Comparing two sources in French

Level B2

Comparing two sources in French

You are preparing a short account of a pedestrian-street trial. Two fictional sources describe the same ten shops over the same trial period. Your job is to preserve each source’s figures, show exactly where they differ, and separate what is reported from what you infer.

Five tools for comparing accounts

Source means the person or document information comes from; preuve means evidence or proof; inférence is a conclusion drawn from information. Here tandis que means “whereas”, and contrairement à means “unlike” or “contrary to”. Listen to the cards, then use them with the source texts below.

Keep the source attached

Selon la mairie means “according to city hall”; d’après le journal means “according to the paper”. Both name a source without making you endorse its claim. Here mairie is the local authority, not the building. We report a past result with ont eu, “had”, while selon introduces the source. You need no automatic tense change merely because you are summarizing.

Commerces means shops or businesses, clients means customers, six sur dix means six out of ten, and pendant l’essai means during the trial. More customers does not necessarily mean more sales or profit.

Read the two source statements

Source A is a municipal statement; source B is a newspaper article. These are invented teaching extracts, not real findings. Both concern the same ten shops and period. Listen to each: A reports more customers in six shops; B reports more customers in only four. Seulement means “only”.

Write down source, group, period and quantity. The common topic is increased customer numbers; the disagreement is how many shops experienced that increase. Do not replace four with six, average the figures, or announce that one source is correct. To resolve the discrepancy, you would need to check their definitions and counting methods.

Contrast two statements with tandis que

Here tandis que connects two complete clauses and contrasts their accounts; it does not mean that the events happened simultaneously. The first claim remains attributed to city hall; the second names the paper. Mentionne means “mentions”. N’en mentionne que quatre means “mentions only four of them”: en stands for the shops, and ne…que restricts the number rather than denying that four are mentioned.

English can use whereas or while for this contrast. Read the example aloud, keeping the six/four contrast clear. The ten-shop group and trial period remain those established in the two extracts; a standalone summary should restore them.

Selon la mairie, constat A, tandis que constat B

Contrast a source with contrairement à

Contrairement à is followed here by a noun phrase, la mairie, rather than a complete clause. The rest of the sentence names le journal and its contrasting figure. English “unlike city hall” has no equivalent of à, but French keeps it. With le or les, à normally combines as au or aux; with la mairie it stays à la.

The sources differ on the count, not on every aspect of the trial. Mentioning only four shops means four in the group of ten had an increase, as the earlier text established; it does not mean the newspaper discussed only four shops in its entire article.

Contrairement à source A, source B + constat

Change the wording, preserve the claim

Compare the municipal extract with its reformulation. Ont eu plus de clients, “had more customers”, becomes le nombre de clients a augmenté, “customer numbers increased”. The sentence structure changes, but the source, six out of ten shops and trial period remain. Augmenter here means to increase, not to cause an increase.

This is a paraphrase, not a new explanation: it adds no reason for the increase and does not say that all ten shops benefited. Replacing a few words with synonyms is not enough if the resulting claim changes. Conversely, necessary figures and source names can be repeated; “without copying” does not mean avoiding every shared word.

Evidence, inference and intention

Une différence entre les chiffres means “a difference between the figures”; mauvaise foi means “bad faith”. The two statements are evidence that the accounts disagree. The discrepancy alone is not proof that either author intended to mislead. A summary must not quietly turn an attributed claim into a verified fact.

Recognition only: the last example says “According to the paper, most shops therefore did not have more customers.” La plupart means “most”, donc means “therefore”, and n’ont pas eu plus de clients means “did not have more customers”. This follows from only four of the same ten having an increase: six did not. It remains dependent on the paper’s account. It does not imply that those six lost customers: some may have had the same number. Recognize this context-supported inference; do not invent a motive for either source.

Prepare a three-sentence comparison

Using the two extracts, try three moves before reading the models: rephrase the municipal result while keeping the source, six out of ten and the period; contrast the six/four counts with tandis que; state that the difference is not proof of bad faith. Keep the common group and period clear when speaking to your listener.

The three examples give possible answers in that order. Listen and compare their meanings, not just their words. Another faithful paraphrase is possible. Check that no sentence claims to know which source is right or why the writers disagree.

A source, a contrast and a limit

Name who says what; use tandis que between clauses, or contrairement à before a contrasting noun phrase; rephrase while preserving the quantities and scope. Distinguish an inference supported by context from a guess about intention. This table is a visual reminder and has no audio.

French expressionWhat follows here
selon / d’aprèssource
tandis quedeux propositions
contrairement àgroupe nominal
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