# travailler en binôme



## Rosary

Est-ce qu'on peut utiliser le mot "binôme" pour une personne (par exemple, pour un époux)?
Merci.


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## Punky Zoé

For *two* people, yes. But we sometimes say il est mon binôme...

And according to my dictionary, definitely yes. It was used in school slang.


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## wadlurik

How can I translate "je travaille en binôme avec lui"?
Him and I work together?
Or is there something more appropriate?

Many thanks


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## Markus

I'd say _we work in pairs_. Admittedly this sounds a bit strange since we're only talking about one pair, but I can't think of a better way to put it. Maybe someone else can improve on what I've said!


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## Zhorg

we work together...easier


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## misadro

we work in a team / we make a team ..  we work in pairs would involve more than two persons ..


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## Zhorg

or we work as a team


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## Markus

The problem with _we work together_ and _we work in a team_ is that the precision of _binôme_ is lost, because we don't know how many people there are in the group.


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## tantan

we work as a pair
we work as a team of two
we work in close collaboration


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## Zhorg

we both work (together) as a team


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## Lora44

The two of us work together?
We work in a pair? (Ok, yes I prefer the suggestion 'We work *as a* pair' - it's 'work in pairs, work as a pair')

We pair up and work together?

I'm just thinking out loud...


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## Markus

tantan said:


> we work as a pair



I like this one!


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## misadro

true markus and zhorg .. how about .. the two of us work together, as a team


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## Zhorg

sounds perfect misadro


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## Lora44

misadro said:


> true markus and zhorg .. how about .. the two of us work together, as a team


 
I think that works well. The 'as a team' acts as emphasis/clarification so you could probably even get away with 'the two of us work together' but I prefer it there.


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## Markus

Lora44 said:


> I think that works well. The 'as a team' acts as emphasis/clarification so you could probably even get away with 'the two of us work together'.



You could get away with this when speaking, by putting the emphasis on the word _together_. If you put the emphasis on the word _work_, it could just mean that you work for the same company. And of course in writing it is ambiguous.


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## wadlurik

Oh my god that were pretty quick and efficient answerS!!!!

Thanks a lot everybody!!!

"We work as a pair" sounds as concise as the "nous travaillons en binôme"

Perhaps the "the two of us work together, as a team" is more accurate…



Thanks again!


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## Newangle

I was looking for confirmation for my idea for a similar phrase, "we work (or operate) as a two-man team". No one came up with that originally, but someone might like it in the future!


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## Saffron

Depends on the context, but this could be rendered as:   two people working alternate shifts

In the context I am looking at, two employees appear to work half-time on opposite shifts. This is a means of lowering the company's payroll expenses without terminating either employee entirely.

 de la mise en place des congés à temps partiel à 50% en binôme
setting up half-time leave by two people working alternate shifts

In the previous comments above, I feel that "working as teams" is too vague a translation for bînome. A team could be 2 people or 20 people. Pairs is better. Termium suggested (in a military context): _buddy system _where two combattants have similar skills. One does the job, while the other provides covering protection.


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## wildan1

Saffron said:


> In the previous comments above, I feel that "working as teams" is too vague a translation for bînome.


 
That exists in the US under the term _job-sharing_. It has often been organized for people with small children at home who want to keep working but not full-time. They work out an arrangement to cover a full-time job together._ They job-share_

Otherwise if you are just describing two people who are a team (like policemen who both ride all day in the same car), we call them _partners_.

In a humorous vein, you sometimes will hear people call two people working very well together _the dynamic duo_ (like Batman and Robin)!


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## ethibaul

Hi, in a resume, I would like to underline the fact that I was working as a team, together with the responsible of...

I don't find the appropriate sentence :
- Worked as a pair with the responsible of...
- Worked in a team of two with... (with this form, I think it's not clear that I was one of these two people and not assisting a team of two person and I think that it implies that the team was only composed of two people, which was not the case)
- any other suggestions...

Many thanks for your help.


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## harrythelm

Bienvenue sur le forum !

worked in collaboration with the head of…


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## Schmorgluck

I feel the urge to expand a little on this notion of "binôme". I fist met it when I started to study at the _faculté de science_s (universitary studies). Since the word comes from mathematics (it's French for binomial), I've always assumed its use to designate (initially) a pair of students assigned to work together, originated in the academics. According to the TLFI, I was right. It apparently originated, more specifically, in the Grandes Écoles. It have since extended to other fields.

Also of note, by extension (I think through some kind of metonymy), it can designate a member of such a team from the perspective of the other. Let's say Alice and Bob work as a _binôme_: Alice can call Bob her _binôme_. Caroline, who speaks of Bob to Daniel, who only knows Alice, can say he's Alice's _binôme_.


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## LMorland

Fascinating linguistic story -- I love it!  

It makes for a knotty translation problem, however.  For example, I'm in the process of translating the (verbless) sentence:

*Un binôme créatif très complémentaire.*​
The context is a publicity flyer for a restaurant that has a husband-and-wife team as chef and pastry chef.  Of course, since in English 'binomials' are still restricted to mathematics, I'm translating bînome by pair, but I've had to completely rearrange the sentence to arrive at a harmonious effect.


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## Aline Si

Hi,

I'd like to say in english "*Travailler chaque jour avec un binôme différent*".

How can I adapt the "work in pairs" ?

My suggestion : "*Work with a different pair each day*".
Does it work ?


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## Uncle Bob

Hello,
"with a different pair" would mean me + 2 people (the pair) who change.
It would use "in a different pair" (me + 1 person who is defferent every day).
(I think "as a different pair" would mean both members change or even imply "as if we were two different people from who we were yesterday").


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## wildan1

Uncle Bob said:


> Hello,
> "with a different pair" would mean me + 2 people (the pair) who change.
> It would use "in a different pair" (me + 1 person who is defferent every day).
> (I think "as a different pair" would mean both members change or even imply "as if we were two different people from who we were yesterday").


I think a more natural way to say this in English would be_ Each day, different people pair up to work together.

_


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## Muscateer

Reference Aline Si,

                           surely  'I work with a different colleague  every day' is the intention here!

                           Cordialement aux bînomes partout!


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## Uncle Bob

wildan1 said:


> I think a more natural way to say this in English would be_ Each day, different people pair up to work together.
> 
> _


Agreed. But I was writing about what the given phrase meant.


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## sweesa01

I know this forum has been pretty exhausted, but another possibility is "work in tandem", it has a nice ring to it.


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## Keith Bradford

I like _work in tandem_.

I've just come across the term _*binômé *_(note the accent) which refers not to the people but the 3rd-year engineering project that they're working on - _Projet binomé, bibliographique_.  I'm proposing *Bibliographical project, working in pairs *unless anyone can think of a better.


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## emmsy

Just adding one I came up with for my binôme - "we are a team of two."


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## LMorland

emmsy said:


> Just adding one I came up with for my binôme - "we are a team of two."


This suggestion was made back in 2007! See posts #9 and #21 above. 
travailler en binôme 
travailler en binôme

What sounds more natural to me would be "we're a two-person team."  But maybe it's a BE/AE difference.

Truly _binôme _is a word lacking a nice English equivalent!


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