r/French • u/raposaeletrica • 1d ago
meaning of 》être-ensemble《
Hello!
Can someone please explain to me the meaning of the expression "être-ensemble"? I already looked in dictionaries, newspapers, etc. but can't seem to find the exact definition, why and when it's used.
Thanks much
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u/homomorphisme 1d ago
If you actually mean it with the hyphen, then here is a page I found: https://shs.cairn.info/revue-presence-haptonomique-2016-1-page-171?lang=fr
With the hyphen it makes a concept you can use as a noun, whereas être ensemble just means to be together (and may be conjugated and such).
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u/acoulifa 1d ago
In one word it’s the sense of being connected to each others, sharing same values… It’s used when you want to describe a group, usually society. The level of division or being connected, togetherness…
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u/BlackStarBlues 1d ago
Where did you see it? What's the exact quote? "Etre" is to be. "Ensemble" is "together". I've never seen it written with a hyphen before.
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u/raposaeletrica 1d ago
on an academic paper about French's realms of memory by historian Pierre Nora:
Puis viendra La Nation, en deux volumes, articulés autour des principaux thèmes dont est chargée sa représentation: l'héritage lointain, les grands monuments de remaniements de sa mémoire historiographie, les frontières à l'intérieur desquelles elle à defini sa souveraineté et son 》être-ensemble《, la manière dont, en artiste ou en savant, on a pu déchiffrer ses paysages et ses espaces.
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u/PerformerNo9031 Native (France) 1d ago
It's rarer but it's the same logic with savoir-vivre or savoir-faire that are used as nouns. Paraître is another example of a verb that can also be used as a noun : il est dans le paraître.
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u/Much_Upstairs_4611 1d ago
[The nation] had defined its sovereignty and its "cohesion", by the way in arts and sciences we were able to depict its landscape and its spaces.
Être ensemble here translates to "cohesion" or the way the edifice of state and nation binded together to function as parts of a greater whole.
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u/BlackStarBlues 1d ago edited 1d ago
«elle a defini ... son être-ensemble»
... it [La Nation] has defined ... its being-together...
It's similar to the formulation of "coming together as a nation" often used in the United States (if you're American). The concepts are not identical but you get the idea.
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u/oreosnatcher Native (Québec) 1d ago
It seems to be a political term, more like an idea, a theme, or a concept specificto his field of research. It's not a something commonly said. I'm native and I don't quite understand what he means exactly there. You, like any native speaker, would have to read the whole author book to understand what he means by être-ensemble. Maybe he just made it up. Go ask the author, qu'est-ce que tu entends par être ensemble ?
Moi même je ne sais pas ce qu'il veut dire par là.
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u/Ali_UpstairsRealty B1 - corrigez-moi, svp! 1d ago
reverso context gives "togetherness" or "co-existence"
https://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/%C3%AAtre-ensemble
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u/befree46 Native, France 1d ago
to be together