Translate: They need us to arrive before the beginning of the ceremony.I don't understand why arrivions was incorrect and soyons arrivés correct when:
The correct translation for "They need us to arrive before the ceremony begins" is "Ils ont besoin que nous arrivions avant le début de la cérémonie."
Explanation
Ils ont besoin que nous arrivions avant le début de la cérémonie
This phrase uses the subjunctive present (nous arrivions) of "arriver."
It expresses a requirement concerning a future action (our arriving) that must happen before a specific event (the ceremony starts).
This is the most natural and idiomatic way in French to say that someone needs you to arrive before a certain point in time.
Ils ont besoin que nous soyons arrivés avant le début de la cérémonie
This form uses the past subjunctive (nous soyons arrivés).
It emphasizes the state of having already arrived by the time the ceremony begins, which can sound overly formal, final, or focused on the end result.
In everyday French, this structure is less commonly used for planned requirements about the future.
Why?
French typically uses the present subjunctive ("nous arrivions") after verbs that express necessity or desire (like "avoir besoin que") unless you need to stress that the action will be completed before the reference point in the past or for a resultative state.
In the context of "They need us to arrive before the ceremony begins," the English meaning aligns exactly with the present subjunctive in French.
So, the most natural and correct answer is:
Ils ont besoin que nous arrivions avant le début de la cérémonie.
If your intent was, "They need us to have already arrived before the ceremony begins," you might use the past subjunctive, but that's not the usual reading of the English sentence.
I don't understand why arrivions was incorrect and soyons arrivés correct when:
The correct translation for "They need us to arrive before the ceremony begins" is "Ils ont besoin que nous arrivions avant le début de la cérémonie."
Explanation
Ils ont besoin que nous arrivions avant le début de la cérémonie
This phrase uses the subjunctive present (nous arrivions) of "arriver."
It expresses a requirement concerning a future action (our arriving) that must happen before a specific event (the ceremony starts).
This is the most natural and idiomatic way in French to say that someone needs you to arrive before a certain point in time.
Ils ont besoin que nous soyons arrivés avant le début de la cérémonie
This form uses the past subjunctive (nous soyons arrivés).
It emphasizes the state of having already arrived by the time the ceremony begins, which can sound overly formal, final, or focused on the end result.
In everyday French, this structure is less commonly used for planned requirements about the future.
Why?
French typically uses the present subjunctive ("nous arrivions") after verbs that express necessity or desire (like "avoir besoin que") unless you need to stress that the action will be completed before the reference point in the past or for a resultative state.
In the context of "They need us to arrive before the ceremony begins," the English meaning aligns exactly with the present subjunctive in French.
So, the most natural and correct answer is:
Ils ont besoin que nous arrivions avant le début de la cérémonie.
If your intent was, "They need us to have already arrived before the ceremony begins," you might use the past subjunctive, but that's not the usual reading of the English sentence.
This sentence is in the past tense, but why didn't we use subjonctif passe?
To my ear, recemment sounds like rekemment rather than resemment. A hard c rather than a soft c. Does anybody else hear this?
For "Why have you left it so late?" I'm wondering whether it's possible to use "Pourquoi es-tu t'y pris tellement tard?"
I know that' "sy prendre trop tard pour faire" was used in the musicals week but I'm not sure if there's a distinction that would make this expression unsuitable in this context. Thanks!
I carried out a test where I entered the complete text word by word until it was fully typed. I didn’t make any mistakes during the process, as I wanted to understand how the scoring system worked. However, even after completing it correctly, I still received a score of 0 out of 60. Could you please explain to me in more detail how the scoring works?
With pécho (stemming from choper), How would one conjugate it? Or do you not conjugate it at all. For example, nous chopons, becomes nous péchons or just nous pécho?
Je trouve très dificille l'utilisation du peut et peux. Il y a un truc?
Which is NOT correct?
Ce qu'il dit est difficile à comprendre
Ce que nous faisons est presque impossible
Ce qui est arrivé est incroyable
Ce qui elle demande n'est pas raisonnable -- Correct Answer
I don't understand why this is incorrect.
Mes filles sont bonnes en maths, mais ni l'une ni l'autre ne sont bonnes en français.
Why no pas after "ne sont"
How can you differentiate the story from history ie. l’histoire. was marked as incorrect but I think it could have been either
Find your French level for FREE
And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it
Find your French level