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J’ai trouvé + je trouvais | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| chenshujian Diglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5448 days ago 122 posts - 139 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 11 14 September 2013 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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What is the difference between "j'ai trouvé" and "je trouvais"?
I am often confused. And for convenience, i ususally use the first one siince it's simpler. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5015 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 2 of 11 14 September 2013 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Google "passé composé vs imparfait" to read a lot of explanations.
You will not have the time to think about those explanations in the middle of a conversation. Natives people use to master it perfectly before learning the rules in school. It should be possible for foreigners too - with a lot of exposures. I don't think passé composé "j'ai trouvé" to be more easy. Imparfait is not that difficult and there are 2 difficulties with passé composé. The feminine and/or plural mark on the participe passé in some cases and do we build the passé composé with avoir or with être. Edited by Michel1020 on 14 September 2013 at 7:06pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5726 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 3 of 11 14 September 2013 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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In what situation would you use the second one? I think usually you would use J'ai trouve because it's a single action, you can search for an extended period of time, but finding is a moment that's why passe compose would be more appropriate.
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| maucca Diglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4649 days ago 33 posts - 64 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English Studies: French | Message 4 of 11 14 September 2013 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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The imperfect is used when the action was habitual (English typically employs "would" or "used to" in such cases) or repeated:
Avant, on trouvait des agences de voyage un peu partout : Previously one would (or used to) find travel agencies just about anywhere Je le trouvais souvent dans le bureau de son père : I often found him/her in his/her father's study Of course, often "trouver" does not refer to an instantaneous discovery but rather the recognition of the location or condition of something, which is not an instantaneous occurrence: Je me trouvais près de l'entrée : I was (standing/sitting etc) near the entrance Elle se trouvait bien dans ce pays : She was happy in this country Il se trouvait qu'elle avait menti : It turned out that she had been lying 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 5 of 11 17 September 2013 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | ||
They both indicate a past action, but j'ai trouvé focuses on a perfect, completed action which has been done, and je trouvais is a description of a situation in the past (which may or may not hold true today). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5379 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 11 17 September 2013 at 3:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Would j'ai trouvé be used in cases where Mandarin "le" would be used?
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| simonov Senior Member Portugal Joined 5587 days ago 222 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English | Message 7 of 11 17 September 2013 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | ||
Not quite. The imparfait "je trouvais" is used to express the English meaning of "I used to find (would find, usually, often found)" or "I was finding", and is therefore a description of a situation in the past, that has nothing to do with the present.. The passé composé, in normal everyday speech, is used 1. for things that have happened/been in the past and still refer to the present: versus: Avant je le trouvais intéressant (but I don't any longer) 2. to replace the passé simple (used mainly for telling stories: What happened next?) In a nutshell: If you mean duration (going on) or repetition in the past, use the imparfait. Otherwise use the passé composé. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 11 24 September 2013 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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The fact it has nothing to do with the present doesn't mean you couldn't still be doing
it. The point is it's usually a description of something going on in the past in a certain context, usually it's a habitual action. Edited by tarvos on 24 September 2013 at 11:20pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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