Nicolas Sarkozy serait prêt à envoyer 1000 soldats supplémentaires en Afghanistan In the following text there are several examples of the conditional tense which may not all be translated by conditional in English. Le Président français, François Hollande, aurait une maîtresse, la comédienne Julie Gayet.Īurait is conditional in French, probably because the conditional is rather more tactful in a dubious situation. You cannot translate this by ‘would have a mistress’. It would be nonsense to translate localités as ‘towns’ or ‘areas’.Ĭonditional translated by a present tense:Ĭ’est le magazine Closer qui l’affirme. Turku is a city and Vaalimaa is a border crossing point between Finland and Russia.
Note: always check geographical references. It will link the city of Turku and Vaalimaa, 130 kilometres apart. Elle relierait les localités de Turku et de Vaalimaa, distantes de 130 kilomètres.įinland is planning to build the first ‘green motorway’ in the world. La Finlande veut construire la première « autoroute verte » du monde.
Permettrait could be translated: the crisis in the Crimea has allowed Russia to ‘punish Kiev and delay rapprochement with the West.’This is because at the time Olek-sandr Suchko (note English spelling) was speaking, the crisis had already started and was continuing.Ĭonditional translated by a future tense: Selon Olexandre Souchko, directeur de recherche à l’Institut pour la coopération euro-atlantique, la crise en Crimée permettrait à la Russie de « punir Kiev et de reporter le rapprochement avec l’Occident ». If it refers to the present, use the present tense. If it refers to the future, use a future tense. If the sentence refers to a past event, use a past tense. This implies that perhaps there were nine deaths and perhaps there were eleven. You NEVER use the conditional like this in English. The classic example of this problem is: la bombe aurait fait dix morts. In French you can use the conditional tenses to give the meaning of uncertainty. Uncertainty – a stylistic use of the conditional in French President Hamid Karzai stated that he would not accept any more exchanges of prisoners as had been the case when an Italian journalist was freed on 19th March.
Plus que parfait meaning plus#
Le président Hamid Karzaï a affirmé qu’il n’accepterait plus d’échanges de prisonniers comme cela avait été le cas pour la libération d’un journaliste italien le 19 mars. The conditional tense is used for indirect speech in English and French: Here is an example where the tenses are used in a similar way. If you have a standard conditional structure: ‘if x, then y’, both languages often use conditional tenses. Sometimes the conditional tenses are used in English and in French in much the same way, and sometimes they are not.
Plus que parfait meaning how to#
2) How to translate the French conditional Either you continue the idea of ‘important now’ or logically the police enquiry took place at a definite time in the past.Ī ouvert is ‘opened’ or ‘started’ This absolutely must be past simple as there is a clear date. N’a été constatée is ‘No sign of burglary was found/has been found.’Both tenses are possible. Ont disparu is ‘have disappeared’We don’t know exactly when, and it is important news now. Le parquet de Paris a ouvert, samedi 5 mars, une enquête préliminaire. The following example needs past simple and present perfect in English:Ĭinq déclarations de revenus de personnalités du monde politique concernant l’année 2003 ont disparu de la direction des services fiscaux de Paris-Sud. For example: When I was a child, I lived in London. 1) Past simple or present perfect?Īs a general guideline, when you have a precise date or time, or when you know logically when the action took place, use the past simple or past continuous tense. Different ideas are conveyed by different tenses. Each language has its own rules for using tenses. Sometimes it will be correct but sometimes it will be wrong. When you are translating, you cannot automatically reproduce the tense in the original text.
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