renversé par une voiture
To be hit by a car in French is renversé par une voiture.
This phrase is used to describe the act of being struck by a moving vehicle, which typically results in the person being knocked down.
What does it mean word for word?
The word renversé literally means 'overturned' or 'knocked over', which describes the physical action of being knocked down by a vehicle.
Which one should you use?
While renversé par une voiture implies being knocked down, percuté par une voiture is a more technical term meaning 'struck' or 'collided with by a car'. The latter is often used in formal contexts such as police reports to emphasize the collision itself.
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle must agree with the gender and number of the person who was hit. If the person hit is female, change renversé to renversée. If multiple people are hit, use renversés for a group of men or a mixed group or renversées for a group of women.
Did you know?
- In a culinary context, renversé is used for dishes that are flipped upside down before serving, such as a gâteau renversé or upside-down cake.
- While voiture is the standard term for a car, in Quebec, people frequently use the word char, which is a direct borrowing from the English word 'car'.
- The term percuté shares a root with percussion, meaning the word for a technical car collision is linguistically tied to the act of striking a drum.
Examples in context
- J’ai été renversé par une voiture.I was hit by a car.Tatoeba #10704918 by AutoBot, translation #5859677 by CK
- J'ai été renversé par une voiture.I got hit by a car.Tatoeba #11164380 by lbdx, translation #2329612 by CK
- Sami a été renversé par une voiture.Sami got hit by a car.Tatoeba #6375914 by Scorpionvenin14, translation #6375907 by OsoHombre
- 5 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a news report about an accident.
- EmmaEst-ce que tu as vu les infos ?Did you see the news?
- LucasNon, qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ?No, what happened?
- EmmaUn homme a été renversé par une voiture.A man was hit by a car.
- LucasOh non, c'est terrible.Oh no, that's terrible.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
