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Thinking...
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,674 questions • 31,789 answers • 963,551 learners
Elles auraient eu un chien si elles avaient pu
They would have had a dog if they could have.
If I'm not mistaken:
auraient eu -> Conditional past "would have"
avaient pu -> Pluperfect "had been able to"
1. What happens to the rule about "Si" + imperfect in this case? Does it only apply to Imperfect + Conditional present?
2. Shouldn't "avaient pu" be something like "auraient eu"?
I can see why you could use the pluperfect for "They would have had a dog if they had been able to". But "... could have" seems to call for the conditional past (although I agree that the meaning is the same).
What am I missing here?
Thanks
I was never good at grammar so it would be helpful if the lessons had a link to the very basics. Like in this lesson, a link to tell a poor grammarian what in heck is the subjuntive ??
I saw "paraître" followed by the past participle and not the infinitive in A Day In The Countryside.
"qui paraissaient occupés" was the answer while I had offered "qui paraissaient s'occuper"
Can you advise ?
I remember a lesson (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/aller-lesson/) saying that "aller" always has to have a destination indicated. (Hence allons-y! rather than allons!, etc.) Is "avec toi" enough to satisfy that rule?
so would Tu la joues be wrong or just another way to say the same thing?
Is it not also valid to ask, “Ça te dire…?” In place of “Est-ce que tu veux..?”
My computer is not allowing me to type the cedilla. So I am getting all these wrong!
Why do we place the adjective before the noun in some sentences, and after the noun in some sentences?
The correct answer is given as "dernieres decennies." I was always taught that when dernieres precedes the noun, it means "final." Derniere comes after the noun to mean "recent" or "preceding."
when i go to my notebook it doesn't let me retake quiz. it just shows what is in my notebook and when i click those lessons i see the same message. i feel like i am going in circles.
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