aimais/aime

jennifer A.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

aimais/aime

for the sentence - someone told me that you still loved me.

 

would you not say - someone told me that you still love me (present tense)?

Quelqu'un m'a dit que tu m'aimes encore.

Asked 4 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

That's a matter of direct vs. indirect speech. Let's assume Anne is talking to Jean about what Marie told her.

(Anne speaking to Jean): Someone told me: "Marie still loves you."

The next day, Jean is telling Pierre what Anne mentioned to him the previous day.
(Jean speaking to Pierre): Anne told me that Marie still loved me.

Note that, strictly speaking, in English just as in French, you use the succession of tenses where present tense in the direct speech turns into past tense in indirect speech. This is the strict grammatical rule. Yes, I know, a lot of people use the present tense here. I guess it depends on how strict you want to be in English...

Here are the rules: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/reported-speech.html

Alan G.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Perhaps Chris meant:

(Anne speaking to Jean): Marie still loves you.

It's not about strictness, Chris, it is perfectly correct to use the present tense in English if you believe something still to be true. The "rules" that you might find on a web page are inevitably an over-simplified introduction to a complicated subject. 

It's also possible to use the present tense in French, but it may well be less common. I'd like to see a comparison of reported speech in French versus English, but have never been able to find one.

Note that in the lyrics of the Carla Bruni song "Quelqu'un m'a dit", "tu m'aimais encore" is translated as "you still love me" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIJoYeKU7A

jennifer A. asked:

aimais/aime

for the sentence - someone told me that you still loved me.

 

would you not say - someone told me that you still love me (present tense)?

Quelqu'un m'a dit que tu m'aimes encore.

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