Name: AzaleaLightning
Country: Etats-Unis
Interest: Tutee & Discussion
Do you have any grey poupon? Non, parce que j'habite près de canada, j'ai soulement de moutarde érable :( Damn Canadians (I kid)
I think I can speak enough French to hold a basic conversation but it's been a while since I've communicated in it, so I know I'm rusty! I'd love to join this club to sharpen up on my French skills x) I took French for three years in high school and two semesters in college, but I've never been able to really communicate at an advanced level in it, and because I'm always so out of practice with it I forget things ;~;
Welcome to the Club! Glad to have you, Azalea!
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HEY funny French story for y'all! However, I'm gonna spell it wrong I'm sure, and bear in mind I don't have the accents lol. Anyway, during Christmas time, my sister's French class was going over une creche and my sister said, "That sounds delicious!" and the teacher was like, "...That's the nativity scene." lmao
That's hilarious lol Reminds me of Talladega Nights XD
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Q1: How do I use imparfait vs. passe compose? (I don't remember this DX)
Like Team Fail stated, Passé Composé is for one-time instances. Imparfait deals with long-term situations or emotions in particular. The two are often mixed when something occurs while something else is happening, too.
♡ Example: in English, we would say, "I received a card from my mother."
In French, we would use Passé Composé because when you receive something, you take it and it's done. This is translated therefore as, "
J'ai reçu une carte de la part de ma mère" or more simply, "
J'ai reçu une carte de ma mère."
However, something that occurs over time in the past / an emotion would use Imparfait.
♡ Example: in English, we would say, "I was happy."
In French, this is translated as, "
J'étais heureux." (Masculine)
This is because you are not happy for one second. This happiness typically doesn't appear and then dissipate instantly. You are happy for a long period of time.
Combined, you can use Passé Composé and Imparfait to describe events that happen as another action is being performed.
♡ Example: In English, we would say, "When I received the card, I was happy."
In French, words such as "Quand," "Lorsque," and "Pendant" are hints that something is going to interrupt another action. The aforementioned English phrase is translated as, "Quand j'ai reçu la carte, j'étais heureux."
Because receiving the card is interrupting the fact that you are happy, it is conjugated in Passé Composé.
♡ Other Examples:
Lorsque je faisais mes devoirs, le téléphone a sonné.
- While I was doing my homework, the telephone rang.
Pendant que je marchais dehors, il a commencé à neiger.
- While I was walking outside, it started to snow.
Quand j'allumais le console Xbox, mon chat m'a sauté dessus.
- When I was turning on my Xbox, my cat jumped on me.
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Q2: When I say "j'avais eu" and "l'aurais apporte" do I slide the s onto the next word? And as an extention of this, do nous aurons and ils auront sound the same until you you say "nous aurons a la" and "auront-ils?" so you vocalize the consonant?
"E," "ES," and "S" sometimes apply to the final conjugated, past-tense verb. Circumstances include:
♡
Être
♡ Direct Objects
♡ Aforementioned Direct Objects
★ First off,
Être conjugated in the past always adopts the "sex" of the pronoun used with it.
♡ Je suis parti(e)
♡ Tu es parti(e)
♡ Il est parti
♡ Elle est partie
♡ Nous sommes parti(e)s
♡ Ils sont partis
♡ Elles sont parties
Verbs conjugated with
Être include: naître, partir, aller, mourir.
Verbs conjugated 99.9% of the time with
Être include: monter, descendre, sortir, entrer.
Most verbs can be conjugated with
Être pending the context. When a person is doing an action,
Avoir is used; when a person receives an action,
Être is used.
♡ Example: J'ai vendu ma commode. (I sold my dresser.) & Ma commode est vendue. (My dresser is sold.)
Notice that in the first case, I am doing something - selling - while in the second, my dresser is received an action. Also notice that in the latter scenario, "Commode" (feminine) has an "E" attached to the end of "vendu(e)." This is, again, because the action is being received. If it is being performed, this is not the case, unless the performed action is an "
Être" verb (as shown above with the conjugation of "Partir.")
★ Direct Objects are the same in French and English (and Spanish, etc.) When you write a verb - for example, I gave (J'ai donné) - you ask afterwards "Who?" "What?" and "To Who?" If you can answer "Who?" or "What?" then you have a direct object; otherwise, "To Who?" is indirect and
does not adopt "E," "ES," or "S" after the conjugated past-tensed verb.
♡ Example: I gave my sister a flower. (J'ai donné une fleur à ma soeur.)
- You gave what? A flowere. * Direct Object
- To who? My sister. *Indirect Object
Now, simply writing "J'ai donné une fleur à ma soeur" does not warrant adding anything to the end of "donné" (if you noticed). You need to have either mentioned "flower" before this particular sentence (more on this later) or use indirect and direct pronouns before the verb.
In this case, in French we can simply "J'ai donné une fleur à ma soeur" to "Je lui l'ai donnée." The "E" is adopted because we have understood by this point that the "La" (simplified to "L' " due to a vowel succeeding it) is a flower, which is feminine. If it has been many flowers, this would have been written: "Je lui les ai données." In terms of masculine plural nouns, such as les jeux-vidéos, we could rewrite this phrase as "Je lui les ai donnés," where "lui" is still "my sister" and "les" now reflects multiple video-games.
Note that "des jeux-vidéos" adopts the "en" pronoun, and "en" does not under any circumstance adopt "E", "ES," or "S" endings to conjugated verbs. Never, ever!
★ Continuing on the aforementioned idea of "already-mentioned direct objects," if you have already described an object prior - and the context allows it to be understood that the direct object pronoun reflects this object - you adopt the necessary "E," "ES," and "S" endings.
♡ Example: "Marguerite m'avait dit qu'elle aime ces fleurs. Pour sa fête, je lui les ai offertes." (Marguerite told me she likes these flowers. For her birthday, I gave them to her.)
Notice that the context allows us to understand that "les" refers to the flowers, which is why "ES" is added to the end of "Offert(es)."
This is particularly noticeable in phrases where "que" is involved.
♡ Example: "Les fleurs que j'avais offertes à Marguerite étaient ses préférées."
(The flowers that I had offered Marguerite were her favourites.)
Note that no direct or indirect object pronounces exist. Because we are told before the "que" that there are flowers being given, "ES" is added to the end of "Offert(es)." The same is also true in the case of the last word, "Préféré(es)" where again "ES" is added to adjust and accommodate the fact that we are talking about flowers, and that flowers themselves were mentioned before the "que."
However, if the context explains the direct object after the verb, the first verb does not adopt "E," "ES," or "S" even if normally, under other circumstances, the verb would have done so.
♡ Example: J'ai fini ! Quoi ? Ma composition ! (I finished! What? My essay!)
Because "Composition" is read after the verb, the verb remains unaffected; you would not add "E" at the end of it. However, you would add it in the case where the sentence read, "La composition que j'ai finie était dure." (The essay that I finished was hard.)
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Does that help?
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You mean je travaillais? Right? Je suis allé travaillé sounds a lot more like "I was going to worked" which kinda sounds like a nonsense phrase to me. It's absolutely right that it's like the continuous past. Like "Je travaillais quand le téléphone a sonné." I think. I know my verb conjugation sort of. Not really by heart or anything, but I think that's what it was.
It would actually be "Je suis allé(e) travailler." It can be said to really emphasize the actual going to work part, esp. because "Je travaillais" and "J'ai travaillé" translate as "I was working" and "I worked" respectively. Doesn't really mean the same thing in certain contexts.
Your telephone example is spot on, though.
