In this story, “the weather was good the whole time” was translated as “il a fait beau tout le temps”. Why do we use the passé composé here, and not the imparfait ?

I thought the best response might instead be “Il faisait beau tout le temps” as they were describing, or setting the scene for the story. (And also it was the continuous state of the weather without a set beginning or end).

Although I can usually understand when to use the correct past tense now, occasionally one comes along that completely stumps me! Sorry for repeating a question asked a month ago, but I’d really like to know the answer.

Asked 6 years ago

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Leo W.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

j'avais or j'ai eu?!

En 2004, ________ de l'argent.

1- En 2004, j'avais de l'argent.
2- En 2004, j'ai eu de l'argent.

What's the difference between 1 & 2 in meaning?

I always have trouble choosing Passé composé or L'imparfait. Could you please enlighten me?

Thank you.

Asked 5 years ago

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柔瑄陳.A1Kwiziq community member

Un oiseau is male?Un oiseau means a bird, so it is a male?

Asked 5 years ago

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Matthew C.C1Kwiziq community member

Translating part of the name of a street?I’m very confused by this. It would seem very odd to me to if, when talking in English about a street in France, someone would translate “J’habite rue Pasteur.” to “I live on Pasteur Street.” or “I live on Pasteur Road.”. I would expect that they would either leave “rue Pasteur” as it is and say “I live on rue Pasteur.” or, perhaps more likely, captalize the “rue” and say “I live on Rue Pasteur.”. Similarly, I would not expect someone who lived in, say, London, when speaking French, to say something like “J’habite rue Baker.”, I’d expect something more like “J’habite Baker Street.”. In all cases, I’d expect the full name of the street (“rue Pasteur”, “Baker Street”, etc.) to be preserved in translation. I am often shocked at how much people are willing to mangle names of all kinds when using a language different to that from which the name originated, though Kwiziq usually manages to avoid doing so. A quick look at the French and English Wikipedia articles for some notable streets seems to back up my initial thoughts. I was wondering whether to report this as an issue, but I am not quite confident enough to say that Kwiziq is definitely wrong here.

Asked 8 years ago

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Andy N.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Mon aussi

Why is it I very occasionally see “mon aussi” appear as a correct translation of "me too" as well as "moi aussi”?

Even Google Translate has this marked with a tick and I must say it does ring a bell from learning French in School years ago. Does it have anything to do with two vowels appearing next to each other of "moi aussi”?

Thanks for any help.

Asked 7 years ago

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