“Would” causing confusion “We would gather at the … table”
translates to:
On se retrouvait à la table…
On se rassemblait à la table…
On se réunissait à la table…
How is the “would” in “We would gather” reflected here? How is this different from “we gathered”, “we used to gather”, or “we were gathering”?
Same thing with “and we'd devour …” translating to “et on dévorait…”.
The French imparfait seems natural here. Maybe it’s really the function of the English word “would” that’s confusing me when trying to analyse it. It’s the same word as the conditional “would”, but this is not conditional. It’s not the main verb, e.g. “to gather”. It’s almost like an English imperfect version of “to be”.
Helpful comments welcome!
Pourriez-vous expliquer l'exemple "Nous n'habitons pas ici depuis très longtemps.", s'il vous plait ?
Merci
Maybe it's just on my end but the "avoir" example has "eu" and "pris" examples under it.
“We would gather at the … table”
translates to:
On se retrouvait à la table…
On se rassemblait à la table…
On se réunissait à la table…
How is the “would” in “We would gather” reflected here? How is this different from “we gathered”, “we used to gather”, or “we were gathering”?
Same thing with “and we'd devour …” translating to “et on dévorait…”.
The French imparfait seems natural here. Maybe it’s really the function of the English word “would” that’s confusing me when trying to analyse it. It’s the same word as the conditional “would”, but this is not conditional. It’s not the main verb, e.g. “to gather”. It’s almost like an English imperfect version of “to be”.
Helpful comments welcome!
Why does the first word have its final “e”? Is is agreeing with the feminine noun “fin”?
Also, is the first word best considered as an adjective or as a past participle in this sentence?
In some cases, I chose other words which were not accepted. In particular, 'valide' instead of 'valable', 'choix' instead of 'options', and 'avoir l'intention de' instead of 'prévoir'. In the context, were these incorrect, not the best choice, or just synonymes? Thanks for all of your help. The question and answer section is quite beneficial!
Bonjour,
When would it be appropriate to use 'à tout à l'heure' instead of 'À très bientôt'?
Merci!
It’s some consolation to me, having read all the submissions, that I’m not the only one having difficulty with this concept. Has the reconstruction, promised a year ago, been implemented yet? If not, may I make a suggestion? How about, instead of asking "If she could fly, she would go to the moon.", ask instead "If she was able to fly, she would go to the moon.”?
Could you point me to a reference that would explain and describe the evolution of the use of le passé simple? I understand it's mostly used for literature but I can't find an article that describes it's origin. Does it stem (no pun intended) from French's latin roots, Langue d'oil, Germanic influences? Thanks!
Apologies if this is the wrong topic, but does pense que express uncertainty such that it would be followed by a subjunctive?
Thanks!
If a color derives from a real thing or a you have color + a real thing the color adjective never agrees according to the lesson. Therefore, I am confused as to why an example in a quiz marked the following incorrect:
X une chemise bleu marin
I am given : une chemise bleue marine as the correct response
Marin is sailor or seafarer which is a real thing. This lead me to believe there would be no agreement.
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