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Re: French

From:Don Blaheta <dpb@...>
Date:Wednesday, October 27, 1999, 15:57
Quoth Axiem:
> French has 14 tenses, 7 simple, 7 compound..the tenses are (IIRC) > simple, passe compose, conditional, condtional past, futur, future > perfect, past simple, (I forget), imparfait, plusqueparfait, > subjenctive, subjunctive past, and something with futur anterier or > something...
The ones you forgot are the subjonctif imparfait (simple), and the pass=E9 anterieur and subjonctif plus-que-parfait (both composite), but you listed the futur ant=E9rieur twice (once as "future perfect").
> i rely on '501 French Verbs' and it says that subjunctive, passe > simple, and the other one (plus the compound tenses formed from them) > aren't really used in conversational French, only in writing (and also > that they're going out of style in writing),=20
The pass=E9 simple is still alive in modern written French, at least in literary French (I see it in novels, e.g.), but is replaced in spoken French by the pass=E9 compos=E9. The pass=E9 ant=E9rieur (compound based on pass=E9 simple) and the subjonctif imparfait and subj. plus-que-parfait appear to be rare even in written French.... but plain old subjonctif is alive and well in modern spoken and written French. --=20 -=3D-Don Blaheta-=3D-=3D-dpb@cs.brown.edu-=3D-=3D-<http://www.cs.brown.edu/= ~dpb/>-=3D- "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy. But that could change." --Dan Quayle