French language Q&A Forum
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14,606 questions • 31,598 answers • 952,200 learners
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,606 questions • 31,598 answers • 952,200 learners
What is the difference between devoir in Le Conditionnel Passé and L'imparfait?
For example: Where do these two questions differ?
1. Tu devais fermer la porte à clé.
2. Tu aurais dû fermer la porte à clé.
And please don't simply translate them into English. Paraphrase would be better for me to understand. S'il vous plaît !
In the first sentence. Can you use 'autant que possible' in this instance?
I believe the explanation in the Q&A for using the present tense in place of a conjugated verb should be part of the main lesson as opposed to surfacing in the Q&A as it is an important exception to the general grammar rule and subject of the lesson.
My preferred dictionary, Wordreference, distinguishes a car door from an ordinary door in using the word, portière. Should it not be accepted ?
Hi,I'm doing B1 French and I generally understand the use of the subjunctive but got tripped up recently. The first example was " we want someone to guide us". ..."on veut que quelqu'un nous guide'
Am I right on thinking the subjunctive is guid+e relating to "on" which is 3rd person singular and therefore guide+e. Of course the " on veut que" demands the subjunctive.
In the second example " He wants that we guide him," ( Il veut que nous le guidions), the Subjunctive ending is guid+ions relating to "nous" which is 1st person plural therefore ends in "ions".
What adds to the confusion is that "on veut" is conjugated like "Il or "elle" but in informal use " on" can mean " we" which is "nous" in French. I hope I have explained everything well ( and as an aside j'éspere is not a Subjunctive trigger in the affirmative but is in the negative) so you may see why it's so difficult sometimes. Any comments gratefully received.
J'ai lu trois livres dont les tiens/ les vôtres. [I read 3 books including yours.]
Is this correct? Or should it be le tien? Masculine/plural form should be used because the noun is 'les livres'?
Eg. Can you say J'aime mangeant instead of J'aime manger
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