Ch 25 · Lesson 9French · Chapter 25 · Lesson 9 · Grammar primer
Quand, signal words and flashbacks
can meet all three tenses: a souri, , . wants the , the imparfait.
The short version
After
, .
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can meet all three past tenses. a souri: one event after the other. : he arrived in the middle of something. : she had gone before he came. Choose the tense of the other clause by asking whether it came next, was going on, or was already over.
Signal words, and quand
Some words tell you which tense is coming. They are a guide, not a law.
| Signal | English | Usually |
|---|---|---|
| suddenly | |
| then | |
| usually | imparfait |
| in the old days | imparfait |
sits on the join and can meet all three. The other clause decides the timeline:
| Timeline | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| one, then next | , souri. | When he arrived, she smiled. |
| cuts into it | , . | When he arrived, she was reading. |
| already over | , . | When he arrived, she had already left. |
Same , three timelines: one after the other, an event cutting into a background, and something already over before he came.
A flashback
A flashback steps off the clock for more than one verb. Here the anchor is the moment I get to the party.
| Clock | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| moves | . | I got to the party at ten. |
| still | . | The guests were talking loudly. |
| moves | Sophie . | I looked for Sophie in the garden. |
| back | . | She had already left. |
| back | . | She had left me a note. |
| back | . | She had waited an hour. |
The three -- verbs all happened before I arrived, so they all go back. In a long flashback, novelists often mark the step back with a -- or two, then slip into a simpler past (in literary prose, usually the ) once the reader knows where they are. In your own French, keep the -- for everything before the anchor.
Reported speech moves back the same way: . - He told me he had seen her. The plus-que-parfait page has the rest.
Going further: The three jobs on one screen and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
Practise this lesson
9-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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