Amazing dictée, thank you; and a suggestion.Now, l just have to read Les Fleurs du Mal. So inspiring. The bohemian in me recognizes that in Baudelaire.
As we encounter these amazing writers, it strikes me that it would be useful to learn the use of the passé simple and the passé antérieur and possibly other now more literary tenses in the subjonctif. I realize that most people don't speak that way anymore. Yet l wonder, if l were to read Baudelaire, might l not encounter those tenses?
Another current example: l listen to France Inter. They recently aired a fabulous 8 part podcast on Simone de Beauvoir. So l am now reading Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée, which is liberally sprinkled with the Passé simple and Passé antérieur. So no sweat, l figure it out; the vocabulary she uses is actually more challenging than her tenses. So here is a woman writing in 1958 who is very current today in fact, when it comes to feminism, she is still central source material. Thanks for considering this suggestion.
PS: The funniest thing! After first writing this l took a study plan test in which 4 out of 10 questions required the passé simple! So my information that you do not teach such tenses is clearly wrong ... or out-dated. Please feel free to not respond to my suggestion if my basic assumptions are wrong 😀
what's the difference between "emménager" and "déménager"?
Can someone explain why the first verb in the extract is in the perfect, while the second (and subsequent) are in the imperfect? They all seem to be describing the continuing circumstances, which calls for the imperfect as I read this: Expressing opinions and describing with the imperfect tense in French (L'Imparfait)
I kept getting corrected for using a capital letter after the "-" at the start of a line of dialogue. But it was frustratingly inconsistent—later I would get corrected for not using one. And the final text is displayed with capital letters in all cases. What's going on/what's the rule?
Now, l just have to read Les Fleurs du Mal. So inspiring. The bohemian in me recognizes that in Baudelaire.
As we encounter these amazing writers, it strikes me that it would be useful to learn the use of the passé simple and the passé antérieur and possibly other now more literary tenses in the subjonctif. I realize that most people don't speak that way anymore. Yet l wonder, if l were to read Baudelaire, might l not encounter those tenses?
Another current example: l listen to France Inter. They recently aired a fabulous 8 part podcast on Simone de Beauvoir. So l am now reading Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée, which is liberally sprinkled with the Passé simple and Passé antérieur. So no sweat, l figure it out; the vocabulary she uses is actually more challenging than her tenses. So here is a woman writing in 1958 who is very current today in fact, when it comes to feminism, she is still central source material. Thanks for considering this suggestion.
PS: The funniest thing! After first writing this l took a study plan test in which 4 out of 10 questions required the passé simple! So my information that you do not teach such tenses is clearly wrong ... or out-dated. Please feel free to not respond to my suggestion if my basic assumptions are wrong 😀
Alexandre is a proper noun, so shortening it to "qu'Alexandre" is optional and not necessary. Yet I got marked wrong for writing "n'a embrassé que Alexandre"
This lesson is very confusing. Wow. I have so many questions, I don't know where to start!
Can someone please clarify why the tenses jump from imperfect to present in the final sentence? Thanks!
When d’où you use commencer à and commencer de? I have seen both used.
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level