Question

1. Should it be "les quatre dernières années" or "les quatre années dernières?"

2. How does one say in French "you have influenced me to create..."

merci!

Answer 1

1. les quatre années dernières

2. je suis desolee. je ne sais pas.

Vous avez [word for influence]... maybe?

Answer 2

1. Should it be "les quatre dernières années" or "les quatre années dernières?"

It depends on what you want to say.

"les quatre dernières années de ma carrière" would be appropriate the four last years of my career. When <i>dernières</i> is placed before the noun, it means the years that are the last, none that follow afterwards.

"les quatre années dernières" refers to the period closest to the present moment. In this example, it will be the four years preceeding the present. "Le jeudi dernier" would be the Thursday immediately preceeding the current moment.

2. How does one say in French "you have influenced me to create..."

I can be wrong here, but the sentence requires more information on the context.

If it is complimentary, giving the credit to the person with whom you are talking, you could say:
"Grâce à vos conseils, j'ai créé....", or
"Vous m'avez inspiré de créer ...."

If you are blaming someone for exerting influence on you, you might say:
"Sous votre influence, j'ai créé..."

Hope SraJMcGin could review this response for us.

Answer 3

All good but I'd probably vote for "Vous m'avez inspiré de créer..."

Sra (aka Mme)

Answer 4

Thank you!