How do you say in French, "Old men who ride bicycles?"

[velotel]

If you want to be correct in italian, it would be the following

vecchi che fanno la bicicletta

Note that in the OP it was men, not man, thus the plural vecchi which is old men, also the verb form has to follow that format, as in plural

[Never]

Originally Posted by velotel

If you want to be correct in italian, it would be the following

vecchi che fanno la bicicletta

Note that in the OP it was men, not man, thus the plural vecchi which is old men, also the verb form has to follow that format, as in plural

That is also incorrect.
"Vecchi che fanno la bicicletta" translates (awkwardly) to "old men who make the bicycle".
So, maybe they are telaisti or meccanici, but in either case probably not riding around in groups while building/assembling the things.

oldpotatoe says he doesn't speak a word of Italian but his version is actually fine! He wrote, "Vecchi che vanno in bicicletta"...totally OK really.

"Old men who ride bicycles" in Italian, in the simplest way = "Vecchi (or vecchietti or anziani) che vanno (or girano) in bici (or bicicletta)".

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Never

That is also incorrect.
"Vecchi che fanno la bicicletta" translates (awkwardly) to "old men who make the bicycle".
So, maybe they are telaisti or meccanici, but in either case probably not riding around in groups while building/assembling the things.

oldpotatoe says he doesn't speak a word of Italian but his version is actually fine! He wrote, "Vecchi che vanno in bicicletta"...totally OK really.

"Old men who ride bicycles" in Italian, in the simplest way = "Vecchi (or vecchietti or anziani) che vanno (or girano) in bici (or bicicletta)".

Google translate

'I only speak 2 languages, american and bad american'..with apologies to Bruce Wills in Diehard.

[velotel]

Originally Posted by Never

That is also incorrect.
"Vecchi che fanno la bicicletta" translates (awkwardly) to "old men who make the bicycle".
So, maybe they are telaisti or meccanici, but in either case probably not riding around in groups while building/assembling the things.

oldpotatoe says he doesn't speak a word of Italian but his version is actually fine! He wrote, "Vecchi che vanno in bicicletta"...totally OK really.

"Old men who ride bicycles" in Italian, in the simplest way = "Vecchi (or vecchietti or anziani) che vanno (or girano) in bici (or bicicletta)".

That's an oddity of french and italian, maybe spanish too, don't know on that, or at least an oddity to us, but that's how they say things like riding a bike, they're making the bike, making the ski, etc. My wife, french but of italian origins, or rather san marino origins, speaks italian fluently and she's the one who told me how to say it in italian. In french there is not a verb for 'to ride'. The way it is.

[Never]

Originally Posted by velotel

That's an oddity of french and italian, maybe spanish too, don't know on that, or at least an oddity to us, but that's how they say things like riding a bike, they're making the bike, making the ski, etc. My wife, french but of italian origins, or rather san marino origins, speaks italian fluently and she's the one who told me how to say it in italian. In french there is not a verb for 'to ride'. The way it is.

Yes, "faire du vélo" is common in French for "to ride a bicycle".

But "fare la bicicletta" to mean the same is really not correct in Italian. Maybe ages ago, but it would sound archaic, anachronistic and silly or pretentious today.

"Fare strada" (make way, as in travel); "fare la corsa" ((make the) race); "fare la gita" (make the trip); OK, but not "fare (fanno) la bicicletta" meaning "ride a bicycle".

If one says "fare la bici" to an Italian they will not think "going for a bicycle ride". They will think "making a bicycle"..."fatto con le mani" for instance. But modified as in, "fare una gita (un viaggio, una corsa, una giornata...) in bici"...totally OK then.

Again, "I vecchi che vanno (or girano) in bici" is completely fine.

[Polyglot]

Originally Posted by Never

If you want to be orthographically correct, your preference would be "girano" with an a and not "girono" with two o's.

You are right, that is a typo on my part.

[Polyglot]

Originally Posted by velotel

That's an oddity of french and italian, maybe spanish too, don't know on that, or at least an oddity to us, but that's how they say things like riding a bike, they're making the bike, making the ski, etc. My wife, french but of italian origins, or rather san marino origins, speaks italian fluently and she's the one who told me how to say it in italian. In french there is not a verb for 'to ride'. The way it is.

I work as a translator by profession and your wife is mistaken. Never is perfectly correct.

In French, you can say "rouler en vélo" which literally means to roll on a bike.

[monkeybanana86]

je m'appelle...

[velotel]

Originally Posted by Polyglot

I work as a translator by profession and your wife is mistaken. Never is perfectly correct.

In French, you can say "rouler en vélo" which literally means to roll on a bike.

Oh well, she's old like me, though not as old as me, so maybe a bit archaic. You can say that in french but I've never heard anyone say it, only faire du vélo which even after 24 years here makes me laugh. I make lots of mistakes in french never having formally learned it, especially with verb forms and feminine and masculine, but I'm considered conversationally fluent, which leaves lots of margin.

[cmg]

googled the topic, this image came up

[hartmmike]

I've got a jersey with that on it.

[summilux]

Originally Posted by Polyglot

In French, you can say "rouler en vélo" which literally means to roll on a bike.

In Quebec French, "pédaler à vélo" is more common, "rouler" is a bit more formal

[Polyglot]

How about "balader à vélo." It has also come to me that in French there is a distinction between animals/objects that one straddles with the legs being outermost, where the most correct wording should be "router à vélo" and things where you do not straddle the object, or where your legs are circumscribed by the object, you then use "rouler en tricyclette" or "rouler en voibure". I have heard and read "rouler en vélo" but "rouler à vélo" is probably what the academia française would suggest.

[BobC]

Thanks for all the input -- I didn't really realize that the phrase was so tricky.

Sooooo, is it:

Les vieux hommes qui faire du vélo

And can it be "velo" or is it the plural form (velos?). I don't want all the men riding just one bike but each to their own.

Thanks!

Cheers, Bob

[summilux]

To me, "les vieux hommes" does not sound right (or respectful). "Les anciens" sounds better.