Would you like some/any sugar ? Tu veux du sucre ? Is someone /anyone in there ? Il y a quelqu’un ? English versus French : the concept of status in grammar
Résumé
We propose to illustrate the concept of status in grammar through various grammatical items both in English and in French. Languages are not on equal footing when it comes to vocabulary and grammar. What one language can express, another just cannot, or cannot with equal accuracy. When it comes to some and any most grammar books will say that questions with some are polite questions expecting positive answers, whereas questions with any imply some form of impoliteness with negative answers expected. I once asked an English colleague of mine who took this approach for granted why I had once – and very often - been asked « Any sugar ?» after a cup of coffee had been handed to me and his answer was as follows : « The waitress knew, just by looking at your sporty figure that you were the type that doesn’t take sugar. Had you been the plump type she would have said ‘some sugar’ ? ». Now if one orders a pizza over the phone what is the chef supposed to ask : « Any anchovies ? » or « Some anchovies ?» when not seeing what the customer looks like ? In French, whatever the context or the situation one is in, « Il y a quelqu’un ? » will vary in tone and intonation, but quelqu’un is the only possibility when English has two : « Anyone in there ? » and « Someone in there ? ». The concept of status will help choose between the two possibilities. It seems that Spanish is similar to French in this case : « ¿Hay alguien en casa? » when Italian does have a choice : « C'è qualcuno in casa? » and «C'è nessuno ? ». In other contexts, when French uses du – as in « Tu veux du pain ? » or de – « Tu veux de la confiture ? » - English, once again can either use some or any. Let us note though that in the negative, du becomes de : « Je ne veux pas de pain ». « *Je ne veux pas du pain. » on its own is ungrammatical but works fine followed by something else : « Je ne veux pas du pain, je t’ai dit un croissant ! ». « I’m off shopping. Do you need anything ? » « Still here ? Do you need something ? » In this case French can alternate between « Tu n’as besoin de rien ? » and « Tu as besoin de quelque chose ? », the latter solution being of course far more assertive.