On 2 July, 1816, the ship "La Méduse" wrecked on the shores of Mauritania, and inspired one of the most famous paintings in the world. After watching the video, scroll down for the transcript in our bilingual reader, where you can click any French phrase for the English translation and related grammar lessons.
Hi, in the last paragraph the text reads “l’incompétence du capitaine”, but I’m actually hearing “l’incompétence du commandant”.
Bonjour Brian !
Thank you very much for letting us know, indeed the text has now been fixed to "commandant" :)
Merci encore et bonne journée !
Hi, in the last paragraph the text reads “l’incompétence du capitaine”, but I’m actually hearing “l’incompétence du commandant”.
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Could you explain the word “inspira” in “du naufrage qui inspira ce tableau”, which you translate as “of the shipwreck which inspired this painting“.
Should this instead be the adjective “inspiré” in the passive voice, as this is the past participle of “inspirer”?
No, it's correct - it's the passé simple which is a past tense used mainly in literature.
If you click on the text in the exercise, you'll see a list of related grammar lessons as well as the translation. In this case there's a link to this:
Conjugate all -er verbs in Le Passé simple (including aller)
From that lesson you can get a link that describes the passé simple in general.
Conjugate all -er verbs in Le Passé simple (including aller)
(These are actually different links, but for some reason Kwiziq is showing the same text for both of them here. It looks correct when I edit this post.)
Could you explain the word “inspira” in “du naufrage qui inspira ce tableau”, which you translate as “of the shipwreck which inspired this painting“.
Should this instead be the adjective “inspiré” in the passive voice, as this is the past participle of “inspirer”?
Don't have an account yet? Join today
