French language Q&A Forum

Bonjour forum et les experts

Mon question se réfère à la phrase 'Ça a dû être particulièrement difficile pour la pauvre Christelle' Je n'ai aucun problème  avec  le phrase. Je demande juste si c'est également possible de l'écrire, 'Ça doit avoir été particulièrement difficile pour la pauvre Christelle'?

Et si no, pourquoi?

J'apprécierai votre aide

If you say the stem has to be the stem of the infinitive, then yes, you'll find lots of irregular verbs. But there's a much better rule, and I'd say the few verbs that don't follow it could be called irregular in the Subjonctif Présent.

- je/tu/il/elle/on/ils/elles: the stem is the Indicatif Présent third person plural, minus -ent

- nous/vous: the stem is the Indicatif Présent second/third first plural, minus -ons 

Examples:

aimer -> ils aiment -> aim-

venir -> ils viennent -> vienn-

tenir -> ils tiennent -> tienn-

prendre -> ils prennent -> prenn-

...

There are not that many exceptions to this rule. Some important ones:

NOTE: where there are two stems, the second one is for nous/vous, the first one is for all others.

In the writing challenge "The benefits of music" these sentences appear:

"Que ce soit le jazz, le rock ou la variété, il est indéniable que la musique fait partie intégrante de nos vies. Mais que nous apporte-t-elle qui nous soit si indispensable ? C'est bien connu : la musique adoucit les mœurs."

Why is "il est" applicable in the first bold phrase but "c'est" in the second? It appears to me that both are making general statements (about la musique) and both follow est by an adjectival phrase - not a noun, so I would think that case 2a applies in the A1 lessonn "C'est vs il/elle est: Saying it is".

Perhaps that rule is inappropriate here since "la musique" is not a "pre-mentioned thing" but what are the rules being followed here?

My daughter and they play together.

I thought it was, " them, " not, " they, " in English. I'm confused. I'd use Hugo and them, never Hugo and they. Huh?

Which will be the better translation into French for the phrase "together with the coca, it must have made people feel good"?

(1) "avec la coca, ça les gens devait se sentir bien"; or

(2) "avec la coca, ça a dû faire que les gens se sentir bien"