THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN CONDITIONAL AND HYPOTHETICAL SENTENCES WITH IF IN ENGLISH AND SI IN FRENCH: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

This study analyzes the similarities and differences in the use of conditional and hypothetical sentences with if in English and si in French. The primary objective is to determine the degree of correspondence between sentence structures in these two languages. The research first reviews the methods of expressing conditions and hypotheses in both English and French, then conducts a contrastive analysis based on a corpus comprising the original English text and its French translation. The findings reveal that while there are structural similarities and consistent verb tense usage between the two languages, this correspondence is not always absolute. Additionally, the subjective perspective of the translator about conditions and hypotheses plays a significant role in determining the approach to translation.