faire accepter qqch à qqn

[AlexWK]

Hello all,

I have a problem to translate this expression "faire accepter qqc à qqn" in English.

My sentence is: "La Court devait faire accepter ces principes aux Etats membres". I am puzzled about the expression "faire accepter".

I know that to translate "faire faire qqc", there are two possibilities:
- either using "to make someone/something do something"= "faire qqc à qqn", for example: "I made everybody laugh" = "J'ai fait rire tout le monde"
That usage relates to an active form.

- either using "to have/get someone/something done"= "faire faire qqc", for example: "I made the wall repainted" = "J'ai fait repeindre le mur"
That usage relates to a passive form.

Then, in my sentence, my try was:
"The Court had to have the principle accepted by the Member States".

I wrote this because it is a passive meaning, the principles had to be accepted by the Member States. But this does not sound very good to me. Am I wrong?

Furthermore, is it possible to write: "The Court had to make the principles accepted by the Member States"?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Glasguensis]

The Court had to have the principle accepted by the Member States

This sounds fine to me, and is a correct translation of the original.

You would need to alter your alternative :
The Court had to make the Member States accept the principle

 

[ajs_bath]

Hi Alex

I think a bit more context be useful in order to understand what the role of the Court actually is, as the above suggestions aren't that elegant in English, and
something more precise could be proposed as an alternative if we had a bit more info.

Other suggestions might be:
"the Court had to ensure the member states accepted these principles"
"the Court had to enforce these principles with regard to the member states" (a bit stronger and perhaps implies a more active role on behalf of the court)

As I say, a firmer proposal would rely on knowing the precise context.