on lui prodiguait des soins

English translation: he was treated

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:on lui prodiguait des soins
English translation:he was treated
Entered by: Tony M

17:19 Jul 4, 2017
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
French term or phrase: on lui prodiguait des soins
Est-ce qu'on peut dire "he was provided care" en parlant d'un patient dans un hôpital (pour dire qu'on lui prodiguait des soins)?
Je n'ai pas trop de contexte, juste ça:
Il dormait dans cette chambre et dans la pièce a coté on lui prodiguait des soins.
Grifone
Italy
he was treated
Explanation:
Your suggestion isn't really idiomatic in EN; to start with, in a medical context, we usually talk about 'treatment', unless it is, for example, 'nursing care'; that seems possibly not to be the case here.
Also, 'provided' is awkward — if you think of it more as 'fournir' or 'mettre à disposition', you may get a better feel for it; note too that it is difficult to use in the way you are trying to, since your structure requires it to be a transitive verb of which 'he' is therefore the direct object; following on from that, we need to add 'with': 'he was provided with care', which is clumsy and unnatural in EN.

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Note added at 8 minutes (2017-07-04 17:28:08 GMT)
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An alternative might be 'he received treatment' — it really depends on what the rest of your text goes on to say, and also what the overall context is.

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Note added at 13 minutes (2017-07-04 17:32:26 GMT)
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'prodiguer soins' simply means 'to give treatment', and the same verb is also used for e.g. giving first aid at the scene of an accident.

Here is an example from Robert + Collins:

malgré les soins que le médecin lui a prodigués  > in spite of the care ou treatment the doctor gave him
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 06:30
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +6he was treated
Tony M
3they provided him with comprehensive care
Barbara Cochran, MFA


  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
they provided him with comprehensive care


Explanation:
You have the right idea, although "prodiguer" means to lavish someone with something. Hence, I would say "comprehensive care", meaning care that is very thorough.

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 01:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you Barbara.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: That isn't what 'prodiguer' means in a medical kind of context, and adding 'comprehensive' amounts to gross over-translation.
2 mins

neutral  AllegroTrans: why comprehensive? this is not in the source text; this may have been nothing more than basic care (but the actual meaning here is "treatment") for all we know and you are overtranslating
21 mins
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
he was treated


Explanation:
Your suggestion isn't really idiomatic in EN; to start with, in a medical context, we usually talk about 'treatment', unless it is, for example, 'nursing care'; that seems possibly not to be the case here.
Also, 'provided' is awkward — if you think of it more as 'fournir' or 'mettre à disposition', you may get a better feel for it; note too that it is difficult to use in the way you are trying to, since your structure requires it to be a transitive verb of which 'he' is therefore the direct object; following on from that, we need to add 'with': 'he was provided with care', which is clumsy and unnatural in EN.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 minutes (2017-07-04 17:28:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

An alternative might be 'he received treatment' — it really depends on what the rest of your text goes on to say, and also what the overall context is.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 minutes (2017-07-04 17:32:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

'prodiguer soins' simply means 'to give treatment', and the same verb is also used for e.g. giving first aid at the scene of an accident.

Here is an example from Robert + Collins:

malgré les soins que le médecin lui a prodigués  > in spite of the care ou treatment the doctor gave him


Tony M
France
Local time: 06:30
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 348
Notes to answerer
Asker: I get it, thank you!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Michele Fauble: In asker's context.
14 mins
  -> Merci, Michele !

agree  AllegroTrans
22 mins
  -> Thanks, C!

agree  Jennifer Levey
29 mins
  -> Thanks, Robin!

agree  Chakib Roula
40 mins
  -> شكرا Chakib!

agree  writeaway
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, W/A!

agree  Verginia Ophof
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Verginia!
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