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# operate — English to French

How English *operate* is translated into French in open, checked parallel texts: 2 translations with example sentences.

What it means: [operate in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/operate/).

Sentence pairs counted, by form: operate (34 681), operates (11 815). By style: everyday 32 · parliamentary 3 716 · legal and administrative 9 419 · UN documents 33 329.

## fonctionner

Used about 10 313 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 7 · parliamentary ≈ 1 355 · legal and administrative ≈ 2 355 · UN documents ≈ 6 596). Forms: fonctionne, fonctionnement, fonctionner.

- This machine is hard to **operate**.
  Cette machine est difficile à faire **fonctionner**.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by MrJuice and lbdx · checked, community translation · [\#11357244](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/11357244) [\#11365441](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/11365441))

- That is the way the EU process **operates**.
  C'est comme ça que **fonctionne** le processus de l'UE.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 469722)

- b. Able to **operate** at negative pressure;
  b. possibilité de **fonctionner** en pression négative;
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 4091384)

- If a special device is used, this must **operate** automatically.
  Si un dispositif spécial est utilisé, il doit **fonctionner** automatiquement.
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 24798319)

- The lawn mower needs gas to **operate**.
  La tondeuse à gazon a besoin d'essence pour **fonctionner**.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Source\_VOA and rene1596 · checked, community translation · [\#681056](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/681056) [\#1190537](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1190537))

## opère

Used about 3 317 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 3 · parliamentary ≈ 348 · legal and administrative ≈ 883 · UN documents ≈ 2 083).

- He usually **operates** behind tightly closed doors.
  Il **opère** souvent en sous-main.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by charlotte13 and Myrano\_ · checked, community translation · [\#2032570](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/2032570) [\#14045061](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/14045061))

- It **operates** with complete independence.
  Il **opère** de manière complètement indépendante.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1410638)

- According to the expert, Sernam **operates** mainly in the following segments:
  Selon l’expert, Sernam **opère** principalement dans:
  ([DGT-TM v2021](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/language-technology-resources/dgt-translation-memory_en) · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 805862)

- The JISC **operates** in a transparent manner to the extent possible.
  20. Le Comité **opère** autant que possible dans la transparence.
  ([United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0](https://conferences.unite.un.org/UNCorpus) · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 15787350)

- A veritable synchronized ballet of nanomolecular engineering **operates** in our cells, challenging human understanding.
  Un véritable ballet synchronisé d'ingénierie nanomoléculaire **opère** dans nos cellules, défiant la compréhension humaine.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by carlosalberto and carlosalberto · checked, community translation · [\#10568609](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/10568609) [\#10568612](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/10568612))

## More sentences

Sentence pairs with the word where no single translation was found: it may be translated by a phrase, or left out.

- Do you have a license to **operate** a motor boat?
  Avez-vous un permis pour conduire un bateau à moteur ?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by CK and Aiji · checked, community translation · [\#4384264](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4384264) [\#11166439](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/11166439))

- The appliance is wonderfully simple to **operate**.
  L'appareil est merveilleusement simple à utiliser.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by fekundulo and lbdx · checked, community translation · [\#4472299](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4472299) [\#8890565](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/8890565))

- Pickpockets may **operate** in this area.
  Les voleurs à la tire peuvent opérer dans cette zone.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by sacredceltic and sacredceltic · checked, community translation · [\#878357](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/878357) [\#881845](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/881845))

## Grammar

Notes on grammar and translation on Mova: [English grammar](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/) · [French grammar](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/fr/) · [translating between English and French](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/pairs/en-fr/) · [translating from English](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/from-en/) · [translating into French](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/translation/into-fr/).

## About these examples

Translations are found by how often the two words stand in the same sentence pairs, and the highlighted words are matched automatically: both are approximate. Counts are estimated from a sample of each source. Every example names its source and licence. [Submit a better translation or example](https://md.translate.elamur.ai/free/en/submit/?pair=en-fr&word=operate).


Every example is quoted under its source's licence and credited with it; the rest of the site is open under the Elamur Cosmic License.