Breakdown of Pour Paul, la poésie transmet quelque chose de plus profond que les articles de journal.
Questions & Answers about Pour Paul, la poésie transmet quelque chose de plus profond que les articles de journal.
Pour Paul here means in Paul’s opinion / for Paul personally, not for Paul in the sense of giving him something.
- Pour + person at the start of a sentence often introduces a point of view:
- Pour Paul, la poésie est essentielle. → In Paul’s view, poetry is essential.
- Pour moi, c’est impossible. → In my opinion, it’s impossible.
You could also say Selon Paul with almost the same meaning (according to Paul), but pour sounds a bit more personal and subjective.
You can move it:
- La poésie transmet, pour Paul, quelque chose… (less common, more written style)
- La poésie transmet quelque chose de plus profond que les articles de journal pour Paul. (this last one is ambiguous: it could mean for Paul as recipient, so the original position is clearer.)
In French, abstract or general concepts normally take a definite article (le, la, les) when you talk about them in a general sense:
- La poésie = poetry in general
- La musique, la littérature, la science, l’amour, etc.
So:
- La poésie transmet quelque chose… → Poetry conveys something… (in general)
If you removed the article (Poésie transmet…), it would sound wrong in standard French. Unlike English, French usually needs an article with nouns, even abstract ones.
The subject is la poésie (singular), so the verb must be in the 3rd person singular: transmet.
- Verb: transmettre (to transmit, to convey)
- 3rd person singular present: il/elle transmet
In the sentence:
- la poésie → singular
- therefore: la poésie transmet (not transmettent, which would be for they: ils/elles transmettent).
So the structure is:
- Pour Paul (prepositional phrase, point of view)
- la poésie (subject)
- transmet (verb)
- quelque chose de plus profond… (object / complement).
Transmet (from transmettre) means to convey / to pass on (an idea, a feeling, a message).
- La poésie transmet quelque chose de plus profond…
→ Poetry conveys / passes on something deeper…
Other possible verbs and nuances:
communique (from communiquer)
→ focuses more on sending or sharing a message:
La poésie communique quelque chose de plus profond…exprime (from exprimer)
→ focuses on expressing what is inside (feelings, thoughts):
La poésie exprime quelque chose de plus profond…évoque
→ suggests or evokes:
La poésie évoque quelque chose de plus profond…
All are possible, but transmet emphasizes the idea that poetry acts as a medium that passes something on to the reader.
In French, when quelque chose, rien, quelqu’un, personne etc. are followed by an adjective, you must insert de between them and the adjective:
- quelque chose de beau → something beautiful
- rien de spécial → nothing special
- quelqu’un de gentil → someone kind
- personne d’important → nobody important
So the pattern is:
quelque chose de + adjective
Therefore:
- quelque chose de plus profond = something deeper
✗ quelque chose plus profond is incorrect in standard French.
The adjective profond here agrees with quelque chose, not with la poésie.
- quelque chose is grammatically masculine singular.
- So any adjective describing it must be masculine singular: profond.
That’s why we say:
- quelque chose d’important (not importante)
- quelque chose d’intéressant
- quelque chose de nouveau
So:
- quelque chose de plus profond = something deeper
- plus → more
- profond → masculine singular, matching quelque chose
The basic comparative pattern in French for adjectives is:
plus + adjective + que + noun/pronoun
Here:
- plus profond que les articles de journal
→ deeper than newspaper articles
Breakdown:
- plus = more
- profond = deep
- que = than
- les articles de journal = newspaper articles (the comparison term)
So the whole phrase de plus profond que les articles de journal modifies quelque chose:
- quelque chose de plus profond que les articles de journal
→ something deeper than newspaper articles (are).
You could also compare using an adverb:
- La poésie transmet plus profondément que les articles de journal.
→ Poetry transmits more deeply than newspaper articles.
But that changes the structure and the nuance (it focuses on how it transmits, not what it transmits).
Both are possible, but they don’t say exactly the same thing.
les articles de journal
- uses the definite article les
- often refers to newspaper articles in general, as a category
- here it means: in general, newspaper articles (as a type of text)
des articles de journal
- uses the indefinite plural (des)
- would usually suggest some newspaper articles, not necessarily as a general class.
In this sentence, the idea is poetry vs newspaper articles as types of text, so les articles de journal sounds more natural.
French often uses a singular noun after de to express a general type or category:
- un article de journal → a newspaper article
- une robe de soirée → an evening dress
- un film de guerre → a war film
So articles de journal means newspaper articles (articles of the newspaper type).
Articles de journaux is also grammatically possible, and can have a slightly different nuance: articles from different newspapers, or emphasizing multiple newspapers. But for the general opposition poetry vs newspaper articles, articles de journal is the standard expression.
de journal (without article) describes the type of article:
- article de journal = a newspaper article (type of text)
du journal = de + le journal, so it means of the newspaper (a particular one):
- les articles du journal = the articles of the newspaper (this specific paper)
In the given sentence:
- les articles de journal → newspaper articles in general, as a kind of writing.
If we said: - les articles du journal
→ the articles from a specific newspaper you have in mind.
Since the contrast is poetry vs newspaper articles in general, de journal is the better choice.
Yes, you can say Selon Paul, la poésie transmet quelque chose de plus profond que les articles de journal.
Nuance:
- Selon Paul = according to Paul, a bit more neutral, like reporting his opinion.
- Pour Paul = for Paul / in Paul’s view, often feels a bit more personal, subjective.
Both are correct; in everyday speech pour Paul is very natural in this kind of sentence.