Hi All,
I dont quite understand the necessity of complicating life by using "a ce que" when we can simply use "que" with no losses in meaning. Is there really a difference?
Merci
Hi All,
I dont quite understand the necessity of complicating life by using "a ce que" when we can simply use "que" with no losses in meaning. Is there really a difference?
Merci
Hi Dina,
I think the preposition 'à' makes all the difference. It is not a case of complicating things as the 'ce' is necessary.
The concept of using 'ce' before qui and que, is very difficult to explain to students, and often non-native teachers in my experience can explain it better.
The two verbs mean totally different things
verb + que + someone + verb in the subjunctive
J'attends que tu me répondes = I am waiting for you to answer me
Il attend que nous ayons fini = He is waiting for us to be finished
Elles attendent qu'on leur fasse un gâteau = They are waiting for someone to bake them a cake
Je m'attends à ce qu'il me fasse une déclaration demain = I am ( fully) expecting him to give me a statement tomorrow
Ils s'attendent à ce que ça soit très difficile = They expect it to be very difficult
Elle s'attend à ce qu'il vienne la chercher = She is (fully) expecting him to come and fetch her
Je m'attends à ce qu'il soit en retard = I (fully) expect that he will be late
Hope this helps but anyone welcome to jump in and add to this.
The usage is:
S'attendre à + noun
S'attendre à ce que + subject
Strictly speaking, s'attendre is always followed by a noun. It's just that in the second case the noun is ce.
Hi Chris,
Thank you! I understand the cases with preposition, and think grammatically I have no problems in understanding. My question is more about contextual difference for 2 cases: s'attendre a ce que vs attendre que. To me they look like serving the same purpose, and I dint understand why would one use "a ce que" when just "que" is way easier (quicker). For example, can these two below be used interchangeably?
e.g. Je m'attendais à ce que tu me demandes en mariage = J'attendais que tu me demandes en marriage
Merci en avance!
Hi Cecile,
Thanks a lot! That is actually very helpful, these extra examples are indeed giving more insight, merci!
Hi All,
I dont quite understand the necessity of complicating life by using "a ce que" when we can simply use "que" with no losses in meaning. Is there really a difference?
Merci
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