Learn French: Nous programmons la machine, mais c'est l'homme qui raisonne avec de la créativité. - We program the machine, but it is the human who reasons with creativity.

Word

Nous programmons la machine, mais c'est l'homme qui raisonne avec de la créativité.

Meaning

We program the machine, but it is the human who reasons with creativity.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

French

Lesson

Condition and extent (dans la mesure où)

Breakdown of Nous programmons la machine, mais c'est l'homme qui raisonne avec de la créativité.

it / this (with être)

mais

but

Questions & Answers about Nous programmons la machine, mais c'est l'homme qui raisonne avec de la créativité.

How could I rewrite this sentence using this lesson's focus, dans la mesure où?

You could replace mais to say: Nous programmons la machine dans la mesure où c'est l'homme qui raisonne... (We program the machine insofar as it is the human who reasons...). This changes the sentence from a simple contrast to a condition, implying the machine can only be programmed to the extent that humans provide the creative logic. Remember that dans la mesure où is followed by the indicative mood, which is why c'est remains unchanged.

Why use c'est l'homme qui raisonne instead of just l'homme raisonne?

This is a highlighting structure called la mise en relief. By wrapping l'homme in c'est ... qui, the sentence forcefully contrasts the human with the machine, emphasizing exactly who is doing the reasoning. It matches the English emphasis perfectly: it is the human who...

Why does l'homme translate to the human rather than the man?

In French, the singular l'homme (sometimes capitalized as l'Homme in formal texts) is the standard way to refer to mankind, humanity, or a human being as a broad concept. The definite article l' is mandatory here because French uses definite articles when talking about general categories and abstract concepts.

Could I say avec créativité instead of avec de la créativité?