Re: French transitivity etc.

I confirm: "en train de" is a very common idiomatic
expression, although it has absolutely nothing to do
with any train at all, as once could first believe it.
"Je suis en train de manger" is perfectly right for
"I'm eating".

Another possibility is: "je suis à table", in case you
are sitting and eating at a table.

"Je mange" can be used too in certain cases. "-
Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? - Je mange". "- What are you
doing ? - Eating".

--- John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@...> wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:37:36 -0800, Aquamarine Demon
> <aquamarine_demon@...> wrote:
>
> In my 3+ years of studying French (and I'm fairly
> competent in it...), I've
> never encountered a correctly French way to express
> "I am eating" that
> differentiates itself from "I eat". It may be
> confusing, mais c'est la vie.
> >
> >Noelle
> >
> -----------
> Consistent with what Mike Poxon posted last week,
> all my French textbooks
> tell me the sense of the English progressive can be
> captured by "être en
> train de" as in "Je suis en train de manger."
>
> --John Quijada "Je suis en train de manger."
>
> --John Quijada

=====
Philippe Caquant

"Le langage est source de malentendus."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

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