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Thinking...
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,936 questions • 32,417 answers • 1,014,363 learners
Hi,can anyone please shine some light on the following: " mais n'en espérait pas moins trouver queque Poisson. I think I know that it means " nevertheless hoped to find some fish" but is this a standard expression ?. Myself I would have said au moins (il) espérait trouver queque Poisson. I don't understand the rôle of the n and moins: it seems backwards to me, and in a way " not hoped to at least find some fish.
Thanks, Jim & Chris:
Could you use the present participle? J'ai vu SS descendant(e?) d'une limo...
or would that require the english being: I saw her... 'getting out of' vs 'get out of' ? Or just be incorrect?
if ok, is it considered an adjective which needs to agree ? (with ss)
more examples using infinitive, please....
thanks again
Alexis
The final segment of this exercise to translate is, "my choice was long made!" . I don't understand this phrase, does it mean "my choice was long ago made" or "my choice was made long ago?"
example from this lesson - Et leurs anniversaires ? - C'est bientôt !
contradicts with example from another lesson about c'est vs il/elle est - Où est ta tasse? Elle est sur la table. (rule: use il/elle est when giving opinions/short statements about specific things.)
"C'est" vs "Il/Elle est" to say it is/she is/he is in French
leur anniversaires - we are specifically talking about their aniversaries. so shouldn't we use il/elle est ? or maybe ils/elles sont ?
Can you explain why it is ‘avec ça tout devrait bien aller’ rather than ‘Avec ça tout devrait aller bien’ The usual response to the question ‘ça va’ is ça va bien’ and not ‘ça bien va”
Why is it "toutes les personnes qui nous ont aidés" and not "aidées?" Is it because of "nous" and not "les personnes?" Merci d'avance !
This was one of the questions that I encountered here.
Sentence:
I gave my old computer to an association.'' ?(HINT: here old as "that I used to own")
It turns out the correct translation is: J'ai donné mon ancien ordinateur...
Why is that?
I think it should be - J'ai donné mon ordinateur ancien...
Since, the adjective after the noun means = old
Can someone explain this to me ?
Hi everyone, sometimes an adjective is added before -une vieille dame - and others are added after - une règle irrégulière. Are there any rules/tips to know when to put them? Thank you.
Elles auraient eu un chien si elles avaient pu
They would have had a dog if they could have.
If I'm not mistaken:
auraient eu -> Conditional past "would have"
avaient pu -> Pluperfect "had been able to"
1. What happens to the rule about "Si" + imperfect in this case? Does it only apply to Imperfect + Conditional present?
2. Shouldn't "avaient pu" be something like "auraient eu"?
I can see why you could use the pluperfect for "They would have had a dog if they had been able to". But "... could have" seems to call for the conditional past (although I agree that the meaning is the same).
What am I missing here?
Thanks
I don't seem to be able to find anything on this topic, although it is quite fundamental and also allows one to practice lots of tenses as one switches between direct and indirect speech. Any chance of this topic appearing?
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