Re: French

nicole perrin wrote:
>
> Grandsire, C.A. wrote:
> >
> > nicole perrin wrote:
> > >
> > > I would say
> > >
> > > Votre langue devait jtre ici
> > > Your language should be here
> > >
> >
> >         Actually, "your language should be here" is more like "votre langue
> > devrait e^tre ici" with a conditional present. 'devait' is the
> > imparfait, which has only a past meaning (past imperfect to be precise).
>
> Yes, I meant conditional present, yes yes, I'm sorry my fault.  I used
> the wrong stems for both of them.  Ahh, my French teacher must have
> truly taught me well...(And I always thought I knew verbs pretty well)
>
        Don't be embarassed, you master French verbs as well as the average
French native speaker! When I think of all those people who use the
conditional instead of the imperfect in conditional sentences (saying
for example: "si j'aurais..." instead of "si j'avais...")... Not only it
is incorrect but it is ugly (sorry I'm a prescriptivist here, but it's
only a matter of beauty of language).

> Nicole
--
        Christophe Grandsire

        Philips Research Laboratories --  Building WB 145
        Prof. Holstlaan 4
        5656 AA Eindhoven
        The Netherlands

        Phone:  +31-40-27-45006
        E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com