Eviter

[Crack1]

Eviter de manger trop de gras.

I read the above in an advertisements on France 2 channel.

Does it mean avoid eating a lot of fats or avoid eating a lot of meat?

[Frank]

Hello Crack,

"gras" means "fat".

So yes, it means "avoid eating too much fat".

[Crack1]

Thanks Frank

Eviter de manger beaucoup de gras.

I wonder whether the word 'beaucoup' could simply replace the word 'eviter'.

[Frank]

No, it can't.

"beaucoup" means "a lot"/"much", while "éviter" is a verb ("avoid").

Are you talking about "trop" vs "beaucoup" instead?

"trop" means "too much", while "beaucoup" is "a lot". "trop" is one step further :)

But yes, in such an example, "beaucoup de gras" would be perfectly acceptable as well.

[Crack1]

1.Il a trop d'argent.

2.Il a beaucoup de argent

I think to say a lot, in French, you will always use the word 'beaucoup'.
Do you use the first sentence? I am not sure.

[Frank]

"Il a trop d'argent" means that he's too rich. There might be situations where you'd say that. Imagine that in your workplace, some coworker acomplishes next to nothing. You know what's going on, every coworker is aware of the situation as well, but for some reason the boss isn't. Someday, you discover that this guy earns a huge salary for what he's worth. You can say "Il a trop d'argent", and it'd be fair enough.

"Il a beaucoup d'argent" really means "a lot". He's got a lot of money. But it's ok. Perhaps he worked hard. He might have a lot more money than you, but you think it's acceptable. "Steve Jobs a beaucoup d'argent". That's true. I'm scrapped for cash while he could buy a Ferrari a day, but he's some kind of a genius, there's a reason, a justification. So, il a beaucoup d'argent, mais il n'a pas trop d'argent.

[Crack1]

Thanks Frank

I heard Steve Jobs has some kidney problems.

The English word 'co-worker' is a noun. We usually write ' co-worker' not 'coworker'.

[Frank]

Noted. Thanks for pointing this out Crack1.

Yes, SJ had a kidney transplant. But we're disgressing from the topic (or not... kidney... beans... ok, there's a link... :)).