Use of "à" again to mean "with"

S. B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Use of "à" again to mean "with"

Can someone explain the use of "à" in these two sentences: 

Elle se trouva confrontée aux limites de l'époque (why is it used to mean "with" in this sentence?)

Mais cette femme à la forte personnalité (also meaning with?)

Asked 4 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Sean,

unfortunately there is not a 1:1 correspondence between English and French prepositions. Some verbs use certain prepositions in French and others in English; confronter is such an example. Confronté à simply means confronted by, faced with.

S. B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Thank you for the explanation.  It makes sense.  Confronté works together with à.  I realize now that à works together with passer in the same way - "J'ai passé beaucoup de temps à travailler" is "I spent a lot of time working."

It is still hard to understand when à is used to express composition, purpose, use, manner, style: un enfant aux yeux bleus / fait à la main / au bon caractère

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I get a bit of satisfaction knowing that English is just as twisted with its use of prepositions when viewed from another language. :)

S. B. asked:View original

Use of "à" again to mean "with"

Can someone explain the use of "à" in these two sentences: 

Elle se trouva confrontée aux limites de l'époque (why is it used to mean "with" in this sentence?)

Mais cette femme à la forte personnalité (also meaning with?)

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