Elamur: [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [Parse](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/parse/) · [Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · **Translate** · [Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [MCP](https://mcp.elamur.ai/) · [Groupants](https://md.groupants.elamur.ai/free/en/)

This page as HTML: <https://translate.elamur.ai/free/en/fr-en/expliquer/>

# expliquer — French to English

How French *expliquer* is translated into English in open, checked parallel texts: 3 translations with example sentences.

The Elamur Dictionary has no French section yet; the English translations below link to their meanings where it has them.

Sentence pairs counted, by form: expliquaient (591), expliquait (1 807), explique (35 045), expliquent (7 644), expliquer (27 396), expliques (10), expliquez (218), expliquons (68), expliqué (23 381), expliquée (1 506), expliquées (1 291), expliqués (976). By style: everyday 578 · literary 31 · biblical 23 · parliamentary 7 629 · legal and administrative 10 320 · UN documents 81 352.

## explain

Used about 48 744 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 472 · literary ≈ 21 · biblical ≈ 3 · parliamentary ≈ 3 750 · legal and administrative ≈ 6 620 · UN documents ≈ 37 879). Forms: explain, explained. Meaning: [explain in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/explain/).

- **Expliquez**-la-moi.
  **Explain** it to me.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Nyans and CM · checked, community translation · [\#1081547](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1081547) [\#10614260](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/10614260))

- **Expliquons**-nous sur ce mot.
  Let us **explain** this word.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 18552)

- Pierre, prenant la parole, lui dit: **Explique**-nous cette parabole.
  Peter answered him, “**Explain** the parable to us.”
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · MAT 15:15)

- **Expliquons**-nous.
  Let us **explain** ourselves.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1725433)

- Dans la négative, **expliquez**
  If no, please **explain**
  ([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 3586278)

## why

Used about 2 810 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 3 · literary ≈ 4 · biblical ≈ 1 · parliamentary ≈ 501 · legal and administrative ≈ 223 · UN documents ≈ 2 078). Meaning: [why in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/why/).

- Il n'a pas **expliqué** pourquoi il avait été absent.
  He gave no explanation **why** he had been absent.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Aiji and CK · checked, community translation · [\#292261](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/292261) [\#180695](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/180695))

- «Quatrièmement: on ne s'**explique** pas pourquoi le règlement spécial de la prison des Madelonnettes interdit au prisonnier d'avoir une chaise, même en la payant.
  “Fourthly: it is inexplicable **why** the special regulation of the prison of the Madelonettes interdicts the prisoner from having a chair, even by paying for it.
  ([Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators)](https://www.gutenberg.org/) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 28715)

- La femme de Samson pleurait auprès de lui, et disait: Tu n’as pour moi que de la haine, et tu ne m’aimes pas; tu as proposé une énigme aux enfants de mon peuple, et tu ne me l’as point **expliquée**! Et il lui répondait: Je ne l’ai **expliquée** ni à mon père ni à ma mère; est-ce à toi que je l’expliquerais?
  Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.” He said to her, “Behold, I haven’t told my father or my mother, so **why** should I tell you?”
  ([World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910](https://ebible.org/) · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · JDG 14:16)

- Ceci **explique** la manière dont nous avons posé nos questions.
  This is **why** we are asking questions the way we have.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1005138)

- elle **explique** pourquoi le critère d'évaluation n'est pas rempli;
  state **why** the assessment criterion is not met;
  ([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 2207708)

## how

Used about 2 433 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 33 · parliamentary ≈ 210 · legal and administrative ≈ 111 · UN documents ≈ 2 078). Meaning: [how in the Elamur Dictionary](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/how/).

- Ça s'**explique** comment ?
  **How** can this be?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by menaud and Hybrid · checked, community translation · [\#4384112](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4384112) [\#14041880](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/14041880))

- **Expliquons** clairement comment cette réforme est arrivée.
  Let us be clear **how** this reform came about.
  ([Europarl v8](https://www.statmt.org/europarl/) · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1807914)

- L'article 18 LIR **explique** le mode de détermination du bénéfice annuel du contribuable.
  Article 18 LIR explains **how** the taxpayer's annual profit is determined.
  ([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 4804395)

- Nous ne nous **expliquons** pas bien cette inquiétude.
  We are unsure **how** this concern arose.
  ([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 6049390)

- Comment ça s'**explique** ?
  **How** can this be?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by menaud and Hybrid · checked, community translation · [\#4384112](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/4384112) [\#14041883](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/14041883))

## More sentences

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

- Peux-tu **expliquer** un peu plus en détail ?
  Can you elaborate on this a little more?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by dimitris and Spamster · checked, community translation · [\#1620876](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1620876) [\#1648548](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/1648548))

- Pourriez-vous m'**expliquer** de quoi il s'agit ?
  Could you tell me what this is all about?
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by carlosalberto and CK · checked, community translation · [\#3068927](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/3068927) [\#13613228](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/13613228))

- Je n'ai pas à t'**expliquer**.
  I don't owe you an explanation.
  ([Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/) · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by flowingwords and CK · checked, community translation · [\#2361365](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/2361365) [\#11925050](https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/11925050))

## Grammar

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

## 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=fr-en&word=expliquer).


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.