Il est bon en conduite.

Sentence Discussions French
#1
English Translation

He is good at driving.

I’m not sure if this is actually true, but Google Translate suggests “Il conduit bien.” so then I asked Gemini.

Gemini says:

1. The “School Behavior” Trap

In a school context, “la conduite” refers to a student’s behavior or conduct.

  • "Il est bon en conduite" sounds like you are saying: “He gets good grades for his behavior in class” (i.e., he is polite and sits still).

2. The Natural Translations

To say someone is skilled at operating a car, we usually use the verb or the specific noun for “driver.”

A. The Action (Most Common)

Il conduit bien. (He drives well.)

  • This is the standard way to say “He is good at driving.”

B. The Person (The Driver)

C’est un bon conducteur. (He is a good driver.)

#2

Agree with everything in part 2.

Gemini’s example in part 1 is not so great.

True, “conduite” can be used to mean “behavior”.

One example that comes to mind is:

  • Remise de peine pour bonne conduite = sentence reduction for good behavior (when talking about prisoners/inmates.)

You can also use the word “comportement”, I think it is more common.

Not really.

As Gemini points out, this French translation doesn’t work in the “driving context”, but it doesn’t work in “school behavior” context either.

A teacher could say something like:

  • Tom a eu un comportement (une conduite) exemplaire ce trimestre.
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#3

Thanks for the detail on part 1!

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