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What is the capital of Tunisia?

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What is the capital of Tunisia?

Asking questions in the imperfect tense

There are several mistakes in your sentence which indeed doesn’t make much sense in French.

First, the right phrase is “une corbeille de pain” and not “un corbeille du pain“, but that was corrected later in your question.

The main issue is the beginning of your sentence:

Est-ce que vous étiez donné une corbeille de pain ?

somewhat means that you were the subject of the gift instead of the recipient, but the end doesn’t fit.

An idiomatic sentence would have been:

Est-ce qu’on vous a apporté une corbeille de pain ?

or:

Est-ce qu’on vous a apporté du pain ?

or even:

On vous a apporté du pain ?

Être donné could have been used that (formal) way:

Est-ce qu’il vous a bien été donné une corbeille de pain.

The second attempt might have been understood as a calque of English but is not proper French.

Est-ce que vous avez été donné une corbeille de pain ?

This last sentence is correct French but depending on the context might have an alternative meaning without the right context:

Est-ce que quelqu’un vous a déjà donné une corbeille de pain ?

Were you already given a basket of bread?

Were you ever given a basket of bread?

There are two issues with your sentence: 1) the use of a passive construction and the use of the “imparfait” (étiez).

the “imparfait” is used for an action in the past that is incomplete, ongoing or uncounted. You should use the “passé composé” here. See this site for more details.

With the passive form, the COD (complément object direct) can become a subject, not the “compléments” that are introduces by a preposition. In French, you use

donner quelque chose (COD) à quelqu’un (COI)

so you can say

Quelque chose est donné à quelqu’un.

but NOT

Quelqu’un est donné quelque chose.

For un undetermined subject, you could use

On a donné quelque chose à quelqu’un.

or a passive form where the subject does not come from one of the “compléments”

Il a été donné quelque chose à quelqu’un.

If you put this in your context, this could gives:

  • Est-ce qu’il vous a été donné une corbeille de pain?

  • Est-ce qu’une corbeille de pain vous a été donnée ?

  • Est-ce que quelqu’un/on vous a (déjà) donné une corbeille de pain?

Personally, I prefer the third option because the two others are quite “heavy”. Or, to avoid a passive form, I would reword with “recevoir” (in a way, “recevoir” is the passive counterpart of “donner”).

  • Avez-vous déjà reçu une corbeille de pain?

Je demanderais plus simplement :

Vous a-t-on (déjà) donné du pain ?

Le est-ce que initial n’est pas nécessaire et alourdit significativement la question.

Par ailleurs, comme observé par @Montéedelait en commentaires, amener ou apporter seraient plus à propos.

 

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What is the capital of Tunisia?