hi Thomas and everybody!!!
Why the second verb("It's hard to stop thinking or to get over smoking...)is in ING and not in the infinitiv?why we don't say it's hard to stop to think or get over to smoke ? thank you for your help!! ;)
You speak except present progressive context?
yes I do! it's not: I'm eating but to get over smoking
Hi Mamour,
don't worries about! Thomas will explain us with details and examples. We would be conversant with this case soon... :)
We wouldn't get along if we don't get it.
hi Bettina!!excuse me but my english is not as good as yours!!what do you means by we wouldn't get along if we don't get it? :-\ ??? :'(
Hello Mamour,
it's nonsense to say that I speak better as you. I only try to find new words. If I do mistakes, Thomas or members who speak very well will correct me.
comprendre - get it
ne pas progresser - not get along
(Nous ne pourrons pas progresser si nous ne comprenons pas!)
I don't know if this sentence is correct . I tried. . .
seen like that,that seems good!!
Citation de: Bettina le 13 Août 2007 19:49
(Nous ne pourrons pas progresser si nous ne comprenons pas!)
Hi Bettina, here is my proposition for this sentence:
We will not improve ourselves if we don't understand (don't get it).
Citation de: Freddyben le 14 Août 2007 01:35
Citation de: Bettina le 13 Août 2007 19:49
(Nous ne pourrons pas progresser si nous ne comprenons pas!)
Hi Bettina, here is my proposition for this sentence:
We will not improve ourselves if we don't understand (don't get it).
Sorry I meant : we will not
be able to improve ourselves if we don't understand (don't get it) !
I'm lookig forward Thomas for answering to my question
It's very kind. I always can count of you, Freddyben. 8) Thanks :)
Your are absolutely right Mamour about Thomas.
I think I have the answer to my question!!! Say me if I'm right!!enfrançais:en fait çà correspond àarrêter de I stopped smoking:j'ai arrété de fumer...arreter de faire quelque chose
that's it or not? :-\
ou plutot:DE manger,DE parler D'écrire... ??? ???
I'm gonna answer stupidly but I think it just sounds better to say "I stopped smoking" than "I stopped to smoke" and I reckon both are correct fundamentally.
What sure is that it definitly stands for : "J'ai arrêté de fumer" but still wait for Thomas' answer.
Ok, well you guys are right about the French (of course ;) ) but the sentences "I stopped smoking" and "I stopped to smoke" have very different meanings.
In English, when you put a verb in the -ing form, it is often acting like a noun (unless you are using a progressive tense). This is the case with "I stopped smoking" -- the verb "smoking" is the direct object of the verb; in other words, it's "what" you stopped. (I stopped X. What did you stop? X -- so X is the direct object). So for example...
I stopped eating. (j'ai arrêté de manger)
I started running. (j'ai commencé à courir)
However, if you use the "to" form of a verb in English, sometimes it takes on the meaning of "for the purpose of [verb]" -- for example, if you say "I stopped to smoke" it means that you stopped whatever you were doing for the purpose of smoking. Another way to word it would be to say "I stopped in order to smoke." Here are some examples of that usage...
I stopped to eat. (je me suis arrêté pour manger)
I read a book to learn about trains. (j'ai lu un livre pour apprendre au sujet des trains) [perhaps my French is not correct here, as I find the word "about" difficult to translate in some contexts, but you can see the use of "pour" still]
I jumped to celebrate. (j'ai sauté pour célébrer)
Just remember that "to" in English sometimes indicates the reason, and you will be ok I think :) Is that clear?
Oh yeah that's very clear, I'm so stupid ::), I knew that of course, I spoke for 1 year in English, I guess I was just a bit confused with this one, I don't exactly know why but it doesn't matter. Thank you Thomas for this very professional explanation as always. :)
hi!!I'm trying to understand :D ;)
thanks so much Thomas!!!
Hello everybody,
I still have a problem with -ing ???
example: I'm visiting my parents next Sunday.
In this case ,(rien à faire) I don't understand why to use the Present Progressive.
They explained in a lesson to use the the Present Progressive when we planned to do something in a near future and of course I don't doubt about it but I don't explain me why. It's not clear for me. I'm a little bit confuse. I thought that I must say "I will visit my parents next Sunday"
Could you help me once more please? :)
la forme ING (le present progressif) peut etre utilisé pour exprimer le futur proche
she's going to London tonight!!
that's it Thomas ?
Mamour has the right idea. There are several ways to express the future in English, such as...
I'm going to visit my parents next Sunday.
I will visit my parents next Sunday.
I'm visiting my parents next Sunday.
All of these are basically indicating the same thing: the time of the visit to my parents is next Sunday. However, there are different nuances to each of them, which is why there's more than one (je vais aller au magasin et j'irai au magasin -- pourquoi y-en-a-t-il deux? c'est la même idée).
One of the differences between them is how sure you are that something is going to happen. Using the present progressive for the future has the highest level of assuredness, the "to go" form the second highest, and the "will" form the lowest. In other words...
I'm visiting -- very high chance of going
I'm going to visit -- high chance of going
I will visit -- decent chance of going
Of course, these can all be modified with adverbs such as "probably" or "maybe" or something else, but those are the basics.
Personally (meaning the next part is only my opinion), I think that this started with the verb "to go" used in the future with the "to go" sense, because we rarely say "I'm going to go to the movies" but rather just "I'm going to the movies", because we don't like to say the verb "to go" twice in a row. And once it started with that verb, it just became something used with all kinds of verbs. But like I said, that's just my opinion.
Can you say in French, if it's 2 p.m. now, that "je dîne à 7h" and mean "je vais dîner à 7h" ?
Thank you Thomas to make it clear with all this details and examples.
It's right now . I think I get it in my brain!
Can you say in French, if it's 2 p.m. now, that "je dîne à 7h" and mean "je vais dîner à 7h" ?
I asked my husband who is french and he said that you could say :"je dîne à 7 h..."
See you soon :)