Question about some translations in this lesson French Q&A

Melody

Kwiziq community member

5 January 2017

1 reply

Question about some translations in this lesson

I am confused as to when to use the present tense vs. the passe compose. For example: Rien n'est arrivé. Nothing has arrived.Nothing has happened. It is to do with the use of "has". For Rien n'est arrivé. Nothing has arrived.Nothing has happened. Why not Nothing arrived.Nothing happened. Or, why not say Rien n' arrive

This relates to:
Personne ne ..., rien ne ... = No one, nothing (negation) -

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

6 January 2017

6/01/17

Bonjour Melody ! Actually in this case, I agree that "Nothing happened/arrived" would be a more common translation. However, you could also use "Nothing has happened", as Le Passé Composé overlaps both Present Perfect and Simple Past. If you said "Rien n'arrive", it would mean either "Nothing happens/arrives" or "Nothing is happening/arriving". You can also have a look at this lesson: https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-you-use-depuis-since-for-with-le-present-and-not-le-passe-compose-prepositions-of-time I hope that's helpful ! Bonne Année !

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