Breakdown of Je crois que ce film transmet bien l'émotion de ce roman.
Questions & Answers about Je crois que ce film transmet bien l'émotion de ce roman.
In French, when croire means to think / to believe that something is true, it almost always introduces a clause with que:
- Je crois que ce film transmet bien l'émotion...
= I think / I believe that this film conveys the emotion...
Je crois ce film would mean I believe this film (I trust what this film says), which is a different meaning and doesn’t fit here.
You can say just Je crois on its own, but then it’s usually an answer to a previous question, like:
- Tu aimes ce film ? – Je crois.
“Do you like this film?” – “I think so.”
Here, because a full idea follows, you need que to join the two parts.
Because croire is irregular, and it must agree with the subject:
- je crois
- tu crois
- il / elle / on croit
- nous croyons
- vous croyez
- ils / elles croient
Since the subject is je, the correct form is je crois, not je croit.
Both film and roman are masculine singular nouns in French.
The demonstratives are:
- ce
- masculine noun starting with a consonant: ce film, ce roman
- cet
- masculine noun starting with a vowel or silent h: cet homme, cet arbre
- cette
- any feminine singular noun: cette histoire
- ces
- any plural noun: ces films, ces romans
So the correct forms are ce film and ce roman. You only use cet before masculine nouns beginning with a vowel sound, not with film or roman.
Que is a subordinating conjunction here; it introduces a subordinate clause that acts as the direct object of crois.
Structure:
- Main clause: Je crois
- Subordinate clause introduced by que: que ce film transmet bien l'émotion de ce roman
Together: Je crois + [que-clause]
= I think / I believe + [that-clause]
So que is equivalent to that in English in this kind of sentence.
Transmettre is the infinitive (to convey / to transmit).
In the sentence, you need a conjugated verb in the present tense to agree with the subject ce film:
- infinitive: transmettre
- present, 3rd person singular: il / elle / ce film transmet
So we say:
- Ce film transmet bien l'émotion...
Ce film = subject
transmet = present tense, 3rd person singular
Using transmettre here would be like saying in English: this film to convey the emotion… – grammatically incorrect as a main verb in the sentence.
All three are possible but have slightly different nuances:
transmettre l’émotion
= to pass on / convey the emotion from the book to the viewer. Emphasizes a sort of transfer from one medium to another.exprimer l’émotion
= to express the emotion. Focuses on how the film shows or communicates the emotion.rendre bien l’émotion
(very common) = to render the emotion well; to capture it faithfully. Emphasizes faithfulness/accuracy.
The original transmet bien already suggests the film successfully conveys the emotional content of the novel to the audience.
Bien here is an adverb that modifies the verb transmet. It means well or effectively.
Ce film transmet l’émotion de ce roman.
= This film conveys the emotion of this novel. (neutral)Ce film transmet bien l’émotion de ce roman.
= This film conveys the emotion of this novel well / effectively / really well.
Placement: in French, short adverbs like bien, mal, déjà, souvent generally go after the conjugated verb:
- Ce film transmet bien l’émotion.
- Ce film représente bien l’histoire.
- Ce film décrit mal les personnages.
So bien must go after transmet, not before it.
No. That word order is not natural in French.
For simple tenses (like the present), adverbs such as bien usually go:
- directly after the conjugated verb:
Ce film transmet bien l’émotion.
If you put bien before the verb (Ce film bien transmet...), it sounds grammatically wrong to a native speaker.
Both are possible, but the nuance changes:
l’émotion de ce roman (singular)
= the emotion as a general, unified emotional atmosphere or impact of the novel.les émotions de ce roman (plural)
= the different emotions present in the novel (fear, joy, sadness, etc.) as distinct elements.
In many literary comments, French tends to use the singular l’émotion to talk about the overall emotional effect, so l’émotion de ce roman is very natural.
Grammatically:
- de + ce = de ce
- de + le = du
So you can’t contract de ce into du; they’re different things.
Semantically:
- de ce roman = of this novel (a specific one you’re pointing to or have just mentioned)
- du roman = of the novel (some definite novel already known in context, but not emphasized as “this one here”)
In the original sentence, the speaker is clearly referring to a particular novel (this one), so de ce roman is correct.
No. In standard French:
- After je crois que, je pense que, je trouve que, etc. in the affirmative, you normally use the indicative, not the subjunctive.
Correct:
- Je crois que ce film transmet bien l’émotion de ce roman. (indicative)
The subjunctive can appear when there is doubt, negation, or something like that:
- Je ne crois pas que ce film transmette bien l’émotion de ce roman.
(Here ne crois pas introduces doubt, so transmette is subjunctive.)
But with je crois que in an affirmative statement of opinion, transmet (indicative) is the right form.
They are very close in meaning and both are natural:
- Je crois que ce film transmet bien l’émotion de ce roman.
- Je pense que ce film transmet bien l’émotion de ce roman.
Subtle differences (often small and context-dependent):
- je crois que can sound a bit more like I believe / I have the impression that, sometimes slightly less firm or more personal.
- je pense que is closer to I think that, often a bit more neutral as an opinion.
In everyday conversation, they are largely interchangeable in this context.