Some clarification please

MartinA2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Some clarification please

Bonjour,

In one of the examples above:
Maintenant que ses parents n'étaient plus là, elle devait s'occuper de sa sœur.

However I'm confused because it states that Devoir with l'imparfait is "was supposed to [do]", however the translation is:
Now that her parents were gone, she had to take care of her sister.

Why is it not:
Now that her parents were gone, she was supposed to take care of her sister.

Merci

Asked 1 month ago
ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

I think both English translations are possible. The French has this ambiguity and relies on context or different sentence constructions to be unambiguous.

Some clarification please

Bonjour,

In one of the examples above:
Maintenant que ses parents n'étaient plus là, elle devait s'occuper de sa sœur.

However I'm confused because it states that Devoir with l'imparfait is "was supposed to [do]", however the translation is:
Now that her parents were gone, she had to take care of her sister.

Why is it not:
Now that her parents were gone, she was supposed to take care of her sister.

Merci

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