Recognizing the different tensesHello, I am a total beginner at French, and I hope someone can please guide me. I am having trouble recognising the different tenses when reading a sentence in French. In English we would say : "He READS a book" as an answer to a question like "what does he do whilst taking the tube?".
If the question was "what is he doing?", In English we would say "He is READING/ a/ this/that". How do I tell whether the person is DOING something or DOES something in French? Example :
"Elle lit un livre" She reads a book.
"Elle lit un livre" she's reading a book.
Initially, I thought you'd have to read the rest of the sentence to work it out, but I can't imagine this is how it works all the time. In English there is a distinctive difference : "I go to the .../I AM going to the..."
"He has a.../He HAD a..."
"I watch .../ I AM watching".
Have I missed something in the lessons?
Apologies for the long winded question and capitalisation. I like to believe I am fluent in English (it's the only language I know) however I find articulating in my own language difficult at the best of times !!
Thanks
In the last sentence, "nous nous écrions : "Bonne Année !", why is the verb reflexive, or, why is the second nous, needed?
In the last question I chose to use sera and not va être and I wonder why this was considered to be incorrect. I know the difference and if being rigid yes, it's wrong but of course some people will say "will be" rather than "going to be" so some latitude would be helpful.
What does this phrase mean? Is he talking about the possible drop in prices or is there something else?
Hello, I am a total beginner at French, and I hope someone can please guide me. I am having trouble recognising the different tenses when reading a sentence in French. In English we would say : "He READS a book" as an answer to a question like "what does he do whilst taking the tube?".
If the question was "what is he doing?", In English we would say "He is READING/ a/ this/that". How do I tell whether the person is DOING something or DOES something in French? Example :
"Elle lit un livre" She reads a book.
"Elle lit un livre" she's reading a book.
Initially, I thought you'd have to read the rest of the sentence to work it out, but I can't imagine this is how it works all the time. In English there is a distinctive difference : "I go to the .../I AM going to the..."
"He has a.../He HAD a..."
"I watch .../ I AM watching".
Have I missed something in the lessons?
Apologies for the long winded question and capitalisation. I like to believe I am fluent in English (it's the only language I know) however I find articulating in my own language difficult at the best of times !!
Thanks
Let me know if this is correct: in the passé composé, the past participle agrees with the direct object? The answer was "Tu les as vues" - the direct object was feminine plural - thus the -es to the past participle "vu." I experimented with Google translate, and this seems to be the rule but I haven't found it on Progress with Lawless French, so I wanted to double check.
Would était endormis bé acceptable here?
Can you advise why these words were wrong?
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level