La semaine dernière

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 6, 2009 at 4:19pm

"Lala" isn't rubbish, it's Teletubbish :)

If you want to say "the last week", one "la" is enough: "la semaine dernière".

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 6, 2009 at 8:01pm

Frank

Do you mean French doesn't find a difference between 'last week' and 'the last week'?

I am a bit surprised.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 6, 2009 at 8:25pm

Hello Crack,

Sorry, "the last week" (before an event) is dernière semaine, while "last week" is la semaine dernière.

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Permalink Reply by jograj on August 6, 2009 at 8:14pm

la semaine dernière

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 6, 2009 at 9:04pm

Frank

Could you translate the following sentences into French?

1. I've had a cold for the last week.

2. I had a cold last week.

3. I've lived in Paris for the last year.

4. I lived in Paris last year.

I don't think I have to explain the minute differences in my sentences.
Frank speaks excellent English.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 6, 2009 at 10:18pm

1. I've had a cold for the last week.
J'ai attrapé un rhume la dernière semaine.

2. I had a cold last week.
J'avais un rhume la semaine dernière.

3. I've lived in Paris for the last year.
J'ai vécu à Paris la dernière année

4. I lived in Paris last year.
Je vivais à Paris l'année dernière

Note that the tenses also differ, as in English.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on August 7, 2009 at 2:49am

Frank -- I think the meaning of (1) is closer to e.g. Ça fait une semaine que je suis enrhumé, similarly in (3), Ça fait une semaine que je vis à Paris is maybe slightly closer (though admittedly here the implication is similar).

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 9, 2009 at 2:11pm

11. I went to France last year.
The above means I went to France in 2008.

12. I have been to France in the last year.
The above means I have been to France some point between 365 days ago and now. It may be yesterday or last week.

I believe the following sentence is the correct translation for the sentence number 11.

Je suis allé en France l'année dernière.
...................................................................................

J'ai été en France dans le l'année dernière.
Is the above correct translation for the sentence number 12?


Please comment on my sentences.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 13, 2009 at 8:09pm

1. Je suis allé en France l'année dernière.

2.
The above means I have been to France some point between 365 days ago and now. It may be yesterday or last week.

If this is actually what "in the last year" means (to make it simple and leap-years ready: "less than one year ago") here's how you could say it:
Je suis allé en France il y a moins d'un an.

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