Finally, a few words about “enfin.”

French speakers put “enfin” everywhere. Sometimes it’s the first word of a closing paragraph and just means “this is the last paragraph.” If the reader is HAPPY to arrive at the closing paragraph, be my guest—translate it as “finally.”

However, if “enfin” introduces a final thought, but not an agonizingly awaited one, a simple “also” or “in addition” may work better. Or “lastly,” which can sound less judgmental.

Sometimes “enfin” is used in a list of things, to introduce the last thing on the list. In such cases, it is virtually devoid of meaning and simply signals that the list is coming to an end. Chances are, you can drop it altogether in your translation.

Sometimes “enfin” has NO RELATION WHATSOEVER to the notion of “finally,” and you will be wrong if you translate it that way. It can mean: in short, in a word, well, after all, still, even so, all the same, anyway, but, oh come on. Le Grand Robert & Collins has good examples.

So if you want your translations to look like machine translations, simply replace every French “enfin” with an English “finally.” But if you want to show that you know better, give it some thought.