Oct. 8, 2025
Les dieux et les goules ne savent pas
"神不知鬼不覺" est un expression ou un adjectif en chinois. Si quelqu'un faisait quelque chose en secret et personne aura réalisée, nous pourrons utiliser cet expression pour lui décrire.
LNi les dieux etni les gouleesprits ne savent pas
ni... ni... = neither... nor... (used when a negative action applies to two subjects)
The most common translation of 鬼 is "esprit" ("spirit"). You can talk about "fantôme" ("ghost") to talk about the spirits of the dead, and "démons" to talk about wicked/evil spirits
"une goule" is a very particular kind of revenant from the Middle-Eastern/Arabic tradition that is said to eat corpses
"« 神不知鬼不覺" » est un expression ouet également un adjectif en chinois.
French quotation marks => « »So far I understand, it's both, so "et" would apply
SiQuand quelqu'un faisait quelque chose en secret et que personne aura réalisée, nous pourronsne s'en rend compte, on peut utiliser cette expression pour lui décrire.
Every time that... = quand
Habit, universal truth = present => fait, peut
The "personne [...]" clause also depends on "quand", so it's indicated by another "que" => et QUE personne...
"réaliser" in this sense is an anglicism, as this verb normally means "to craft, to make come true, to fulfill" in French
I always prefer suggesting purely French alternatives that are even more common => se rendre compte que, s'apercevoir que
"expression" is feminine => ceTTE
I'd drop the end, it would be simpler and more natural (given the context makes it obvious)
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The French equivalent would be "pas vu, pas pris" (lit. "not seen, not caught"), meaning, if nobody sees you, nobody can catch you/blame you for it!
Oct. 8, 2025
Many thanks again for the detailed explanations. I see I made a similar mistake with the verb tenses for universal truths. I'll try harder to remember that.
Also thanks for translating the expression!
Oct. 8, 2025
Yes as long as you're describing a habit, some universal law or something that always is true, you'll use the present tense. On that regard, French is more consistent than English.
And you're welcome :)
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Les dieux et les goules ne savent pas
ni... ni... = neither... nor... (used when a negative action applies to two subjects) The most common translation of 鬼 is "esprit" ("spirit"). You can talk about "fantôme" ("ghost") to talk about the spirits of the dead, and "démons" to talk about wicked/evil spirits "une goule" is a very particular kind of revenant from the Middle-Eastern/Arabic tradition that is said to eat corpses |
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"神不知鬼不覺" est un expression ou un adjectif en chinois.
French quotation marks => « »So far I understand, it's both, so "et" would apply |
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Si quelqu'un faisait quelque chose en secret et personne aura réalisée, nous pourrons utiliser cet expression pour lui décrire.
Every time that... = quand Habit, universal truth = present => fait, peut The "personne [...]" clause also depends on "quand", so it's indicated by another "que" => et QUE personne... "réaliser" in this sense is an anglicism, as this verb normally means "to craft, to make come true, to fulfill" in French I always prefer suggesting purely French alternatives that are even more common => se rendre compte que, s'apercevoir que "expression" is feminine => ceTTE I'd drop the end, it would be simpler and more natural (given the context makes it obvious) |
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Si quelqu'un faisait quelque chose en secret et personne aura réalisé, nous pourrons utiliser cet expression pour lui décrire. |
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