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Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,016 questions • 30,320 answers • 877,018 learners
From the lesson «When talking about two actions that happen simultaneously, you will use :
en + Participe présent / Gérondif»; can you not also use imparfait and passé composé eg Je courait quand j'ai rencontré Mathilde ? I am not suggesting the same meaning or English translation, but the sentence still describes the simultaneous occurrence of events, that could also be described using le gérondif. If that is correct, the quote from the lesson should replace 'will use' with 'can use' (and preferably reference the lesson on passé composé and imparfait being used together as another). If there are reasons to choose one over the other, worth noting as well.
Not sure where, what, why the "leur" indirect object is in this sentence..."D'où leur viennent ce nom et langage étrange." Anyone explain?
Several conjugators of French verbs show these as alternatives.
IndicatifPrésentjerépars; répartisturépars; répartisil;elle;onrépart; répartitnousrépartons; répartissonsvousrépartez; répartissezils;ellesrépartent; répartissentIn the first example, "se demander" does not agree in number or gender because the reflexive pronoun "se" is an indirect object. Why doesn't that same rule apply to "se sentir" (I feel)? Thanks.
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
bonjour forum et les experts
Au sujet de la phrase suivante 'je devrais être en train de boire un expresso en (à une) terrasse
je comprends bien la phrase, mais je demande pour quoi on ne peux pas l'écrire avec un 'sur' en place d'un à ou un en. N'est-ce pas aussi correct, 'je devrais être en train de boire un expresso sur une terrasse'?
Hi, I have a very similar question... with this example from the quiz...
Tu ________ me piéger mais ça n'a pas marché !
You wanted to trick me but it didn't work!HINT: Conjugate vouloir in Le Passé Composé (conversational past)I think I understand that the 'wanted' with vouloir is a one time 'wanting'...is that why we are using the passé composé? In my mind, I think of wanting as an undetermined amount of time as I don´t see a trigger for something specific. Could you help me understand this better? Perhaps I am still thinking in Spanish more than in French? Thanks so much!too difficult!
Why "I would make to build" je ferais construire" instead of "I would build" je construirais
«Il pense avoir fini ce rapport d'ici jeudi.
He thinks he'll have finished this report by Thursday».
«ATTENTION
When using verbs of opinions such as penser (to think) and croire (to believe) to say 'I believe that / I think that' in French, you always need to put que ('that') after them, whereas in English you can sometimes omit it.»The first quote is an example from this lesson, the second from the lesson on penser que, croire que. Although the English translation in the lesson doesn't include 'that', it is implied and seems to meet the previously noted rule that 'pense que' should always be used in French. I also don't understand why it would not be 'pense qu'il avoir fini'? What am I missing? Thanks
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