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
Bonjour ! One of the A2 level exercises asks which would be the correct beginning for the phrase « [X] a changé entre nous ? » and I'm having a hard time figuring out why the only acceptable answer here is the one with the full « qui ». I thought in front of the vowels we were supposed to make an elision in order to ease the pronunciation. Could you please help? Merci !
What does "coup de venir" exactly mean?
Isn't "jour" masculine. So why is it "derniere"
Why does repondre keep the d in the present tense when prendre loses it and yet they are supposed to follow the same rule as irregulars?
So how are we going to know if the question is a formal or an informal one
Why would saying "Je suis faim" be incorrect, but "J'ai faim" is correct? aren't these both correct to say "I am hungry"?
Why were these word provided:
"chestnut", "to roast", "fireplace", "nutmeg".
They did not appear in the story at all.
How does "Tu as un chat'' mean "You have a cat" and "Do you have a cat?" when spoken? Simply due to the raised pitch at the end?
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
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level