It suits you and it fits you?

Question

So - how would you say - "That shirt suits you well, but it doesn't fit you"

Yes, I know there are other ways to express this eg. "It suits you but you need to find a smaller size". But I'm specifically looking for how the two are differentiated using 'aller a'.

TIA

Accepted Answer

Hello Misia,
Just to add to what Maarten said, you might say -

Cette chemise te va très bien mais -
elle est trop petite/grande pour toi OR
elle n'est pas à ta taille

Hope this helps!

Answer

Misia,

there are many, many ways you could indicate that ‘it suits, but it doesn’t fit’ without ambiguity in French - ‘ Elle ( la chemise) te va sauf pour la taille ‘ for example.

You cannot do it by saying ‘ Elle te va, mais elle ne te va pas ‘. Using convenir for ‘ suits ‘, and aller à for ‘ does not fit ‘ would not be clear either.

To do so would be the same as saying ‘ it suits you, but it doesn’t suit you ‘ in English.

Whether you qualify the style, shape, size or other feature, something needs to be specified in either language in at least one of the clauses to avoid contradiction and ambiguity.