Additional translation of "all in all”

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Additional translation of "all in all”

My go-to dictionary, Word Reference, gives 'tout l’ensemble’ and 'somme toute' as translations.  One of the acceptable translations was 'en somme', which is close to what WR used.  However, 'tout l’ensemble', which is what I chose, was not accepted.   Should it be added?

Asked 4 days ago
CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Bonjour Frank ,

You wouldn't use 'tout l'ensemble' as it literally means "the whole set/ensemble" and is used when referring to an entire collection or group of things so unsuitable in this context.

May be you are thinking of 'dans l'ensemble' which means 'on the whole' which is appropriate in this context but slightly different.

'Somme toute' is good but very formal.

You will appreciate that there's a limit to how many possibilities we include, in this case we give four :

tout compte fait

tout bien réfléchi

tout bien considéré

en somme 

Bonne Continuation !

Frank C. asked:

Additional translation of "all in all”

My go-to dictionary, Word Reference, gives 'tout l’ensemble’ and 'somme toute' as translations.  One of the acceptable translations was 'en somme', which is close to what WR used.  However, 'tout l’ensemble', which is what I chose, was not accepted.   Should it be added?

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