While going through the second lesson of the Coffee Break French Season 3 I encountered a strange phrase: aussi bien … que.
Strange because I have my English thinking cap on – no disrespect to the French language, because the French would find the English equivalent “as well as” or “both … and” equally strange.
The sentence I take from CBF is: … je vais repartir de Nice avec de très bons souvenirs, aussi bien culturels que linguistiques. (I will leave Nice with very good memories, cultural as well as linguistic.)
I think I need some practice:
1) Some things can be both good and bad. It depends. Quelques choses peuvent être aussi bien bon que mauvais. Ça dépend.
2) This chemical is used as medicine as well as poison. Ce chimique est utilisé aussi bien médicament que du poison.
However, I could easily translate the above sentences into French as …
1a) Quelques choses peuvent être bon ainsi que mauvais. Ça dépend.
2a) Ce chimique est utilisé comme médicament ainsi que du poison.
I am clearly out of my depth here. Someone better in French than I needs to tell me what the difference is between the two usages?
Strange because I have my English thinking cap on – no disrespect to the French language, because the French would find the English equivalent “as well as” or “both … and” equally strange.
The sentence I take from CBF is: … je vais repartir de Nice avec de très bons souvenirs, aussi bien culturels que linguistiques. (I will leave Nice with very good memories, cultural as well as linguistic.)
I think I need some practice:
1) Some things can be both good and bad. It depends. Quelques choses peuvent être aussi bien bon que mauvais. Ça dépend.
2) This chemical is used as medicine as well as poison. Ce chimique est utilisé aussi bien médicament que du poison.
However, I could easily translate the above sentences into French as …
1a) Quelques choses peuvent être bon ainsi que mauvais. Ça dépend.
2a) Ce chimique est utilisé comme médicament ainsi que du poison.
I am clearly out of my depth here. Someone better in French than I needs to tell me what the difference is between the two usages?
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