I'm putting together a paper with an eighteenth century source I have translated from French into English (which I don't have any skill in, but was forced by circumstance to use). I just want to check in particular that this one line is correct, I posted about a year ago and got helpful replies, so here's hoping! :) I just want to make sure this one is right because it will be used in the title in particular:

"Il est de fait qu’on ne peut le voir sans rire": It is to do one's best to look without laughing? laughter?

Hmm not a francophone but have learnt, loved and done moderately Ok in French! Literally the second part "on ne peut le voir sans rire" is exactly "one cannot see it without laughing!" i.e. if you see it you gotta laugh!

Il est de fait is perhaps "it is a fact"

of course the "que" is "that"

Therefore my throw would be this : it's a fact that you must laugh when you see it/ it's true that you can't NOT laugh when you see it...

Cheers. Or rather, merci beaucoup! ;-)

Literally, that would be "It is, in fact, that one cannot see it without laughing" (I think!). So a natural-sounding translation might be "In fact, you can't see it without laughing" or "In fact, you have to laugh when you see it".

Thanks again! You've both helped me out with this one! :-)