context...


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## Mezzofanti

_Le Robert et Collins Senior Dictionnaire Français-Anglais Anglais-Français,_ 5e édition, p. 2069:


> *you would!** c'est bien de toi!* ça ne m'étonne pas de toi!


 
Th asterisks indicate an expression less than perfectly polite.

Have I proved my point yet or are the editors of the foremost and most detailed general purpose French-English dictionary also mere bumpkins unfamiliar with what French people actually say? Notice that "c'est bien de toi" is put in first pace and actually achieves the same degree of slight offensiveness, acceptable among good friends, as the English, indicated by the fact that both have a single asterisk.


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## orc13

Maybe it's a question of age?  Older people would use "c'est bien de toi" and younger people, "T'es du style à..." ??  Just a hypothesis...


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## gliamo

Mezzofanti said:


> _Le Robert et Collins Senior Dictionnaire Français-Anglais Anglais-Français,_ 5e édition, p. 2069:
> 
> 
> Th asterisks indicate an expression less than perfectly polite.
> 
> Have I proved my point yet or are the editors of the foremost and most detailed general purpose French-English dictionary also mere bumpkins unfamiliar with what French people actually say? Notice that "c'est bien de toi" is put in first pace and actually achieves the same degree of slight offensiveness, acceptable among good friends, as the English, indicated by the fact that both have a single asterisk.


Hey, relax! You proved your point a few posts ago! "C'est bien de toi" is ok, but it appears to be unknown in some parts of France. What more to say?


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## Mezzofanti

OK orc13, if that's the choice I think I'd rather be a bumpkin. 

More seriously I would say that "c'est bien de toi" is fairly low register and less likely to be heard among educated people, though surely still likely to be heard _by_ them.


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## boterham

Mezzofanti said:


> _Le Robert et Collins Senior Dictionnaire Français-Anglais Anglais-Français,_ 5e édition, p. 2069:
> 
> 
> Th asterisks indicate an expression less than perfectly polite.
> 
> Have I proved my point yet or are the editors of the foremost and most detailed general purpose French-English dictionary also mere bumpkins unfamiliar with what French people actually say? Notice that "c'est bien de toi" is put in first pace and actually achieves the same degree of slight offensiveness, acceptable among good friends, as the English, indicated by the fact that both have a single asterisk.


 
Thanks for the bumpkin. This will be my last post on the subject since you can't accept any criticism. You see, that's the problem with dictionaries (and I have the same Robert and Collins as you mention, among others). I've been in ELT long enough to know that what is written in dictionaries isn't always in line with what people actually say. And this is the perfect example. There are tons of ways of saying 'you would' in the context you have given and the translation put forward in this highly respected dictionary just isn't what anybody would say, at least in my area, since I don't have the slightest reason not to believe that you hear it all the time in your area.
Still, if it isn't a question 'c'est bien de toi!' doesn't sound natural, at least in that part of France, unless maybe if you say this after reading for example a letter and you recognize the person's style meaning I recognize your style and I can confirm that YOU have written this. However, leave out the 'de' and it becomes perfectly acceptable.
And I don't think it's a question of age, being myself 31, so not too young and not too old either.


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## Mezzofanti

Dearest Boterham, I have not refused to accept criticism. I have pointed out as clearly as I am able my reasons for believing that certain statements you made about French usage were inexact. That is what this forum exists for.

Possibly both of us have been a fraction too abrasive in some of our posts in this thread, but it seems to me that you started rather provocatively by a forthright denial of the statement already made by two contributors. It looks to me as though you are in fact upset because the arguments and authorities against your personal conviction are considerably stronger than you expected them to be.

As I observe the various discussions on the forum about both English and French, I am often surprised by what other contributors say is common or uncommon usage.  Possibly the moral is that positive testimony (e.g. I am familiar with his expression and it is used to mean XYZ) is more likely to be trustworthy than negative testimony (e.g. this expression doesn't exist, or isn't commonly used, or won't be understood).


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## ascoltate

I often get "C'est trop toi, ça" said to me here in Québec, but it might be a Québécisme-- I think before I would have been more likely to hear "Ça me surprend pas de toi", which you can hear here too...


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## Nil-the-Frogg

> "c'est bien de toi"


I'm sorry to be both old and a bumpkin, but I confess I was the one using this expression in a text that Suehil read.  I thought it was fairly common, actually. My French is from South-East France and Alsace (but that was a loooong time ago for the latter).

Never mind, star5432, maybe you should use something less controversial for your translation...


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## star5432

hahahaha didn't mean to cause such an uproar...
I think I'll use whichever phrase I can remember first (although I appreciate all your suggestions very much


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