Devoir (and its discontents)After I had had to do my homework, I went for a walk.Really? No native English speaker would ever say this. One might say "After I did my homework, I went for a walk" but that doesn't mean what I think the question writer is after.
Having had to do something is a state of being, not something after which one takes a walk. Consider a work around to what is said: "After being in a position where I was required to do my homework, I took a walk." Weird, awkward, unidiomatic, and just strange. If this question was written by a native English speaker, it was surely in pursuit of teaching the plupurfect of devoir, which I never hear in conversation. It is something taught but in my experience never used and really never needed. Apparently, whatever exists on the conjugation chart has to be worked into a question....
When I took French in 60s, the pluperfect of devoir was translated as "must have", but I only hear the passe compose in cases where the pluperfect might have worked. Again, I never hear this said and rarely written.
Anyway you look at it, devoir in the past is a condition - not something that happens before something else happens. So no more is needed than the passe compose IMO.....
Why is it "vous vous êtes forcément posé la question" and not "vous vous êtes forcément posés la question" since the verb is reflexive and in the compound past tense? Is it because the writer intends the "vous" as signaling a singular subject?
How come the "dix" was pronounced like "di"? I thought the "x" was pronounced at the end.
Thank you!
Bonjour. My husband and I will be in France in a few weeks and are renting a car. We’ll be in the Dordogne region on rural roads and even after reading about it I still don’t understand about stopping for cars entering from the right. It seems impractical to stop at every intersection on a road when a small road on the right has a car. Any hints on how this works ? Thank you. I’m using Lawless to work seriously on my French but am scared about driving as I’m only around a B1 level.
Does this rule is valid when the object pronouns are me,te,nous,vous
il nous ai parlé or il nous ai parlés
Whic one is true?
I wish your helps thank you so much
Really? No native English speaker would ever say this. One might say "After I did my homework, I went for a walk" but that doesn't mean what I think the question writer is after.
Having had to do something is a state of being, not something after which one takes a walk. Consider a work around to what is said: "After being in a position where I was required to do my homework, I took a walk." Weird, awkward, unidiomatic, and just strange. If this question was written by a native English speaker, it was surely in pursuit of teaching the plupurfect of devoir, which I never hear in conversation. It is something taught but in my experience never used and really never needed. Apparently, whatever exists on the conjugation chart has to be worked into a question....
When I took French in 60s, the pluperfect of devoir was translated as "must have", but I only hear the passe compose in cases where the pluperfect might have worked. Again, I never hear this said and rarely written.
Anyway you look at it, devoir in the past is a condition - not something that happens before something else happens. So no more is needed than the passe compose IMO.....
Dans cette phrase: ..."puis nous irons déjeuner dans un bistrot de votre choix", est-ce qu'on peut écriver aussi "puis nous déjeunerons dans..." ? Ce n'était pas claire qu'on doit utiliser le futur proche dans cette phrase.
Hi - Could someone explain to me why the line "he told me that he needed a new raincoat" is translated into French without the adjective "new"? (..il m'a dit qu'il avait besoin d'un imperméable). Thanks.
Would "D'ailleurs" also be acceptable in the sentence that starts, "De plus, je n'ai jamais été très patient..." ?
do you only use rendre when talking about visiting a person?
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