# Need help with translation (french-english)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 18, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346 "2005-05-18T01:53:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bobalude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobalude)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/1 "2005-05-18T01:53:40Z")
I need a translation for the phrase “A night under the stars” to french. A friend had sent me:
Un Soir sous les etoilles
but i’m not sure if its correct. Is “Un” correct to use? in the back of my mind I’m thinking of using the feminine “Une”. And is etoilles correct? any other errors?
thanks!
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/2 "2005-05-18T02:26:17Z")
Babelfish says: Une nuit sous tient le premier rôle
But evidently, they don’t know that “stars” are not “movie stars.” “Etoilles” would be right, thus: Une nuit sous les etoilles.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/3 "2005-05-18T02:41:46Z")
“Un soir” is correct, but means “evening”, so “une nuit” would be better. “Etoiles” has only one “l”, and has an acute accent on the first “e”, so: “Une nuit sous les étoiles”.
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### Author:  [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/4 "2005-05-18T04:13:20Z")
It seems like the kind of thing for which there might be a more idiomatic translation, but I can’t actually provide anything concrete in that direction.
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### Author:  [@Bobalude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobalude)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/5 "2005-05-18T07:58:57Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> “Un soir” is correct, but means “evening”, so “une nuit” would be better. “Etoiles” has only one “l”, and has an acute accent on the first “e”, so: “Une nuit sous les étoiles”.
ok, if i were to write evening, it would be:
“Un soir sous les étoiles” (just double checking since this is going ot be printed on tickets)? thanks for the help again!
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### Author:  [@Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Kenneth_Noisewater)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/6 "2005-05-18T08:15:42Z")
Yes, that’s correct. Soir is certainly more proper for an event or show. For anyone thinking there would be a more suitable idiom, [wordreference.com](http://wordreference.com)’s dictionary lists ‘sous les étoiles’ as the proper translation of the phrase.
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### Author:  [@Fortean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fortean)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/7 "2005-05-18T09:55:21Z")
I think ‘une soirée’ would be better personally, because it connotes ‘an evening out’, a whole evening, as it were.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/8 "2005-05-18T11:06:49Z")
> [@Fortean](#):
>
> I think ‘une soirée’ would be better personally, because it connotes ‘an evening out’, a whole evening, as it were.
The distinction between “jour” and “journée”, “soir” and “soirée”, and “matin” and “matinée” is one not made in English (even though “soirée” and “matinée” have made their way into the English language). All I know about it is that you say “Bon jour” or “Bon soir” when greeting someone, and “Bon journée” or “Bon soirée” when saying goodbye.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/9 "2005-05-18T12:03:56Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> “Bon jour” or “Bon soir” when greeting someone, and “Bon journée” or “Bon soirée” when saying goodbye.
Before someone else corrects me, that should be “Bonne journée” and “Bonne soirée”. Yes, I have trouble with gender in French :smack:
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### Author:  [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-translation-french-english/304346/10 "2005-05-18T12:56:07Z")
How about “Une soirée à la belle étoile”? “A la belle étoile” is an idiomatic expression meaning “out of doors,” but gets at the star thing for you.