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Friendship
My French sentences are not correct. Please help me.
Je vous ai rencontré en 2004.
Je vous ai rencontré en 2004.
Nous avons connu pour à près 6 ans.
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I met you in 2004.
We have known each other for about 6 years.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James H Smith on -
The first one looks fine to me.
The second line: Nous nous avons connu depuis environ 6 ans.
To say "each other", you need to use an extra reflexive pronoun.
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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on
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Just be careful with the verb tense: it would be nous nous connaissons depuis.... In more colloquial French you could also say .g. Ça fait à peu près 6 ans qu'on se connaît.
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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on
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Neil
We have known each other ...
So for you it is odd to write 'Nous nous avons connu depuis environ 6 ans.'
Do you mean it was simply a past event?
Please tell me.
..................................................................................
For example, we knew each other ...
So the above means that we don't know each other nowadays.
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For me, in English, it sounds correct to write we have known each other for about 6 years.
To write we know each other for about 6 years is not incorrect.
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Permalink Reply by James H Smith on
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After posting, I realised my mistake. All reflexive verbs take être not avoir, and the past participle then agrees with the subject. I should have said:
Nous nous sommes connus depuis.....
But I now agree with Neil; to use the passé composé does suggest that "we knew each other in the past, but not nowadays". Neil's use of the present tense suggests that "we still know each other", and "depuis" says that the knowledge began in the past. I agree, it doesn't sound good in English, but I have learned to avoid literal translations. If that's how the French say it, it's good enough for me !!
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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The first sentence can be either correct or wrong. It depends on what the "vous" means.
-If it is a "vous" to address a person you don't know, to be more polite ("vous" refers thus to only one person), it should be:
"Je vous ai rencontré en 2004" // "Je vous ai rencontrée en 2004" (in the case where the "vous" refers to a woman)
-If it is "vous" which address several people, it should be :
"Je vous ai rencontrés en 2004" // "Je vous ai rencontrées en 2004" (in the case where the "vous" refers to a group of women)
Don't forget to put an -ée- or an -és- or an -ées- : Indeed, even if you usually don't have to make the ending of the verb agree when you have the auxilary "avoir", when the object of the verb is placed before the verb, then in this case, you have to make the ending of the verb agree with the object.
Compare:
J'ai rencontré ces femmes en 2004. vs Je les ai rencontrées en 2004.
But this is a mistake that even French native speakers make all the time.
~Sorry for my English.~
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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on
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I thank both Julia and James for the replies.
James
Nous nous sommes connus depuis environ 6 ans.
Nous nous connaissons depuis environ 6 ans.
[We have known each other for about 6 years.]
I reckon both of the French sentences are correct in this context.
Please correct me if I am incorrect.
We should talk to each other = Nous devrions nous parler. Correct
You should talk to each other = Vous devriez vous parler. Correct
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Julia
Thanks for the reply. I always make this mistake; not to add [ée] when it comes to a woman. I am very bad at French.
For me your English is excellent.
You wrote the following:
J'ai rencontré ces femmes en 2004. vs Je les ai rencontrées en 2004.
Yes, 'Je les ai rencontrées en 2004' stands for a group of women.
J'ai rencontré ces femmes en 2004. [ In this one why did you drop 'es' at the end of the verb?]
Shouldn't it be ' J'ai rencontrées ces femmes en 2004' ?
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Permalink Reply by Vicky on
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No. It's really ''J'ai rencontré ces femmes en 2004''.
It's the rule of the past participle with ''avoir'' (to have) that makes that. The rule is the following:
If the object of the sentence is after the past participle, you won't make the past participle agree with the object. However, if the object of the sentence is BEFORE the past participle, you WILL make the past participle agree with the object.
To find the object of a sentence, you have to ask yourself the question ''who'' or ''what''. Let's take your sentences with the women as examples.
The question you have to ask yourself in this case is ''J'ai rencontré qui ?''. The answer is ''les femmes''. Then you have to ask yourself if the object (les femmes) is before or after the past participle.
First sentence: «Je les ai rencontrées en 2004». Rencontré qui ? --> Les. ''Les'' refers to the women and is before the past participle (rencontré). So you have to make your past participle agree with the object (in this case, it's feminine and plural). So: «je les ai rencontrées en 2004».
Second sentence: «J'ai rencontré ces femmes en 2004.» Rencontré qui ? ---> Ces femmes. Is ''ces femmes'' before or after the past participal (in this case ''rencontré'') ? It's after. So you don't make your past participle agree with the object of this sentence.
It's a bit complicated, even native French speakers have trouble with this grammar rule. However, it's how it works.
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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"Nous nous sommes connus depuis 6 ans" It sounds really really weird. With the use of the "Passé Composé", it's weird to have an expression of duration (here "depuis 6 ans"). It would be better if you had a precise date, for instance, I'd rather say "Nous nous sommes connus en 2004".
"Nous nous connaissons depuis 6 ans" is perfect.
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Permalink Reply by James H Smith on
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I agree entirely, Julia, that's why I withdrew the "passé composé" version earlier,
in favour of Neil's "present tense" version which you have just quoted.
My final offering is:
Nous nous connaissons depuis environ 6 ans.
Literal translation: We know each other since about 6 years.
but the native French would hear: We have known each other for about 6 years.
Crack 1; if it sounds awkward in English, just don't do the literal translation, I'm sure a native French would understand it perfectly. I gave up literal translation a long time ago; it was driving me mad !!
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