The Romance languages, such as
French, are normally verb-framed, and the Germanic languages, such as English, are satellite-framed. To express motion events, English typically expresses manner in the verb, and French typically express path in the verb and either avoid the manner of motion completely or express it in a complement of manner. For example, "He ran into the room" is routinely translated as 'Il entra dans la pièce en courant' ("he entered the room running"). That means that the verb itself normally does not express manner in French, as opposed to what is generally the case in English, and that if manner is expressed, it is expressed in a complement (or, more precisely, an adjunct) of manner:
en courant ("running"). The question remains of whether to express manner. It is not always easy to know, but manner is generally left unexpressed when it can be considered to be self-evident and inferred from the context. Expressing the manner then tends to sound unnatural. Thus, "He ran into the room" can be translated as
Il entra dans la pièce en courant because it is slightly unusual to run into a room and so manner should be mentioned. However, translating "He walked into the room" as
Il est entré dans la pièce à pied ("on foot") or
en marchant ("walking") is distinctly odd because it calls unintended attention to the usual way in which one enters a room and is akin to saying in English "he entered the room walking." Only in a case in which walking would be considered unusual or notable such as in talking about a crippled person, can the fact that he "walked" into the room be considered to be relevant. Likewise, saying "I'm flying to
London" is normal in English, but saying
Je vole ("I'm flying") in French for the same situation is odd because the verb is not one for which manner should be normally expressed in the first place, and flying is also a common way to travel to London from
France. However, the formulation ''"Je m'envole pour Londres"'' ("I'm taking off for London") can also be found, as a more figurative expression. This means that the choice of
complement, particularly the choice of the
preposition, may also be affected. In English, the
particle or the prepositional phrase (the "satellite") has the path expressed by the use of a dynamic preposition: "(walk) into (the room)", "(fly) to (London)." However, in French, the verb normally expresses the path. A preposition like
à ("to, at, in") is ambiguous between a static reading (
Je suis à Paris, "I'm in Paris") and a dynamic reading (
Je vais à Paris, "I'm going to Paris"). If the verb is dynamic and expresses directed motion (motion with an intrinsic direction),
à can express movement (
Je vais à Paris). If not, as is the case for instance with
voler ("to fly"), which expresses manner of motion but not directed motion,
à tends to receive a static, not a dynamic, interpretation:
je vole à Paris would mean something like "I'm flying IN Paris." not "I'm flying TO Paris.", or could even be misconstrued as "I am stealing in Paris", due to homophony of the two verbs. Using the same structure in French as directly translated from English may be doubly misleading, as both the verb and the preposition are unusual:
Je vais à ("I'm going to") or
Je suis en route ("I am on my way")
vers/
pour Paris ("towards/for Paris") are much clearer in meaning. ==Opposition and its limitations==