Paragraph 3: "tout ce que j'avais a faire"

Austin S.C1Kwiziq community member

Paragraph 3: "tout ce que j'avais a faire"

In paragraph 3 why does "j'avais" denote an obligation (to have to) instead of it being "je devais"?

This question relates to:French interactive reading exercise "L'anniversaire de Cyril"

Reading B1, Family & Relationships, Listening or Seeing B1

Asked 2 years ago

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Think of this as ‘all I had “left” to do’, or ‘all there was for me to do’ - not so much emphasis on an obligation being conveyed as defining the last unfinished thing on the list of work. In English we readily use ‘had to do’ in both situations, despite the ambiguous meaning.

Remember, this is a French to English translation, so the French is ‘correct’, it is the translation that may be able to be modified/improved.

Like02 years ago

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Maarten is right: it's not an obligation as much as it emphasizes how little there was left to do.

Like02 years ago

Austin S. asked:

Paragraph 3: "tout ce que j'avais a faire"

In paragraph 3 why does "j'avais" denote an obligation (to have to) instead of it being "je devais"?

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