"nous étions de retour de l'école"

Gary B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

"nous étions de retour de l'école"

Can you explain grammatically the construction if this phrase?  I get that it means "we got home from school", but it seems unnecessarily complicated.  Could you not say "nous étions retourné de l'école"?

Asked 1 year ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Gary,

The two expressions we accept for 'to be home / back from school' are 

être de retour de l'école 

être rentré de l'école

'retourné is wrong here.

Bonne continuation !

 

Gary B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Thank you Cécile !  I was confused by the "de"s in the phrase, but I see they are just a part of the phrase.

Radhika S.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

"nous étions de retour de l'école"

Can you explain grammatically the construction if this phrase?  I get that it means "we got home from school", but it seems unnecessarily complicated.  Could you not say "nous étions retourné de l'école"?

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