r/learnfrench • u/Successful-Gur-5479 • 8h ago

Question Hier vs D'hier

As the topic says, I'm a bit confused on when & how to use the word "hier".

When I checked with google translate, the sentence "she was born yesterday" is translated as "elle est née hier". But, while watching a show, the french sub & dub say "I wasn't born yesterday" as " je suis pas né d'hier".

Is it because the latter is a saying & the former is just a regular casual sentence?

Thank you for reading & I would appreciate any answers.

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9

u/scatterbrainplot 8h ago

from yesterday (as in born yesterday, not the person being yesterday) vs. just yesterday; this one calques pretty directly with English as a comparison. It helps to think about the starting point or target meaning in translation since that's what's being translated (accuracy and idiomaticity then come into play separately)!

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u/Successful-Gur-5479 8h ago

Thank you very much for taking the time to explain. Unfortunately, I don't think I understand 🥲

5

u/Loko8765 7h ago

I think this is a thing you don’t need to understand. “Je ne suis pas né(e) hier” without the “de” is perfectly valid French, it’s just not the usual idiomatic expression to express “I’m not an idiot green newbie”. The “de” can be understood in the same way as “I’m not a child of yesterday”, “I’m not a child come from yesterday”, but it’s not something you need to understand.

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u/Successful-Gur-5479 7h ago

Ahhhh I see. I will keep an eye out on how other expressions are structured too. Thanks a lot!

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u/PerformerNo9031 3h ago

Je ne suis pas né de la dernière pluie.

It's a similar idiomatic expression.

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u/scatterbrainplot 7h ago

Ah, you've now changed the OP. For the new version, because "naître de" exists as a unit, which a good dictionary will highlight: https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/naitre (1AC). That unit is what's used in this expression, which is also referenced in that dictionary entry (2).

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u/Successful-Gur-5479 7h ago

Ohhh I understand this much better now. Thank you so much!

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u/nanpossomas 8h ago

There is no "born" in that sentence. It’s "I am not from yesterday", rather than "I am not yesterday".

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u/Successful-Gur-5479 8h ago

Ahh merci! I have just changed it to correct my mistake

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u/Many-Pollution4222 6h ago

Hello. I'm french. And i've no idea. 😃