Il ________ descendu le drapeau
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John L.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Il ________ descendu le drapeau
I ran into this prompt on the quiz "Il ________ descendu le drapeau, car la reine avait quitté le palais." The correct answer is "il a descendu." Why is it "a" and not "avait"? I feel this is more of an English question than a french question. We have "la reine avait quitté." So shouldn't it be "il AVAIT descendu"? When should we use avait and avait for both clauses?
This question relates to:French lesson "Descendre can be used with avoir or être in compound tenses depending on its meaning in French (Le Passé Composé)"
Asked 7 years ago
Bonjour John !
Both Le Passé Composé and Le Plus-que-Parfait are possible in this case, depending on the sequence of actions :
- Il avait descendu le drapeau, car la reine avait quitté le palais.
-> both actions happened simultaneously
- Il a descendu le drapeau, car la reine avait quitté le palais.
- the queen left first, and then he took the flag down
The English sentence we gave was "He took down the flag, because the queen had left the palace.", so here we prompted the second case :)
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Both Le Passé Composé and Le Plus-que-Parfait are possible in this case, depending on the sequence of actions :
- Il avait descendu le drapeau, car la reine avait quitté le palais.
-> both actions happened simultaneously
- Il a descendu le drapeau, car la reine avait quitté le palais.
- the queen left first, and then he took the flag down
The English sentence we gave was "He took down the flag, because the queen had left the palace.", so here we prompted the second case :)
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Ron T. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
It is possible to use l'imparfait and le passé composé in the same sentence I don't have access to the lessons but using the magnifying glass type in passé compose and imparfait together which should give you a lesson explaining it. Bonne chance. My internet connection is down so I am on mon portable pour le moment
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