Dernière fois que

MichaelC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Dernière fois que

Un quizz demande traduire "C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." Il y a deux réponses: 1. ... last time you told me you loved me. 2. ... last time THAT you told me you loved me. To me, those 2 responses have the same meaning in English. The 'that' adds nothing, but neither is it incorrect. Specifically, neither answer disambiguates between "the last (most recent) time" and"the last (ever) time. The word 'that' in English is often just a filler and does not convey additional meaning. Je ne comprends bien encore.
Asked 6 years ago
ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Michael,

I believe you are focusing on the wrong word here. The issue is not about "that" but about whether it is "the last time" (as in last week) or "the last time" (as in the final and last time).

"C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." -- That was the last time you told me that you loved me. (There won't be a next time.)

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

PhillipC1Kwiziq community member

I don't see any reason to assume "C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." means there won't be a next time.  How would the sentence have been written to indicate the previous time instead of the final time ?

For me both the English phrases could be read either way and there is no context to indicate whether it is the final time or the previous time.

I don't know if the French sentence is ambiguous or not...so it would help to see two phrases, one for the final and one for the previous....to see how they would both be expressed in French.

Dernière fois que

Un quizz demande traduire "C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." Il y a deux réponses: 1. ... last time you told me you loved me. 2. ... last time THAT you told me you loved me. To me, those 2 responses have the same meaning in English. The 'that' adds nothing, but neither is it incorrect. Specifically, neither answer disambiguates between "the last (most recent) time" and"the last (ever) time. The word 'that' in English is often just a filler and does not convey additional meaning. Je ne comprends bien encore.

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