Two tools against repetition
French writing tradition tolerates repeated words even less than English does. To come back to something already mentioned, you have two means: pro-forms, short stand-ins such as ce dernier, ledit or le faire, and lexical substitution, where a different noun refers to the same thing.
The same reference, three ways
Le Louvre a battu un record. Le Louvre a accueilli neuf millions de visiteurs. Le Louvre prévoit des travaux.
The Louvre has broken a record. The Louvre welcomed nine million visitors. The Louvre is planning renovations.
Correct, but clunky.
Le Louvre a battu un record : le musée a accueilli neuf millions de visiteurs. L'institution prévoit désormais des travaux.
The Louvre has broken a record: the museum welcomed nine million visitors. The institution is now planning renovations.
Lexical substitution.
ce dernier and celui-ci against ambiguity
When a sentence has two possible antecedents, il or elle is often ambiguous. Ce dernier and celui-ci point to the one mentioned last. Both agree in gender and number: cette dernière, ces derniers, celle-ci, ceux-ci. Ce dernier sounds slightly more formal.
Ambiguous and clear
With il
Le directeur a reçu le délégué syndical. Il a refusé de signer.
The director met the union representative. He refused to sign.
Who refused?
With ce dernier
Le directeur a reçu le délégué syndical. Ce dernier a refusé de signer.
The director met the union representative. The latter refused to sign.
The representative.
More cases
Julien a écrit à sa sœur, mais cette dernière n'a jamais répondu.
Julien wrote to his sister, but she never replied.
Marie a présenté son associé au client ; celui-ci a paru surpris.
Marie introduced her business partner to the client, who seemed surprised.
Celui-ci is the client, the noun mentioned last.
English the latter feels formal and slightly old-fashioned. Ce dernier is everyday usage in French non-fiction and in the press and does not sound stilted.
ledit in contracts and with a wink
Ledit means “the said” and fuses with the article and preposition into one word: ledit, ladite, lesdits, lesdites, dudit, audit, desdits. In a contract it removes ambiguity. In everyday writing it sounds ironic, because it puts officialese on something trivial.
Two registers
Le locataire s'engage à entretenir ledit logement.
The tenant undertakes to maintain the said dwelling.
Contract.
Toute modification dudit contrat doit être faite par écrit.
Any amendment to the said contract must be made in writing.
de + ledit = dudit.
Il m'a présenté son projet révolutionnaire. Ledit projet tenait sur un post-it.
He showed me his revolutionary project. Said project fitted on a Post-it.
Ironic.
Picking up whole statements
Verbs and qualities can be replaced too. Le faire picks up an action. The neutral le picks up an adjective or a whole statement and stays unchanged, even when it refers to something feminine or plural.
le faire and neutral le
Elle voulait appeler le client, mais elle ne l'a pas fait.
She meant to call the client, but she didn't.
le faire for an action.
Les associés étaient inquiets, et ils le sont toujours.
The partners were worried, and they still are.
le for an adjective, invariable.
La réunion est annulée ? Personne ne me l'a dit.
The meeting's cancelled? Nobody told me.
le for a whole statement.
Lexical substitution
Four ways to replace a noun
| Type | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| General term | le Louvre → le musée | neutral, usually safe |
| Periphrasis | Lyon → la capitale des Gaules | elevated, use sparingly |
| Feature of the person | Paul Durand → le quinquagénaire, l'ancien ministre | typical of the press |
| Evaluative noun | la réforme → cette mesure absurde | slips in a judgement |
Evaluative substitution is a tool of opinion: whoever picks up la réforme as ce cadeau fiscal passes judgement without saying so.
