It's about le Futur and le Futur antérieur.

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

It's about le Futur and le Futur antérieur.

The English sentence is: "Marie will meet up with us when we leave the restaurant." In the answer you use le Futur antérieur: "...quand nous aurons quitté..." In English, this would, to me, rather be "...after having left...". Since here it is "...when leaving..." a more simulaneous connection is implied. Would it, hence, be ok to translate it as: 'Marie nous rejoindra quand nos quitterons le restaurant." Thanks, -- Chris.
Asked 8 years ago
AurélieNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer
Bonjour Chris !

Here we're describing two different situations :)

In your sentence "Marie nous rejoindra quand noUs quitterons le restaurant.", the two actions are indeed simultaneous: us leaving the restaurant and her meeting us happen at the same time.
However, in the French sentence "Marie nous rejoindra quand nous aurons quitté le restaurant.", the action of leaving the restaurant will happen BEFORE Marie is meeting us.
Here "quand" is used in a sense closer to "une fois que" (once).
I think the issue here is actually the EN translation which doesn't reflect this nuance.
A better translation would probably be "Marie will meet up with us when we've left the restaurant.".
Would you agree?
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Yes, I do understand the French side and would suggest a more precise English translation to remove ambiguity. --Chris.

It's about le Futur and le Futur antérieur.

The English sentence is: "Marie will meet up with us when we leave the restaurant." In the answer you use le Futur antérieur: "...quand nous aurons quitté..." In English, this would, to me, rather be "...after having left...". Since here it is "...when leaving..." a more simulaneous connection is implied. Would it, hence, be ok to translate it as: 'Marie nous rejoindra quand nos quitterons le restaurant." Thanks, -- Chris.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Getting that for you now...