Avoir raison / tort / de la chance = To be right / wrong / lucky

Hi Nezih,

It is just the way it is ....

to be right = avoir raison

to be wrong= avoir tort 

to be lucky = avoir de la chance (literally to have some luck) 

Hi Cécile

Thank you for answering my question, however this was not what i was looking for. Let me explain in another way. "Tort" is a masculin noun, and avoir a "verb". I would expect the usage should be "avoir du tort", similar to "avoir de la chance". But what i see is, the partitive article "du" is not used here. 

locution verbale: groupe de mots fonctionnant comme un verbe. Ex : "faire référence à"locution verbale: groupe de mots fonctionnant comme un verbe. Ex : "faire référence à"

At the bottom of my previous message i added what i found in the online dictionary Word Reference, but i am not sure what does it mean.

Hi Nezih,

There are other verbal phrases , normally with 'avoir', which have similar constructions to avoir tort/raison without any article -

Avoir peur = to be frightened ( lit. to have fear)

Avoir honte = to be ashamed

Avoir pitié = to have mercy

Avoir faim/soif = to be hungry/thirsty

Avoir horreur de = to loathe 

so 'avoir de la chance' is a bit of an anomaly...

Hi Richard,

The expression is 'avoir tort' and means 'to be wrong'.

"le sort" = fortune, luck; as in Spanish cognate "tener suerte"= be lucky

I made no reference to "tort"

Hi Richard,

As you had pinned it ot this particular lesson I had assumed that you had confused the two terms, so sorry about this.

Sort  had many meanings in French ( fate/spell/curse) but you cannot say,

'avoir sort'.

Furthermore it is associated with bad luck rather than good fortune.

Je ne veux pas être dans le même sort qu'elle = I don't want the same fate as her

J'espère que ce nouvel emploi va améliorer mon sort = I hope this new job will improve my lot.

C'est comme si elle m'avait jeté un mauvais sort = It's just as if she had cast me a bad spell

Hope this helps!

parfois je confonds le français avec l'español

merci pour m'avoir beaucoup aidé

Hi Terry,

Indeed, 'je n'ai pas tort' is correct for 'I am not wrong'.

Hi Almut,

Often times there are multiple correct ways to answer each question in kwiziq. However, as the lessons are designed to train a particular aspect of grammar or style, it isn't really helpful to search for alternative answers which have little to do with the lesson at hand.

In the example you provide, the lessons aimes (among other things) to train the use of "avoir de la chance". Hence a construction using this phrase is sought as the correct answer.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

I understand your frustration when, after giving a well considered and perfectly correct answer, it is marked as incorrect. Believe me, I've "been there, done that". It would, however, be nigh impossible to write a program which is smart enough to recognize all possible correct ways to answer a question. When I was marked incorrect, I read the corresponding lesson and learned what kwiziq was trying to teach me. Next time around knew what they were after.

-- Chris.

I am coming at this from a different angle, Almut. You are not learning "kwiziq-French" but you are using kwiziq to focus on learning specific aspects of French. By breaking language learning down into managable, bite-sized tasks which can be learned and tested for in a comparatively short amount of time, you speed up your progress overall.

Of course, besides going through lessons and tests, one needs to read, listen to and speak French as well. And this is where all possible nuances of expressions and a feeling for their proper uses is acquired. Not during the tests, which are geared toward teaching specific grammatical topics. The kwiziq team acknowledges this by offering reading and listening opportunities as well.

-- Chris.

Hi Almut,

If I can just interject here, I have never heard anyone in France using the expression 'être chanceux' for 'to be lucky' . You will hear 'avoir de la chance' or 'avoir de la veine' (which is slang) .

I suspect 'être chanceux/chanceuse' might be the expression our French Canadian friends favour...

Hope this helps!