English Translation
Why do you permit it?
Another case of formal inversion. Is it really true that it sounds like classical tragedy or from the Bible?
Gemini says:
"Pourquoi permets-tu cela ?" sounds extremely dramatic, literary, or old-fashioned. You are mixing the informal pronoun (tu) with a very formal sentence structure (inversion). It sounds like a line from a classical tragedy or a Bible verse.
Here is how real French speakers ask this question today:
1. The Everyday Spoken Version (Intonation)
In spoken French, we rarely use inversion with “tu.” We just raise our voice at the end. Also, we use ça instead of cela.
Pourquoi tu permets ça ? (Why do you permit this?)
2. The “Laisser Faire” Nuance (More Common)
If you are asking why someone is letting something bad happen (passive permission), French speakers usually prefer the verb laisser faire (to let happen) over permettre (to authorize).
Pourquoi tu laisses faire ça ? (Why are you letting this happen?)
- This is the most natural way to say it to a friend.
3. The Standard Version (Est-ce que)
If you want to be grammatically standard but not sound like a poet:
Pourquoi est-ce que tu permets ça ? (Why do you permit this?)