Passé Composé or Plus-que-parfait

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Passé Composé or Plus-que-parfait

“I snuck into the woods behind our house.” Is translated as: “je m'étais faufilé dans la forêt derrière la maison”. But shouldn’t this be Passé Composé (j’ai faufilé) instead of Plus-que-parfait.
Asked 3 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Brian, 

1. The hint is telling you to use the 'plus- que -parfait' to highlight the difference between what we say in English and French, describing what she had done prior to leaving the flowers

2. The passé composé of se faufiler would be -

' je me suis faufilé/e'

Bonne Continuation!

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Brian,

As I understand it, what is being described here is a background scenario leading to the flowers being placed.

Normally I would expect such a "build-up background picture" would be in an imparfait tense and this is why I think that plus-que-parfait is appropriate. This is not a completed action.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Passé Composé or Plus-que-parfait

“I snuck into the woods behind our house.” Is translated as: “je m'étais faufilé dans la forêt derrière la maison”. But shouldn’t this be Passé Composé (j’ai faufilé) instead of Plus-que-parfait.

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