Estonian to French: liking something and politely requesting it are different messages
Meeldima identifies what is pleasing and to whom
EKI illustrates meeldima with See tüdruk meeldib mulle väga and with a question about whether a film pleased the listener. The form mulle identifies the person experiencing the favourable reaction. In an original Estonian comment about a performance, do not mistake that person for the performer merely because a personal pronoun occurs near the verb.
French plaire offers a related arrangement. The Académie illustrates Votre franchise me plaît, where the admired quality is the subject and me represents the person who appreciates it. This is an attested dictionary example, not a direct translation of the Estonian sentence about a girl. It demonstrates a useful shared relationship without requiring the same surface word order.
For an original Estonian message about a colleague liking a presentation, identify the presentation as the thing appreciated and the colleague as the experiencer. If those roles are reversed, the French sentence can describe the presentation liking the colleague or somebody trying to please the colleague. Keeping the positive evaluation is insufficient if the translation assigns it to the wrong participant.
Enjoying an activity is not asking permission to do it
EKI also gives Talle meeldib tantsida for enjoying dancing. The activity supplies what is liked. A translation should not turn that preference into an instruction to dance or an offer to organise a dance. The source describes an attitude, and it can do so without any immediate plan to perform the activity.
The French dictionary distinguishes ordinary plaire from pronominal se plaire, including enjoyment of an activity and feeling comfortable in a place. Those constructions provide possibilities that must be selected for the intended meaning. Their shared root does not make every French expression interchangeable with every Estonian meeldima clause.
An original source about liking life in a town may concern comfort there, whereas liking a photograph of the town concerns the photograph. A target construction suggesting that the person lives in the town would add a fact absent from the second message. Identify the scope of the appreciation before choosing the French phrase.
Palun introduces a request rather than an evaluation
EKI separately records interjectional palun in requests, including asking for salt, requesting a clock reading and ordering coffee. The dictionary also notes its relationship to the verb paluma. In a café message, palun does not ordinarily assert that the speaker likes the coffee; it helps make the request courteous.
French s’il vous plaît and s’il te plaît are likewise recorded as courteous formulas accompanying requests or orders. Their internal connection with plaire should not tempt a translator to render an Estonian preference sentence as please, or a source request as a statement of enjoyment. The phrase’s conversational function controls the choice.
This difference is visible in an original exchange where somebody first says they enjoy dancing and then asks for a particular song. The first clause states a preference; the second seeks an action. French can preserve both without using the same construction twice. Read the Estonian meeldima and palun forms for what they contribute—an evaluation with an experiencer, or a courteous request—before selecting the target wording.
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