Breakdown of Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail, en revanche mon frère est un peu déçu.
Questions & Answers about Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail, en revanche mon frère est un peu déçu.
In French, the normal construction is être satisfait de quelque chose, not avec.
- Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail.
- Je suis satisfait de toi.
Using avec here would sound foreign or incorrect. With emotional states like happy with, pleased with, satisfied with, French very often uses de (or de + noun/pronoun):
- content de, fier de, heureux de, satisfait de
All three can be translated as happy or pleased, but the nuance differs:
- satisfait: closer to satisfied, content, often with an idea that expectations or needs have been met (a bit more formal or neutral).
- Je suis satisfait de mon salaire.
- content: everyday word for happy / pleased, often lighter in tone.
- Je suis content de mon nouveau travail.
- heureux: happy in a stronger, more emotional or enthusiastic way.
- Je suis très heureux dans mon nouveau travail.
In this sentence, satisfait emphasizes that the new job meets your expectations rather than strong joy.
Satisfait is an adjective and must agree with the subject in gender and number:
- Masculine singular: Je suis satisfait.
- Feminine singular: Je suis satisfaite.
- Masculine plural: Nous sommes satisfaits.
- Feminine plural: Nous sommes satisfaites.
In the sentence, je refers to a man (or is presented as masculine), so we see satisfait (masculine singular). If a woman is speaking, it should be Je suis satisfaite de mon nouveau travail.
Most French adjectives come after the noun, but a group of very common, short adjectives typically goes before the noun. A common acronym for many of them is BANGS (Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size), but you can also just memorize frequent ones like:
- beau, joli, jeune, vieux, bon, mauvais, petit, grand, gros, nouveau, etc.
Because nouveau belongs to this group, it goes before:
- mon nouveau travail (natural French)
- mon travail nouveau is grammatically possible but unusual and would sound stylistic/poetic or have a slightly special emphasis.
They all relate to work / job, but usage differs:
- travail: general word for work and also for job in many contexts.
- J’ai beaucoup de travail. (a lot of work)
- J’ai trouvé un travail. (I found a job)
- emploi: specifically a job/position, more formal or administrative.
- un emploi à temps plein (a full-time job)
- boulot: informal, colloquial word for job.
- J’aime bien mon boulot.
In this sentence, travail is neutral and natural. You could also say mon nouvel emploi, but nouveau travail is very common.
En revanche introduces a contrast or compensation, often a bit more formal or structured than mais:
- Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail, en revanche mon frère est un peu déçu.
= I’m satisfied with my new job, on the other hand / however, my brother is a bit disappointed.
Comparisons:
- mais = but (very general, neutral)
- Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail, mais mon frère est un peu déçu.
- par contre = on the other hand / conversely, often informal and a bit more spoken.
- en revanche = on the other hand / conversely, slightly more formal or written, often for balanced contrast.
All three would be understood; en revanche gives a neat, contrastive feel in written style.
Yes, the comma is natural and helpful because en revanche marks a contrast. You have a few correct options:
- Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail, en revanche mon frère est un peu déçu.
- Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail. En revanche, mon frère est un peu déçu.
- Je suis satisfait de mon nouveau travail ; en revanche, mon frère est un peu déçu. (more formal with a semicolon)
Starting a new sentence with En revanche, is very common in written French.
Frère is masculine, so it must use the masculine possessive mon:
- mon frère (my brother)
- ma sœur (my sister)
It’s the gender of the noun possessed (frère, sœur, etc.) that decides mon / ma / mes, not the gender of the person who possesses it. A woman and a man both say mon frère for my brother.
Déçu must agree with mon frère, which is singular masculine, so:
- mon frère est déçu → singular masculine → déçu
- Plural: Mes frères sont déçus. (masculine plural)
Un peu means a little / somewhat. It softens the adjective:
- mon frère est déçu = he is disappointed (plain statement)
- mon frère est un peu déçu = he is a bit / somewhat disappointed.
Un peu does not change the agreement of the adjective; it just modifies its intensity.
The natural order is:
- mon frère est un peu déçu.
In French, adverbs like un peu usually go after the verb and before the adjective in this kind of structure:
- est un peu déçu
- est très content
- est assez fatigué
You cannot say mon frère un peu est déçu; that word order is wrong in standard French.
Yes, you can specify what he is disappointed by/with:
- mon frère est un peu déçu par son nouveau travail.
= my brother is a bit disappointed with his new job.
In the original sentence, context suggests the job is the cause, but it’s not said explicitly:
- mon frère est un peu déçu. (disappointed in general, probably about his job)
Both are correct; adding par son nouveau travail simply makes the cause explicit.
In French, many emotional or evaluative states use être + adjective, just like to be + adjective in English:
- Je suis satisfait. (I am satisfied.)
- Mon frère est déçu. (My brother is disappointed.)
- Il est content / triste / heureux / fâché, etc.
You could sometimes express similar ideas with other verbs (e.g. Cela me satisfait., Cela déçoit mon frère.), but the most direct way to describe someone’s state is être + adjective.
Key points:
- Je suis satisfait → [ʒə sɥi satisfɛ]
- Final t in suis is silent.
- Final t in satisfait is also silent.
- de mon nouveau travail → [də mɔ̃ nuvo tʁavaj]
- de often reduced to schwa or almost d’ in fast speech.
- Final l in travail is pronounced like a y ([tʁavaj]).
- en revanche → [ɑ̃ ʁəvɑ̃ʃ]
- en and -an- in revanche are nasal vowels.
- mon frère est un peu déçu → [mɔ̃ fʁɛʁ ɛ tœ̃ pø desy]
- Final -re in frère is pronounced ([fʁɛʁ]).
- Final -t in est is silent.
- Final -u in déçu is pronounced [y], like the French u, not like English oo.
There is no obligatory liaison between suis and satisfait, or between frère and est, so you pronounce the words separately.