laisser

[alan gould]

i said to a french girl in a hostel after she finished washing dishes "tu peux le laisser" with regard to turning the water off.  she understood me, but i just looked at "laisser" and i don't see a similar example.  Was I wrong?  "garder" would have been better, i guess.  

merci d'avance  

[George Hunt]

Not quite sure what you intended to say . For  "tu peux le laisser" I would have understood "I'll finish off".

Turn the water off??  :"fermer the robinet"

 You don't mean "let the water out"?

I am sorry I don't understand  what the situation was.

[alan gould]

i meant and she understood it as "you can leave it (running)"

[George Hunt]

Maybe just "tu peux laissser"  if  it is clear from the  context that you are talking about  either laving the tap on or turning it off. 

"Garder"   doesn't sound right to me   though. 

I translate "garder" as "to keep"  (= "hold onto") but as in "keep a thing" not as in "keep doing something" if that is what  made you think of using "garder" .

[alan gould]

a girl from quèbec told me to use "garder" when i asked if i should use "entretenir" in the phrase "entretenir la fraîcheur de la pièce" hence my using it in this situation