Indeed you’ve got the right translations, although I’m not sure that english uses the same time for the same context. What is certain is that you use the imparfait for an action which last in time whereas you use the ...
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Agreement with a plural noun in passé composé
Associations EditorsDepending on the verb, passé composé and other composite past tense either use the auxiliary avoir or être. There is no absolute rule to choose the auxiliary. Most verbs use avoir. Only verbs that cannot have a direct object (and ...
I am confused with the word order when putting a sentence into passé composé with reflexive verbs
Associations EditorsThe answer of your teacher is not correct. Because the verbe s’amuser is a reflexive verb, in any tense, you cannot omit the reflexive pronoun: in your case, the second nous. That means your version is correct: Nous ne nous ...
Position de l’adverbe de temps avec le passé composé
Business EditorsIl n’est pas possible d’associer l’adverbe demain avec une forme verbale au passé, demain requiert obligatoirement un temps au futur. On peut dire ces deux phrases : Demain, j’irai en Italie. J’irai demain en Italie. Avec une forme au passé, ...
“Passé composé” vs imparfait”
Business EditorsThe main thing that could help you is that for passé composé the action happened and is finished. Passé composé is used to answer the question “What happened ?” Imparfait is used to answer the question “What happened during the ...
Why the need to say “je l’ai été” instead of “je l’étais”?
Associations EditorsBoth sentences are correct, the choice of the tense expresses a different aspect of the action. Vous avez l’air d’être l’un d’eux, comme je l’ai été moi-même, autrefois. Passé composé: focuses on the action/state itself with no reference to the ...
On avait été chercher
Associations EditorsLa citation exacte est : On avait été chercher un pâtissier à Yvetot. Elle est équivalente à : On était allés chercher un pâtissier à Yvetot. et signifie (en anglais) : We had been to pick up a pastry chef ...
Passé Composé with rentrer?
Business EditorsThe issue is not about the passé composé, but the translation of “until last Thursday”. “I did not return until last Thursday” means you returned last Thursday and not before. The translation would be as follows: “Je ne suis rentré ...
Rules of thumb for auxiliary verbs (avoir/être) in passé composé?
Associations Editors
The comparison with German is not going to be very helpful, in general. Here are rules of thumb for French: All reflexive and reciprocal verbs are conjugated with être Most of the rest of the verbs are conjugated with avoir ...
L’imparfait, le plus-que-parfait ou le passé composé
Associations EditorsIn this third example the “imparfait” is a “background” tense; it is used to communicate information about the setting; the explanation below comes from the following reference; A1) L’imparfait de l’arrière-plan ou de l’action secondaire : il s’applique à des ...