en libérant vs par libérer

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

en libérant vs par libérer

To translate "Coco Chanel became very popular 'by freeing' women from the corset", they used en libérant while I used par libérer because I thought en libérant would mean "while liberating" vs the "by liberating" they asked for. Am I wrong? Thats what I thought I understood from other examples in the past.

This question relates to:French writing exercise "Coco Chanel"

Freeform Writing Exercise C1

Asked 5 years ago

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The gérondif "en libérant" can be temporal as well as causal.

Like15 years ago

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So are the two expressions always interchangeable? If not please explain when to use each...

Like05 years ago

Alan G.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I think "par libérer" (or par + infinitive in general) can only be used after the verbs commencer, finir and their synonyms.

"Elle a commencé par libérer les femmes de l’esclavage du corset."

Apart from these cases, par is followed by a noun, not a verb.

Like15 years ago

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Merci

Like05 years ago

Ann H. asked:

en libérant vs par libérer

To translate "Coco Chanel became very popular 'by freeing' women from the corset", they used en libérant while I used par libérer because I thought en libérant would mean "while liberating" vs the "by liberating" they asked for. Am I wrong? Thats what I thought I understood from other examples in the past.

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