The reason why she came was to set up a trap.

French translation: Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:The reason why she came was to set up a trap.
French translation:Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège.
Entered by: Premium✍️

21:52 Dec 2, 2016
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2016-12-06 17:54:07 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


English to French translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics
English term or phrase: The reason why she came was to set up a trap.
Hello! I have this apparently simple sentence to translate:

“The real reason why she came was to set up a trap.”

The style should remain straightforward and oral.
And I'm hesitating:

1) « La vraie raison pour laquelle elle est venue était de tendre un piège. »
-> Somehow, this seems grammatically wrong to me. But could you confirm this / help me understand why?

2) « La vraie raison pour laquelle elle est venue était qu'elle voulait tendre un piège. »
-> This feels more grammatically correct, but it comes with an addition.

Is 1 indeed wrong (why?), and 2 thus the only possibility?

Thank you in advance!
ASdS
Local time: 12:40
Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège !
Explanation:
Pour alléger la phrase, >Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège !<
Selected response from:

Premium✍️
United States
Local time: 04:40
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège !
Premium✍️
4 +2si elle est venue, c’était seulement pour tendre un piège.
Jennifer Levey
4 +1elle n'était venue en fait que pour tendre un piège
sporran
5La vraie raison de sa venue était de tendre un piège
dmfz
4sa raison pour venir était de nous piéger
HERBET Abel
4le motif réel de sa visite était de tendre un piège
Emmanuella
5 -1« La vraie raison pour laquelle elle est venue était de ME tendre un piège. »
Premium✍️
4 -1elle est allée là uniquement pour tendre un piège
Daryo


Discussion entries: 10





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
sa raison pour venir était de nous piéger


Explanation:
suggéré

HERBET Abel
Local time: 12:40
Native speaker of: French

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Premium✍️: Avez-vous relu votre phrase ? La syntaxe est fautive. Bonne soirée.
1 min

neutral  Jennifer Levey: "nous" ? - C'est qui tout ce monde ?
1 hr
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43 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
le motif réel de sa visite était de tendre un piège


Explanation:
Eventuellement :

Le motif réel de sa visite , tendre un piège

Emmanuella
Italy
Local time: 12:40
Native speaker of: French
Notes to answerer
Asker: Bonne idée de structure, merci ! :)

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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
« La vraie raison pour laquelle elle est venue était de ME tendre un piège. »


Explanation:
« La vraie raison pour laquelle elle est venue était de ME tendre un piège. »

With the indirect personal pronoun added, the sentence is now perfect. There was nothing wrong in your answer! :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 mins (2016-12-02 21:57:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

But you can certainly shorten the sentence by simply saying: Me tendre un piège était son vrai motif.
I understand that the trap was for the orator. Am I correct? Otherwise the sentence would be lacking an indirect object...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 54 mins (2016-12-02 22:46:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

P.P.S. S'il n'y a pas de personne, ce dont je doute... alors, Tendre un piège, c'était (ça) son motif ! = Son motif était de tendre un piège = Elle est/était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège ! ;)

Premium✍️
United States
Local time: 04:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 40
Notes to answerer
Asker: Je n'ajouterais pas le pronom "me", le COI restant abstrait dans le contexte, mais merci pour toutes ces suggestions !


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  HERBET Abel: pourquoi "me"
9 mins
  -> Rien que pour compléter la phrase qui manque un 'coi' et du point de vue de l'orateur. J'ai moi aussi un doute (voir le fil de discussion et ma note post-scriptum). Merci :)

disagree  Daryo: CL5? maybe a perfect sentence, but not a perfect translation - the ST says nothing about who is the intended target! "slight shifts" like that can be more damaging for the end-user of the translation than patently wrong translation (=>obviously of no use)
1 hr
  -> Le pronom n'invalide pas la traduction comme vous l'admettez. J'ai bien ajouté des notes pour justifier son emploi et faire d'autres propositions.

neutral  Jennifer Levey: The ST, as quoted, doesn't indicate who was the victim.
1 hr
  -> Bien sûr, c'est ce que j'ai maintes fois souligné dans le fil de discussion. J'ai senti qu'il pourrait s'agir de la personne qui parle.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
si elle est venue, c’était seulement pour tendre un piège.


Explanation:
Le français "à la belge" :)

Jennifer Levey
Chile
Local time: 08:40
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 11

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Premium✍️: Désolée. Le texte original n'introduit aucune hypothèse avec "Si". De plus, tendre ce piège n'est nullement conditionnel et exclusif. Trop peu de contexte pour une telle conjecture.
1 hr

agree  Daryo: the right emphasis // emphasis made on the right elements of the sentence
11 hrs

neutral  GILOU: c'est lourd en français
14 hrs

agree  Michele Fauble
2 days 18 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège !


Explanation:
Pour alléger la phrase, >Elle était venue avec l'intention de tendre un piège !<

Premium✍️
United States
Local time: 04:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 40
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  GILOU
4 hrs

agree  Annie Rigler
8 hrs

neutral  Daryo: that's only half of the idea expressed in the ST // where is "the real ..."? It's not a huge difference, but it does shift the emphasis of the whole sentence - I think that "avec la seule intention de" is closer to the intended meaning of the ST
10 hrs
  -> Le "real" est déjà contenu et implicite dans l'*intention*, mon cher/ma chère. Pas besoin du mot à mot dans la LC.
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13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
the real reason why she came was to set up a trap
elle est allée là uniquement pour tendre un piège


Explanation:
si elle est allée là, c'est uniquement pour tendre un piège

the point being made is that whatever seems to be the reasons, the one and only real reason was to set a trap!


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 hrs (2016-12-03 11:38:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

this being a game, I would say it from the viewpoint of an outside observer [who is outside of the game]

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:40
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  GILOU: trop poétique non ?;=)
2 hrs
  -> very convincing ...

neutral  Premium✍️: Vous ne faites que parodier mes réponses et celles déjà proposées par les collègues comme étant votre idée originale. Vous n'avez ajouté rien de nouveau au débat. :D
6 hrs
  -> if you are completely UNABLE to spot the not so subtle differences, I can't do nothing about it - you should maybe try interpreting where taking liberties with "unimportant nuances" in front of a live audience won't get you very far ...
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
elle n'était venue en fait que pour tendre un piège


Explanation:
Suggestion

sporran
France
Local time: 12:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 11

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daryo: that's the idea
22 hrs
  -> Thank you Daryo :-)
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3 days 14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
the reason why she came was to set up a trap.
La vraie raison de sa venue était de tendre un piège


Explanation:
Take away all the "pour laquelle" mumbo and shorten it.

dmfz
France
Local time: 12:40
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
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