Passé composé vs. imparfaitIf a sentence is initiated by a fixed duration, is it always necessary to use passé composé?
For example, if I want to say….
During the six days of the trial, the judge was sitting at the front of the room, the lights were low, and the courtroom was full.
I have a fixed duration…. which aligns with the use of passé composé. But I am giving a description of the situation, with all things occurring simultaneously, and the information does not progress the story…. which aligns with the use of imparfait.
For me, it makes more sense to use imparfait, but I have been told that the presence of the fixed duration at the start of the phrase mandates the use of PC.
The sentence as I would write it is as follows:
Durant les six jours d'audience, le juge était assis à l’avant de la salle, les lumières étaient sombres et la salle de Cour était pleine
Just to confirm, is a “non-verbal” sentence is a “written” sentence? So we can write down “Pas encore” in response to a question but we can’t actually say it....?
Cheers!
In the case here, the act of receiving presents serves as a general statement about Christmas. To my mind no specific Christmas is understood here; instead all Christmases seem to be the explicit understanding.
Thus, following your grammar explanation, the more correct grammar choice seems to be "à".
. . . it would be great if you could provide both English and French grammar explanations (e.g., right now I am studying "Using prepositions with celebration days, like Christmas," which only has an English grammar explainer).
The reason is that some of us either a) have access to French-speaking friends/acquaintances, so being able to do extra probing of a grammar point with them IN FRENCH using technical explanations would be helpful or b) like to do further research on line using French to find additional detailed French-language explanation of grammar points, or both.
Ils sont chez eux
The audio sounds strange
If a sentence is initiated by a fixed duration, is it always necessary to use passé composé?
For example, if I want to say….
During the six days of the trial, the judge was sitting at the front of the room, the lights were low, and the courtroom was full.
I have a fixed duration…. which aligns with the use of passé composé. But I am giving a description of the situation, with all things occurring simultaneously, and the information does not progress the story…. which aligns with the use of imparfait.
For me, it makes more sense to use imparfait, but I have been told that the presence of the fixed duration at the start of the phrase mandates the use of PC.
The sentence as I would write it is as follows:
Durant les six jours d'audience, le juge était assis à l’avant de la salle, les lumières étaient sombres et la salle de Cour était pleine
I fear that you drive too fast.
Could you please tell me why a 'ne' would be in this sentence? I have
copied your test question.
Thank you, Jennifer
Hi Kwiziq,
I have noticed a few new lessons show up but then dissapear, e.g. meaning of Pauvre.
If these are yet to be released lessons then thats fine, I just wondered if these was a problem with my subscription.
Great work as usual !
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level