sortir

[Adam Kim]

Sortir. It is a very interesting word. It means very different things depending whether it is transitive or intransitive.

 

Transitive (with a direct object) meaning: to exit, go out, come out

Intransitive (without a direct object) meaning: to take out, bring out

[James H Smith]

My dictionary lists these meanings the other way round:

 

Sortir (transitive) = to take out, to bring out.

Sortir (intransitive) = to go out, to exit.

[Erwan]

You're right.

intransitive ->to exit. E.g. Je sors du cinéma

transitive -> to take out E.g. Je sors une feuille

 

Sortir is also a noun. E.g : "Au sortir du lit" means "when we go out of the bed".

[Adam Kim]

 Yikes, the Wiktionary entry is wrong.

[Neil Coffey]

I had a quick look but it seems to be OK? Possibly the main thing that might need justification is whether verbs of the "sortir" pattern really constitute a "fairly large group".

[Adam Kim]

Note to self: don't browse this forum when I'm too tired. Damn it. I made a fool out of myself.

[Neil Coffey]

They're not terribly different concepts though, are they...?

 

Various other verbs work in this way, e.g. entrer intransitivtely means "to go in", but transitively means "to take/bring/put etc in". The keypart is the "in".

 

[Will Sheard]

What is perhaps more interesting is that the transitive form takes avoir as an auxiliary verb, whereas the intransitive form takes être. For example:

 

Je suis sorti(e) du cinéma.

J'ai sorti une feuille.

Après être sorti(e), j'ai sorti mon parapluie.

 

As Neil intimates, this paradigm applies to other  verbs that take être, too.

[Will Sheard]

Yes, that's correct. In Br. Eng. one could say "going out with" for people of any age. In Am. Eng. "going out with" is for teenagers or middle school students (although it is possible to say it for others) and is synonymous with "to date". In Br. Eng. the term "to date" is used less frequently.

 

This sense of "going out with" is closer to the use of the French verb sortir in this context.