Guidelines for Translation from French into English
|Part 5 Common Problems with Prepositions
How to translate jusqu’à
Texte intégral
The problem here is that jusqu’à can be translated in three different ways in English according to the context.
1) Jusqu’à with time
This can be translated by ‘until’. The word ‘until’ is strictly limited to time.
‘until’ can be used with hours, until five o’clock, or with days of the month, until 10th January, but not with other figures.
Jusqu’à 10 % must be ‘up to 10 %’. You cannot say ‘until 10 %’.
‘until’ can be followed by a noun or a verb. If you use a verb, it will be in a past or present tense, not future.
Until five o’clock, until Sunday, until the end of term, until I go home.
The shop will be closed until 5th July.
He worked as a teacher until he retired.
2) Jusqu’à with time or figures
Here, jusqu’à is translated by ‘up to’. It is not used for location or geography.
jusqu’à maintenant – up to now
up to ten years ago/up to the end of term
‘up to’ can be used with figures:
Les femmes sont payées jusqu’à 35 % de moins que les hommes pour les mêmes qualifications.
Women are paid up to 35 % less than men with the same qualifications.
3) Jusqu’à with geographical location
This is translated by ‘as far as’. This is not used with time or figures. He went to China and travelled west as far as Kashgar.
Nous sommes allés jusqu’à la ville - We went as far as the town.
Special uses of ‘far’:
autant que je (le) sache - as far as I know
quant à moi, en ce qui me concerne - as far as I’m concerned
à perte de vue - as far as the eye can see
dès 1945/déjà en 1945 - as far back as 1945
There is another expression: ‘right up to’
He walked right up to the edge of the cliff - jusqu’au bord de la falaise
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