Native here, yep it is correct and idiomatic. “Je suis en train de [faire la chose]”
Comment on French culture
JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
I once heard from a friend learning French that the way to say that you are in the process of doing something literally translated to ‘I am on the train to [doing the thing]’. Is that correct?
Camille@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
it would seem like that because the words are the same, but in the locution “en train de [verbe]”, en train has the 15th century meaning of “in action”, “in movement”, this predates the invention of the railroad :)
JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Wait, woah, so the term ‘train’ is from the French work for ‘motion’, essentially? That’s kind of a dub.
morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
originally, as a noun, “le train” is “the going motion” of a horse, a human, it’s still used in “arrière-train” to designate the back legs of a quadrupède. “Aller de bon train” = to walk briskly.
In automotive, the “train avant” and “train arrière” are the front and rear axles.
There are other expressions like “le train-train quotidien”, meaning the daily grind.
Genius@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
I’m well on the way to writing that report, boss
Our company is on the road to developing those features
I’m on the path to forgiving you
HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I’ve lost my train of thoughts
datendefekt@feddit.org 1 year ago
That saying actually predates railroad trains, which were called that because a train meant “that which is drawn along”
grue@lemmy.world 1 year ago
As a person learning French, I think it’s more closely related to “training” or “entrain.”