Breakdown of On a dit au présentateur comment interviewer l'invité à l'antenne.
on
one / we (informal)
avoir
to have
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
comment
how
dire
to say, to tell
l'invité
the guest (m)
le présentateur
the presenter
l'antenne
the air (f)
interviewer
to interview
Questions & Answers about On a dit au présentateur comment interviewer l'invité à l'antenne.
Why is the French sentence active (On a dit) when the English translation is passive ("The presenter was told")?
In French, you can only make a sentence passive if the verb takes a direct object. Because the verb dire takes an indirect object (dire à quelqu'un), you cannot say the presenter "was told" (a été dit). Instead, French uses the active voice with the indefinite pronoun on (literally, "one told the presenter").
Why is it au présentateur instead of just le présentateur?
This ties into the passive voice rule above. English treats "the presenter" as a direct object here, but the French verb is dire à (to say to / to tell to). It strictly requires the preposition à before the person receiving the information. À combined with le contracts to au.
Is comment interviewer the standard way to say "how to interview"?
Yes, when expressing "how to" do an action, French directly pairs comment with the infinitive verb. You do not add a preposition like de or à between them.
Why use à l'antenne for "on the air"? Could I use sur instead?
À l'antenne is a fixed idiomatic phrase used for broadcasting "on the air" (whether on radio or television). Using sur would sound unnatural here, as antenne literally refers to the physical broadcasting antenna, and this specific set expression always uses à.
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