How would you translate "Tait toi!" - as "Shut up!" or "Be quiet!"?
I already replied to this question:
I translated "se taire" as "to shut up", but I have to admit that it translates better into "to keep quiet" as there is "fermer sa gueule" (literally, to shut up one's face) that's way above in the scale of rudeness, and that's the phrase for "to shut up").
Since then, I also looked it up in the dictionary:
"Taire" (fr) - "Hush" (eng)
www.langtolang.com
And here is Hachette-Online (the site is very slow, but it is worth the wait):
francophonie.hachette-livre.fr
taire v.
I. v. tr. 1. Ne pas dire. Taire un secret. 2. Fig. Ne pas manifester, ne pas exprimer. Taire sa douleur. II. v. pron. 1. Garder le silence, s'abstenir de parler. Taisez-vous, votre bavardage me fatigue. -- Ne pas révéler, passer sous silence. Se taire sur un point. 2. (Sujet n. de chose.) Cesser de se faire entendre. Les canons se sont tus. 3. (Avec ellipse du pronom.) Faire taire: imposer le silence à; fig. empêcher de s'exprimer, de se manifester. Une indemnisation a fait taire le mécontentement.
If you need help in understanding the above, I will be happy to help. As you can see above, "taisez-vous" (the plural-'you' form of "tais-toi", the phrase you have asked me to translate, is "keep silent": "Garder le silence, s'abstenir de parler".
The definition of "se taire" is very clear - "to be quiet". It is not "to shut up", for which "se fermer la gueule" is the translation.
There are still many degrees of rudeness in English above "Shut up".
I am sure there are. One of them being punching the guy in the nose. But that is not the point.
The point is that "se taire" means "to be quiet". End of story.
I would go for "Shut up".
And you would be just as wrong as I initially was.
I don't know what your level of French is, but I doubt if it is so good you can dispute dictionaries, not to mention the author of this article who seems pretty well-versed in the subject. |
