Confused about these two translations?
1.“Less oppression is what we’re fighting for”
I originally translated it as:
“Moins d’oppression est ce que nous nous battons”
But my teacher said it would be:
“Moins d’oppression est ce pour quoi nous nous battons”
I’ve never seen “ce pour quoi” before. Can someone explain why it is used here and if there is a different way of saying this.

2.“It is necessary to lower taxes, which is something he has insisted on throughout his campaign.”
I translated it to:
Il est nécessaire de diminuer les impôts qui est quelque chose sur laquelle il a insisté tout au long de sa campagne
But was told it would be:
Il est nécessaire de diminuer les impôts qui est quelque chose ce sur quoi il a insisté tout au long de sa campagne
Why is it “ce sur quoi” and is this interchangeable with lequel/laquelle.

MERCI beaucoup pour votre aide

Question

Confused about these two translations?
1.“Less oppression is what we’re fighting for”
I originally translated it as:
“Moins d’oppression est ce que nous nous battons”
But my teacher said it would be:
“Moins d’oppression est ce pour quoi nous nous battons”
I’ve never seen “ce pour quoi” before. Can someone explain why it is used here and if there is a different way of saying this.

2.“It is necessary to lower taxes, which is something he has insisted on throughout his campaign.” 
I translated it to:
Il est nécessaire de diminuer les impôts qui est quelque chose sur laquelle il a insisté tout au long de sa campagne 
But was told it would be:
Il est nécessaire de diminuer les impôts qui est quelque chose ce sur quoi il a insisté tout au long de sa campagne 
Why is it “ce sur quoi” and is this interchangeable with lequel/laquelle.

MERCI beaucoup pour votre aide

Answer

1. Your teacher is right. French grammar doesn’t allow to end that sentence with ‘for’. Literally you have to say :
Less / oppression / is / that / for what / we are fighting
Moins / d’oppression / est / ce / pour quoi / nous nous battons
I know it makes no sense in English but it’s the logic of French grammar. (I parsed both sentences symmetrically)

2. ‘Ce sur quoi’ is wrong here but it exists. Your version is the right one, but you have to use the masculine form ‘lequel’, not ‘laquelle’. Literally the translation is :
It is necessary / to lower taxes / which / is / something / on what / he has a lot insisted / throughouts / his campaign
Il est nécessaire / de baisser les taxes / (ce) qui / est / quelque chose / sur lequel  / il a beaucoup insisté / tout au long de / sa campagne

It would more natural to add ‘ce’ before ‘qui’ (ce qui est quelque chose...). But I don’t know how to translate literally ‘ce qui’. Maybe ‘what that’ (lowering taxes is what that is something on what he has insisted). ... French grammar is very analytical.

Answer

for the first question, it's because "se battre" in the meaning of campaigning for/against is "se battre pour" or "se battre contre", you need the preposition to follow. If you wanted a more literal translation it could be something like "Less oppression is that for which we are fighting" which would be quite close to "Moins d’oppression est ce pour quoi nous nous battons"

for the second question, I find the translation you were offered doesn't run so smoothly. I would definitely replace "quelque chose" by "une chose" and have something closer to your original: "Il est nécessaire de diminuer les impôts ce qui est une chose sur laquelle il a insisté tout au long de sa campagne." Or you could break it into two sentences and use "ce sur quoi" for example: "Il est nécessaire de diminuer les impôts. C'est ce sur quoi il a insisté tout au long de sa campagne".

I hope that can help you, these are tricky sentences :)

Answer

linguee.fr has examples of these expressions - of course, being common doesn't mean that it's correct

Ce pour quoi nous nous battons, ce n'est pas la transparence pour la transparence, mais la transparence pour rendre le pouvoir

Answers · 5

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!