Translation Exercise: English into French

Translate: If you have watched the news on television, you will know that strikes in Paris are severely affecting businesses. The government is convinced that their measures will put an end to the strike, but the people are uncertain. Although the strikes and government action have become more violent, it does not seem that they have any more control over the situation. In the A Level French paper, there is an English to French translation exercise that is designed to see how students can cope with various grammatical structures and to test their accuracy in larger French texts. I will be breaking this down into smaller sections (as they do on the mark schemes) to show how to translate this accurately and also, what grammatical structures they are testing. If you have watched the news = si vous avez / on a regardé les informations – the use of passé composé, both vous and on are acceptable hereon television, = à la television – prepositionsyou will know that = vous saurez / on saura que – irregular future tense of savoir, correct verb endingsstrikes in Paris are severely affecting businesses. = les grèves à Paris affectent gravement les entreprisesThe government is convinced that = le gouvernement est convaincu quetheir measures will put an end to the strike, = leurs mesures mettront fin à la grève, - the future tense, when the action is in the future it will always take the future tense even with a subjunctive phrase like ‘être convaincu que’but the people are uncertain. = mais le peuple est incertain – ‘peuple’ takes the singular Although the strike and government action have become more violent, = bien que les grèves et l’action du gouvernement soient devenues plus violentes – past subjunctive and agreement with ‘être’ it does not seem that the government has any control over the situation. = il ne semble pas que le gouvernement ait un contrôle sur la situation – subjunctive with ‘il semble que’