Le succès dépend de la patience.

Success depends on patience.

Breakdown of Le succès dépend de la patience.

• de: of
• le succès: the success
• dépendre: to depend
• la patience: the patience

Questions & Answers about Le succès dépend de la patience.

Why does French say Le succès with le? In English we just say success without the.

In French, abstract nouns like succès, amour, patience, courage almost always take an article (usually le, la, or les) when they’re used in a general sense.

• Le succès dépend de la patience.
  = Success depends on patience. (success in general)

If you removed le and said Succès dépend de la patience, it would sound wrong or very strange to a native speaker. French simply doesn’t like “bare” nouns the way English does.

So le succès here means success in general, not the particular success of one thing. Context tells you it’s a general statement.

What gender is succès, and how can I tell it’s masculine?

Succès is masculine in French, so it takes le:

• le succès (the success)
• un succès (a success)
• ce succès (this success)

Unfortunately, you usually can’t tell the gender just from the ending. There are some patterns, but -ès isn’t a reliable marker. For many nouns (especially abstract ones), you have to learn the gender with the word:

• le progrès (progress) – masculine
• le succès (success) – masculine
• la patience (patience) – feminine
• la confiance (trust) – feminine

A good habit: always memorize nouns with their article, e.g. le succès, not just succès.

How do you pronounce Le succès dépend de la patience?

Phonetically (in IPA), you can say:

• Le succès dépend de la patience
  /lə syk.sɛ de.pɑ̃ də la pa.sjɑ̃s/

Piece by piece:

• Le → /lə/ (like leuh)
• succès → /syk.sɛ/
  
  • su- = /sy/ (like English see but with rounded lips)
  • -ccès = /ksɛ/ (k
    • sè), final s is silent
• dépend → /de.pɑ̃/
  
  • final -d is silent
  • -an /ɑ̃/ is a nasal vowel (air through the nose, no clear n sound)
• de → /də/ (again like deuh)
• la → /la/
• patience → /pa.sjɑ̃s/
  
  • -tience → /sjɑ̃s/ (sounds a bit like see-ahnss with nasal an)
  • final -ce here is /s/, not /k/

There’s no mandatory liaison in this exact sentence, so you can pronounce each word clearly as written above.

Why is it dépend de and not dépend sur like English depends on?

The verb dépendre always uses the preposition de for this meaning:

• dépendre de = to depend on

Some examples:

• Le succès dépend de la patience.
  Success depends on patience.
• Tout dépend de toi.
  Everything depends on you.
• Ça dépend de la météo.
  That depends on the weather.

Using sur here (dépend sur) is incorrect in standard French. Even though English uses on, you must remember the fixed combination dépendre de.

Why is it de la patience and not just de patience?

Both de la patience and de patience are possible in French, but they don’t feel exactly the same.

• de la patience (partitive)
  Suggests some patience, a certain amount/quality of patience. It’s the most natural and common wording here:

  • Le succès dépend de la patience.

• de patience (without article)
  This is more abstract and less common in this kind of general proverb. You might see it in specific, more literary or stylistic contexts, or after expressions like manquer de patience (to lack patience):

  • Il manque de patience.
    He lacks patience.

In a general statement like this, de la patience is the normal, idiomatic choice.

What does de la mean here? Is it of the or something like some?

De la here is a partitive article, formed from:

• de
  • la → de la

It usually translates to English some or is left untranslated, depending on context:

• Je veux de la patience.
  I want some patience.
• Le succès dépend de la patience.
  Success depends on patience. (We don’t say some in English, but the idea is there.)

So here, de la patience is closer in meaning to (some) patience rather than of the patience.

Why is patience feminine (la patience)?

The noun patience is grammatically feminine, so it takes la:

• la patience (patience)
• beaucoup de patience (a lot of patience)
• sa patience (his/her patience)

As with succès, there isn’t a simple rule that says “all words ending in -ence are feminine,” but many of them are:

• la science, la différence, la chance, la confiance, la patience

Still, there are exceptions in French, so you generally learn gender word by word. In this sentence, la patience is obligatory; le patience would be wrong.

How is dépend formed? What tense and person is it?

Dépend is:

• verb: dépendre (to depend)
• tense: present tense
• person: 3rd person singular (il/elle/on)

Full present conjugation of dépendre:

• je dépends
• tu dépends
• il/elle/on dépend
• nous dépendons
• vous dépendez
• ils/elles dépendent

In English, the French present tense usually corresponds to both depends and is depending. So:

• Le succès dépend de la patience.
  = Success depends on patience.
  (You could also think: Success is depending on patience.)

Could I also say Le succès repose sur la patience? Is it the same meaning?

Yes, Le succès repose sur la patience is also correct and idiomatic. The nuance:

• dépendre de → to depend on
• reposer sur → to rest on / be based on

Both can express a similar idea:

• Le succès dépend de la patience.
  Success depends on patience.
• Le succès repose sur la patience.
  Success rests on/is founded on patience.

They’re very close in meaning here, and both sound natural. The original sentence with dépend de is a bit more common for this type of general statement.

Is this sentence formal, or can I use it in everyday conversation?

The sentence is neutral in style. You can use it:

• in everyday conversation:
  • À ton avis, c’est quoi le secret de la réussite ?
    Le succès dépend de la patience.
• in writing (essays, articles, motivational texts)
• in fairly formal speech (presentations, talks, etc.)

It works across almost all registers of French.