NO: Is-ing and am-ing

StephenC1Kwiziq community member

NO: Is-ing and am-ing

La fille derrière qui je suis assis est belle. La fille derrière laquelle je suis assis est belle. "The girl behind whom I'm sitting is beautiful." Should it have been translated "The girl behind whom I sat is beautiful."
Asked 6 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Stephen,

Je suis assis means, 

I am sitting , or I am sat in the present tense.

The girl behind whom I sat, would use a past tense,

la fille derrière qui/ laquelle j'étais assis.

The verb in this case is,  Être assis , which is the verb Asseoir but in the passive voice....

Hope this helps!

 

JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
La fille derrière qui je me suis assis est belle. The girl behind whom I am sat is beautiful. La fille derrière laquelle je me suis assis est belle. The girl behind which I am sat is beautiful. These are my understanding of the text but I'm not a native speaker. The lesson does not show the verb asseoir in it's reflexive form but I think that it should -- maybe an expert will comment further. Regards, Jim
ChristopherB1Kwiziq community member

Hi Stephen

I stand to be corrected but....

'La fille derrière qui je me suis assis est belle.' 'The girl behind whom I sat is beautiful.' Je me suis assis is the Passé Composé Tense of s'asseoir so it refers to an act of sitting down completed in the past, i.e. usually 'sat' but also more colloquially 'was sitting'.  Je suis assis is the verb être plus the Past Participle of asseoir, meaning I am seated.

CécileKwiziq team member

I have noticed that on planes :

Restez assis... 

is translated : 

remain seated ...

NO: Is-ing and am-ing

La fille derrière qui je suis assis est belle. La fille derrière laquelle je suis assis est belle. "The girl behind whom I'm sitting is beautiful." Should it have been translated "The girl behind whom I sat is beautiful."

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