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David R.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Nous étions ou nous avons été?

Nous avons été très surpris en apprenant la nouvelle.

We were really surprised when we heard the news.

I would have used nous étions instead of nous avons été. Is that not correct?

In English nous avons été très surpris translates to - We have been very surprised which implies the surprise happened and is still ongoing or at least has a prolonged duration, whereas nous étions translates to - We were, which implies it happened but is no longer ongoing. The latter seems to be the correct answer to this question especially since being surprised is usually a point in time thing.

Asked 4 years ago

Mike P.C1Kwiziq community member

Donc, Alors, Ainsi

Donc, alors and ainsi, are they synonymous and interchangeable?

A) As 'so' in sentences such as:

1) So, I'm ready for a drink.

2) I've been working in the garden so I am ready for a drink.

B) Any general advice?

Asked 4 years ago

Jean W.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Allez tout le mondeIf tout le monde is considered singular when conjugating verbs, is " allez tout le monde" correct ? I have seen this written in a French text.

Asked 7 years ago

Maloy M.A1Kwiziq community member

How do we write "she will get it done" or "she will get it signed (by someone)"?Do we necessarily use "futur proche" e.g. elle va le faire ? However "elle va le signer" is not the same meaning. "Elle le fera signer" - would this be correct?

Asked 8 years ago

D. A.A0Kwiziq community member

How will this sentence be changed to negation: Il y a la pollution partout. Thanks in advance

Asked 6 years ago

Dzoan L.B1Kwiziq community member

ExercisesFor conjugations like these verbs, I wish you have some exercises on the page for us to do. It's almost impossible to remember these conjugations just by reading through them.

Asked 8 years ago

Melody S.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

The table is labeled oppositely to another I have seenhttp://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/s%27asseoir.html The lists here are numbered oppositely to the link above (1st form 2nd form). The Figaro site says: La réforme de l'orthographe de 1990 autorise à écrire le verbe asseoir sous la forme assoir. I don't know the conventions of the figaro site- thus I don't know which form is the pre 1990 one, and which is post 1990. I don't know enough about verb conjugations to guess which is for s'asseoir and which is for s'assoir (same applies to this lesson). It would be helpful to give info here as to which is which. Kwiziq uses Connaître, which according to figaro is the pre-1990 version (as do other teaching sites I've seen). Same for figaro http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/connaitre.html It says however: La réforme de l'orthographe de 1990 autorise à écrire le verbe connaître sous la forme connaitre. By comparison with s'asseoir and s'assoir, there's hardly any difference in conjugation of connaitre vs connaître (circomflex).

Asked 8 years ago

Andrew S.A1Kwiziq community member

Does 'J'espère que cela vous aiderait' translate as 'I hope that this helped you.'?

Asked 7 years ago

Hope O.A1Kwiziq community member

Why is it that cents is plural in mille neuf cents/dix-neuf cents but not anywhere else?

Asked 6 years ago

D. A.B1Kwiziq community member

je viens d'AthenesI couldn't put the accent in Athens because of my keyboard

Asked 9 years ago

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