C'est l'histoire qui explique cette influence. Is it just the context which decides the meaning of histoire, that is story/history?

Martin B.Kwiziq community member

C'est l'histoire qui explique cette influence. Is it just the context which decides the meaning of histoire, that is story/history?

Asked 8 months ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Martin, 

The context will tell you if 'l'histoire' is the story or History and the story wouldn't make any sense here.

Also, history is often capitalized in French and is mainly used with a singular definite article unlike 'story' which can be pluralized and have different articles or pronouns -

Son histoire m'a perturbé His story disturbed me

Mon grand-père me racontait de bonnes histoires de sa jeunesse = My grandfather used to tell me great stories of his youth

but 

L' histoire vous apprend de bonnes leçons. History teaches you good lessons.

Bonne Continuation !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Martin, 

it is true for any word with multiple overlapping or disparate meanings that context confirms/defines which meaning is intended. The same applies in English.

When the context leaves the meaning unclear, further information is needed for clarity.

 https://www.wordreference.com/fren/histoire

 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/histoire/40070#difficulte

C'est l'histoire qui explique cette influence. Is it just the context which decides the meaning of histoire, that is story/history?

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