Always and only

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 17, 2009 at 1:29pm

Noppe, there aren't.

Adverbs are never placed just after a subject. When it would be the case, you need to move it either just after the auxiliary if there's one, or after the verb.

Another mistake you made is the conjugation of the verbs.

Try again :)

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 17, 2009 at 2:36pm

Frank
I hope I am correct now.
1]Quand je vais en France je parlerai toujours du français.

2]Quand je vais en France je parlerai seulement du français.

I am horrible at French. I can't write a simple sentence!

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 17, 2009 at 2:40pm

Try again :)

Hints: du is wrong and tenses should match (like in English btw).

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 17, 2009 at 2:53pm

1]Quand je vais en France je parlerai toujours le français.

2]Quand je vais en France je parlerai seulement le français.


I am serious when I tell you that my French is beneath contempt.
You could write English easily. French is a tall order!
Am I correct now?

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 17, 2009 at 3:35pm

The tenses should match. Either use the present or the future, but both won't mix here.

Quand je vais en France, je parle toujours (le) français
Quand j'irai en France, je parlerai toujours (le) français

"le" is ok, but not necessary.

--

Quand je vais en France, je parle seulement (le) français
Quand j'irai en France, je parlerai seulement (le) français

A better way to say "only" is by using ne...que:

Quand je vais en France, je ne parle que (le) français
Quand j'irai en France, je ne parlerai que (le) français

In a casual conversation, you can elide the ne word.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 18, 2009 at 3:06pm

Frank

1.When I go to France I will always speak French.

2.When I go to France I speak French.

3.When I go to France I always speak French.

All of the above are acceptable.
The second and third sentences mean that I am a person who goes to France from time to time.
So whenever I go to France it is customary for me to speak French.

In the first sentence I am telling you about a forthcoming visit to France.
You know that I speak English. I am telling you when I go there I will not speak English; it will be French.

Another example
-----------------------------
Tomorrow I will go to the gym.

1. When I go there (after lunch), I train using the treadmill.

2. In other words, when I go to the gym, I train using the treadmill.
So it is customary for me to train using the treadmill.

3.When I go to the gym, I will train using the bicycle.
So I change my regular training scheme and train using the bicycle.

I would like to know those difference in French vantage point.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on November 18, 2009 at 8:58pm

This is all true, but it doesn't generally apply to French. In clauses such as:

"When I arrive..."
"As soon as he gets here..."
"Once you've finished your food..."

French and English generally differ in their tense use. French generally uses the future tense (or future-perfect as appropriate), whereas English uses the present (or present perfect as appropriate).

So that's essentially why in Frank's examples, you see the pattern of fiuture + future in French, whereas in English you see present + future.

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