Hi! Thanks for joining me for this new episode of the Authentic French podcast. Today we're going to discover together an idiomatic expression which is "ni fait ni à faire".
You can, perhaps, open it now and consult it afterwards, but you can take advantage of the free PDF file that accompanies this episode. In this PDF file, which you can download via the link in the description, you have all the explanations of the words, the meaning of the expression and the different examples. So, it will help you go even further. You can do it now or just after.
The expression is simple: "neither done hong kong whatsapp number data nor to be done". However, this type of expression poses problems of understanding for non-French speakers. I am sure that this one, neither done nor to be done, can pose this type of problem for you. So, we will look at the different words that compose it even if they are already known, I think.
The word "ni", it is used to introduce two negatives in a single sentence. When there is a sentence and we want to say two or we want to introduce two negatives, we say: "il n'est ni grand ni petit", we do not say: "il n'est pas grand, pas petit", we say: "il n'est ni grand ni petit". It means he is not big but he is not small either. So the "ni", it introduces two negatives in a sentence. Il n'est ni grand ni petit, it means he is not big but he is not small.
The verb "to do", I think it's clear, we use it to say that we produce something, that we make something or that we create something. It can be something really concrete as it can be something that we're going to create in our minds. But to do, it really has this idea of producing, creating, making.
The origin of this expression "neither done nor to be done" or at least originally, it was used to designate something that is in the process of being done. As it had started, we cannot say that it was not to be done, because it had started, but as it was not yet finished, well it was not yet done. So, it was neither done, because it was not finished, nor to be done, because it had started. That's how it was used at the time, this expression, it was just to say that something was in the process of being done.