Have you been following...

Question

Hello, I put 'suis-tu' in the first sentence, as 'have you been following' is the present perfect continuous, but it was marked as wrong. The answer in French, 'as-tu suivi', made it seem that the event was already in the past. Which is correct?

Thanks a lot.

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Thank you for this excellent question Andreas, which got us all thinking for a good while.
You are correct that the present perfect continuous is tricky to translate into French, as it can be either a present tense or a past tense. It indicates that the action started in the past, has continued up to the present, and may still be ongoing.
It could have been avoided by using 'Did you follow ...?', which is clearly a past tense in French and in English.
As a result, we have added answers in the present tense, and 'suis-tu' is now marked as correct.
Bonne Continuation !

Jim Jones · Answer

Bonjour Andreas,"Have you been following the Cannes Festival this year?"   The original text, as shown, was a question.Your proposal was not in question form as far as I can see, and needs to be in the passé composé. This is why the correct answer is "as-tu suivi?I hope this helps you.Bonne continuation,Jim

Anne Davies · Answer

To add to Jim’s reply, subject-verb inversion as you’ve tried to do, is a formal way to ask a question and at odds with the tone of the exercise. As well as "as-tu suivi", you could use the more informal "tu as suivi le Festival de Cannes cette année ?" - ie take an affirmative sentence and turn it into a question. This only works for yes-no questions.

Asking yes/no questions in French with intonation, est-ce que, n'est-ce pas (French Questions)

Andreas Saint-Prix · Answer

Thanks, my question was not about the subject-verb inversion but rather if we can use the 'passé composé' in French when we use the 'present perfect continuous' in English.

"Have you been following the Cannes Festival this year?" This sentence seems to imply that the festival is still ongoing, so I would use a present tense in French rather than a past tense. The question in the text was not "Did you follow..." in which case I would have put the 'passé composé'.

I hope my question is clear.