Pads Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Il tirait la langue.....Can any one tell me what tirait means in this sentance ... My guess is.... He poked / stuck out his tongue. But I cant find it in my big Dictionary and dont want to just guess.Is it part of a verb ? if so which one Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Âme Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Tirer - to pull, as in tir bouchon (corkscrew)Tirer la langue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boiling a frog Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Tirer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 So they say in france ... He pulls his tongue instead of he stuck out his tongue ....?[8-)] Will I ever get the hang of this ?[blink] Many thanks for the replies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekJ Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 And as it is in the form " Il tirait" it is in the Conditional tense.... so....He would pull/stick etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 This is a very useful site for finding French-English translations, if you scroll down you will find an explanation of tirer la langue...http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=171552 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thanks cat that is a useful site .... right back to work Thanks everyone [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Âme Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Cat is right about Word Reference, really useful for common phrases, idioms etc. Tirer - to pull, to draw (curtains), to shoot (gun, tongue)Here are a few more useful phrases... tirer un stylo de son sactirer un corner/penalty (football: to take a corner/penalty)tirer le pays de la recession (to get the country out of recession)le film est tire (e acute) du roman (the film is based on the novel)le guillotine tire son nom de son inventeur (the guillotine gets its name from its inventor)le mot est tire (e acute) de l'anglais (the word comes from the English)tirer au sort (to draw lots)tirer au fusil (fire a gun) Tireur/tireuse = marksman/woman, gunman, or striker in football tire-moi de la! - get me out of this/it/there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odile Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 English is much more confusing! think of the verb to put then all the phrasal verbs used with itthen think of the verb to put down - and all its different meanings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 [quote user="DerekJ"]And as it is in the form " Il tirait" it is in the Conditional tense.... so....He would pull/stick etc[/quote]No, it's an ordinary past form. The conditional would be tirerait. Difficult to pronounce, but then I don't think you will often need to say "he would stick his tongue out." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekJ Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 [quote user="allanb"][quote user="DerekJ"]And as it is in the form " Il tirait" it is in the Conditional tense.... so....He would pull/stick etc[/quote]No, it's an ordinary past form. The conditional would be tirerait. Difficult to pronounce, but then I don't think you will often need to say "he would stick his tongue out."[/quote]Allan, thanks. You are right of course... silly me. Pads ... sorry for the wrong info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 He was sticking out his tongue.I know it sounds like he could have been pulling another tongue, bits of the body are impersonal hence "la langue" a lieu de "sa langue" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 [quote user="allanb"][quote user="DerekJ"][/quote]No, it's an ordinary past form. The conditional would be tirerait. Difficult to pronounce, but then I don't think you will often need to say "he would stick his tongue out."[/quote]More likely to say "il aurait tiré la langue" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 [quote user="J.Rs gone native"]More likely to say "il aurait tiré la langue"[/quote]Well, we could start a discussion about the distinction between "he would stick his tongue out" and "he would have stuck his tongue out".I'm ready if you are. But I think it would be of limited interest.When are you going to get rid of that *** d'apostrophe? PS: that's interesting. I put that word in just to see whether the naughty-word detector works in French as well as English. Apparently it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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