Son travail est facile par rapport au mien.

Questions & Answers about Son travail est facile par rapport au mien.

How does par rapport au mean "compared to"?
The fixed expression par rapport à literally means "in relation to" or "with respect to". It is the standard way to express "compared to" in French. In this sentence, the à merges with the following word le to form au.
Why use mien instead of mon?
Mon is a possessive adjective meaning "my", and it must be followed by a noun (like mon travail). Mien is part of the possessive pronoun le mien, which means "mine". It replaces the noun completely so you don't have to awkwardly repeat the word travail.
Why is it au mien and not à le mien?
In French, the preposition à and the word le must always contract to make au. Because the pronoun for "mine" here is le mien, the à from par rapport à crashes into the le and forces the mandatory contraction: par rapport au mien.
Why don't we use le même que in this sentence?
Your current lesson uses le même que (the same as) to express exact similarity. However, this sentence contrasts two things that are different (his job is easier than yours). Therefore, we use par rapport à (compared to) to highlight a contrast rather than a similarity.

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