Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.

According to Paul, this movie is too long.

Breakdown of Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.

• être: to be
• Paul: Paul
• ce: this
• trop: too
• long: long
• le film: the movie
• selon: depending on

Questions & Answers about Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.

What does selon express exactly? Is it more like according to Paul or in Paul's opinion?

Selon usually corresponds to according to and simply reports the source of the information.

• It presents Paul as the person who says or thinks this, without telling us whether the speaker agrees.
• It is often a bit neutral or indirect: the speaker is distancing themselves slightly from the statement.

So it is close to both according to Paul and in Paul's opinion, but it does not automatically mean the speaker shares that opinion.

Can I say d’après Paul instead of selon Paul? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

• D’après Paul, ce film est trop long.

In many everyday contexts, selon and d’après are interchangeable and both mean according to.

Nuances (not always strong, but useful to know):

• Selon is often a bit more formal or neutral, used a lot in written French, news, reports:
  • Selon Paul, selon la police, selon le journal …
• D’après can sometimes suggest interpretation or based on what Paul says / thinks:
  • D’après Paul, d’après ce que j’ai entendu …

In this simple sentence, both are correct and natural.

Is the comma after Paul obligatory? Could I write Selon Paul ce film est trop long?

You will often see a comma after an introductory phrase like Selon Paul:

• Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.

In modern French, leaving out the comma is not a serious error, especially in informal writing:

• Selon Paul ce film est trop long.

However:

• With the comma, the sentence is a bit clearer and more standard.
• In careful or formal writing, you should keep the comma.

Can I put selon Paul at the end of the sentence: Ce film est trop long, selon Paul? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Ce film est trop long, selon Paul.

The basic meaning is the same, but the nuance shifts slightly:

• Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.
  → Starts by framing the statement as Paul’s opinion; the whole sentence is under Paul’s point of view.

• Ce film est trop long, selon Paul.
  → First gives the statement, then adds that this is Paul’s view. It can sound a bit more comment-like or afterthought.

Both are correct; the difference is mostly stylistic.

Why is it ce film and not something like ce cinéma or just le film?

• Film means movie / film (the work itself).
• Cinéma usually means movie theater or cinema as an art form, not an individual movie.

So:

• Ce film = this film / this movie (the particular one we’re talking about).

Using ce (this / that) instead of le (the) highlights a specific film in the context:

• Le film est trop long. → The film is too long (could be more general).
• Ce film est trop long. → This particular film (the one we’re talking about) is too long.

Why is it ce film and not cet film?

In French, the masculine singular demonstratives are:

• ce before a consonant sound:
  
  • ce film, ce livre, ce garçon
• cet before a vowel sound (or silent h):
  
  • cet homme, cet arbre, cet hôtel

Film begins with f, a consonant sound, so you must use ce:

• ✅ ce film
• ❌ cet film

Why is long and not longue? How does agreement work here?

Adjectives in French agree in gender and number with the noun:

• Film is masculine singular:
  
  • un film, le film → masculine

So the adjective long must be masculine singular too:

• Masculine singular: long
• Feminine singular: longue
• Masculine plural: longs
• Feminine plural: longues

Therefore:

• Ce film est long.
• If the noun were feminine, you’d say: Cette histoire est longue.

Does trop long always have a negative meaning, like overly long? How is it different from très long?

Yes, trop long normally implies a negative judgment: it is too long, more than it should be.

• Trop long → too long, excessively long, longer than desirable.
• Très long → very long, but not necessarily bad. It is just a description of length, not a criticism by itself.

Examples:

• Le film est très long, mais je ne me suis pas ennuyé.
  → The film is very long, but I didn’t get bored.
• Le film est trop long, je me suis ennuyé.
  → The film is too long; I got bored.

In your sentence, trop long clearly expresses a negative opinion about the duration.

I’ve heard trop used in a positive way, like trop bien. Is trop long ever positive?

In modern informal French, trop can be used as a slang intensifier meaning really / so / super:

• Ce film est trop bien. → This movie is really great.

However, this positive slang use does not work with every adjective. With long, people still understand it in the usual, negative sense:

• Ce film est trop long.
  → It is too long (negative), not really long and that’s great.

So:

• Positive slang: trop bien, trop cool, trop drôle, etc.
• Still mainly negative: trop long, trop cher, trop tard, etc.

Why do we use est and not c’est? Could I say Selon Paul, c’est trop long?

Both structures exist, but they are not identical.

1. Ce film est trop long.

   • Ce film is the grammatical subject.
   • Est trop long is a normal subject + verb + adjective structure.

2. C’est trop long.

   • C’ is a dummy subject (short for ce).
   • It is a more general comment: That is too long.

In your sentence:

• Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.
  → Full, clear sentence; very natural.

You could also say:

• Selon Paul, c’est trop long.
  → According to Paul, it’s too long.
  This usually refers back to something already clear in the context (for example, the film, the scene, the meeting, etc.) without repeating the noun.

So:

• Use ce film est when you want to name the thing explicitly.
• Use c’est when the thing is already understood from context.

Can I omit selon Paul and just say Ce film est trop long? What changes?

Yes, you can say:

• Ce film est trop long.

Without selon Paul, the sentence presents the statement as the speaker’s own opinion (or as a kind of objective judgment) instead of someone else’s.

With selon Paul:

• The sentence becomes indirect: we know the opinion comes from Paul.
• The speaker does not say whether they agree or disagree; they are just reporting.

So adding selon Paul explicitly attributes the opinion to Paul and can create distance between the speaker and the statement.

Is selon Paul more formal than saying Paul pense que ce film est trop long?

Both are correct, but they feel slightly different:

• Selon Paul, ce film est trop long.

  • A bit more neutral / report-like.
  • Common in written French, summaries, news: Selon Paul, selon la police, etc.

• Paul pense que ce film est trop long.

  • More direct and spoken-like: Paul actively thinks this.
  • Makes Paul’s mental action (pense) explicit.

Formality is not a huge difference here, but selon often sounds more like quoting or reporting someone; pense que sounds more like describing someone’s personal thought.

How do you pronounce Selon Paul, ce film est trop long? Any silent letters I should watch out for?

Key pronunciation points:

• Selon → /sə.lɔ̃/
  
  • Final n is not pronounced; it just nasalizes on.
• Paul → /pɔl/ (like poll in English, but shorter and more rounded).
• Ce → /sə/ (like se in separate, but shorter).
• Film → /film/
  
  • The l and m are pronounced; it is one syllable.
• Est → /ɛ/ (like è; the final t is silent).
• Trop → /tro/
  
  • The p is silent in this context.
• Long → /lɔ̃/
  
  • Again, final g is silent; on is nasal.

Rhythmically, you can group it like this:

• Selon Paul | ce film est | trop long

with the main stress at the end: trop long.