mener versus conduire

[alan gould]

i know to use the former to mean "leads to" (ex: this street leads to...).  i was just looking at "conduire" and saw that "conduire à" is also used to mean "leads to."  is it commonly used in addition to "mener?"  merci d'avance 

[Stevo]

Hi Alan.

“Mener” and “conduire” are two verbs very used in French. Indeed, the one can be placed instead of the other. And the inverse is also possible in a lot of situations.

However, here the deed sense of each.

Mener : It's literally “leads to” and can be used in many French expression who can have a metaphorical sens.

- Mener en bateau.

( to defraud, to deceive, to mislead, to dupe )

- Mener rondement une affaire.

( to make business with malice and skills )

- Mener le peuple à la révolution.

( to push on the people in the revolution )

- Mener sa vie comme on l'entend.

( to choose a manner to live )

Conduire : It literally matches to “to drive”, like “to drive a car in a garage”. So, this verb is perfect concerning all road behaviors. However, this verb can be understood like “follow a leader/an objet/a way/an idea who leads us toward... something.” And, it's in this precise case that you are lost between his usages than “mener” can substitute. So, we say in French :

- Je conduis la voiture.

( I drive the car. )

But we also can say :

- Je conduis un projet.

( I lead a project. )

- Ce chemin conduit au désert.

( This path goes until the desert. )

- Cette question conduit à y trouver une réponse.

( this question demands an answer. )

Voilà, j'espère que tu as tout compris à présent. ^^