Question on "would" from a past perspective

Question

I am wondering how to form a statement using would (le conditionnel?) from a past perspective. As in "I spent a lot of time deciding what I would eat for lunch today". Could someone tell me if the below is correct? Apologies for the spelling/accent errors as I am typing on a computer where i don't know how to type those, but i've tried to approximate the critical ones below.

j'ai passe' beaucoup de temps `a decider quoi je mangerais pour dejeuner aujourd'hui.

Or

maybe i should say "quoi j'allais manger pour..."?

Merci d'avance.

j'ai passe' beaucoup de temps `a decider quoi je mangerais pour dejeuner aujourd'hui.
Or
maybe i should say "quoi j'allais manger pour..."?

Merci d'avance.

Accepted Answer

Hi Bill
It should be :
"J'ai passé beaucoup de temps à décider ce que je mangerais pour le déjeuner aujourd'hui" if you want to use the conditional ...
Hope this helps!

Answer

Fantastique !  Merci.

Answer

serait-il aussi correct de dire: j'ai passé beaucoup de temps à decider quoi j'aillais manger pour le déjeuner?

Answer

oops.. j'allais..

Answer

oops, décider... lol

Answer

Hi Bill,
It would be also:
...ce que j'allais manger ...
Here is the lesson to explain 'ce que' -
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/ce-que-what-which-relative-pronouns
Here are a few examples of where you might find 'quoi' used -
Quoi? Quest-ce-que tu as dit? = What ? What did you say?
On y va ou quoi? = Are we going or not?
Il n'y a pas de quoi = dont' mention it 
Hope this helps!

Answer

Merci.  Is there a lesson that lays out all the scenarios where quoi is appropriate?  it appears to be only appropriate in a very limited range of scenarios and typically at the end of the sentence.  Bonne journée !

Answer

https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-ask-questions-with-qui-que-quoi-quand-ou-comment-pourquoi-and-combien

Answer

An alternative construction question...

How about the below construction? Acceptable in spoken but perhaps not written French? Or, perhaps too creative?

Instead of:

"J'ai passé beaucoup de temps à décider ce que je mangerais pour le déjeuner aujourd'hui"

can I say:

"J'ai passé beaucoup de temps à décider quoi manger pour le déjeuner aujourd'hui"

Answer

Hi Neville,
'Quoi manger' is perfectly acceptable ...
Quoi faire , quoi prendre etc...