Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Did you mean plus or plus?

The French word "plus" can mean "more" as well as"no more". Needless to say this can result in confusion. Fortunately, most of the time it is clear from the context, especially when "ne" is used to indicate the meaning "no more" or "no longer". Still, there are times where there might be confusion.

Suppose, for example, that you see a newspaper headline: "Plus de Policiers". Does this headline mean there will be more police or there will no more police? If the meaning is "more police", you should then pronounce the 's' of "plus". If the meaning is "no more police", then you should pronounce "plus" as usual, that is not pronouncing the 's' (as an 's' sound).

Seem strange? Seem counterintuitive or uncomfortable? If so, join the club. That is how I felt when I first found out that on occasion I needed to pronounce the 's' to avoid confusion and that it was up to me to judge each situation to decide whether or not there could be potential confusion. After a while though I got used to it.

"C'est plus un problème pour moi".

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