"Grâce à sa bonté" instead of "Grâce à sa gentillesse"??

Michael B.C1Kwiziq community member

"Grâce à sa bonté" instead of "Grâce à sa gentillesse"??

I said "Grâce à sa bonté et à sa joie de vivre" instead of "Grâce à sa gentillesse et à sa joie de vivre" and was marked wrong. Isn't "bonté" French for "Kindness"? Thanks.

Asked 3 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Michael,

Kindness (gentillesse)  is a quality that makes you do kind ( nice) things for others.

Bonté is more 'goodness' and a virtue in my opinion.

Just a bit over the top for the context.

Hope this helps!

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

In general, there will be more than one French word covering the meaning of a given English term. They may have slightly different connotations and flavors and not be entirely interchangeable. That's where a dictionary comes in.

I did a simple Google of "gentillesse et bonté" and the second result that showed up was for this article: https://fr.strephonsays.com/kindness-and-goodness-6978

Michael B.C1Kwiziq community member

Interesting, because a book by surrealist artist Max Ernst is titled "Une semaine de bonté" which is translated as "A Week of Kindness". So, a better translation of the title should be "A week of moral goodness?"

"Grâce à sa bonté" instead of "Grâce à sa gentillesse"??

I said "Grâce à sa bonté et à sa joie de vivre" instead of "Grâce à sa gentillesse et à sa joie de vivre" and was marked wrong. Isn't "bonté" French for "Kindness"? Thanks.

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