Breakdown of Il ne viendra pas ; autrement dit, tout est perdu.
être
to be
il
he
venir
to come
perdre
to lose
tout
all, everything
autrement dit
in other words
Questions & Answers about Il ne viendra pas ; autrement dit, tout est perdu.
How does autrement dit function in this sentence's argument?
Autrement dit is a discourse marker that literally translates to "otherwise said." In an argument or explanation, it is used to rephrase a previous statement to make its real consequence bluntly obvious, acting very similarly to "in other words" in English.
Why is perdu in the masculine singular form?
The pronoun tout (meaning "everything" or "all") is always treated as grammatically masculine and singular in French. Since est perdu describes the state of tout, the past participle perdu takes the default masculine singular ending.
Why is there a semicolon before autrement dit instead of just a comma?
Because Il ne viendra pas and tout est perdu are two completely independent clauses. Joining two full sentences with only a comma creates a run-on sentence. When using a linking phrase like autrement dit between two full thoughts, French requires a strong punctuation mark like a semicolon or a period.
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