Reporting claims and expressing distance in French

Level B2

Reporting claims and expressing distance in French

French lets you attribute information to a source while keeping your own assessment separate. Affirmer means to assert something confidently and does not necessarily carry the doubt that English “claim” can suggest. Alléguer is a formal word, especially in legal or investigative contexts, for putting forward an allegation or claim that has not been established. Reconnaître means to acknowledge or admit something here, rather than to recognize a person.

Expressions for sources, assertions, admissions and denials

Attribute information with selon

Selon une source, proposition attribuée.

Follow reporting verbs with que

Une source {affirme|to-claim} / {allègue|to-allege} / {reconnaît|to-acknowledge} / {nie|to-deny} que + proposition.

Use avoir plus a past participle for an earlier action

Une source {reconnaît|to-acknowledge} / {nie|to-deny} avoir + participe passé.

Signal reports, appearances and unconfirmed information

Une proposition serait une information rapportée / Apparemment, proposition.

Distinguish attribution, acceptance and uncertainty

Selon identifies whose information you are reporting without deciding whether it is true: “Selon Maya, les chiffres sont faux, et je pense qu'elle a raison.” adds your agreement explicitly. Affirmer presents a source's assertion, alléguer introduces an unestablished claim, reconnaître shows the source accepting something as true, and nier shows the source rejecting it.

Unlike English “that”, French que is required before a finite reporting clause, becoming qu' before a vowel; affirmative nier que normally takes the subjunctive, as in “Il nie que le retard ait été de sa faute.” When the reporting subject also performed the earlier action, reconnaître and nier can take avoir + past participle without de, as in “La directrice a nié avoir approuvé le paiement.”, rather than an English-style “-ing” form.

D'après certaines sources attributes information to unspecified sources, and the journalistic conditional, including serait, can mark an unconfirmed report rather than a hypothetical situation; apparemment means “apparently” and can reflect either what you have heard or what the evidence suggests. In conversation, on often means “we” and takes a singular verb, as in qu'on avait besoin, while nous is more formal; apparemment is common in conversation, whereas alléguer and the reporting conditional are especially typical of formal reporting.

Practise this lesson

Next lessons