is this correct??

MUTINDAA0Kwiziq community member

is this correct??

depuis que j'etais petite pendant l'hiver, on a campe dans les montagnes dans le canton de Geneve. 

Asked 1 year ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Mutinda,

Chris is correct! In this situation, we should have "depuis que + Présent de l'Indicatif" = Ever since + Past tense" : Depuis que + [conjugated verb] = (Ever) since + [conjugated verb] in French

Although there are two options:

Depuis que je suis petite, en hiver (pendant l'hiver), on campe dans les montagnes = Ever since I was a little girl, in winter, we camp in the mountains

-> "on campe" is in Le Présent de l'Indicatif as it is referring to a current habit.

Quand j'étais petite, en hiver (pendant l'hiver), on campait dans les montagnes = When I was a little girl, in winter, we used to camp in the mountains.

-> "On campait" is in L'Imparfait, representing a past habit.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée!

JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Mutinda,

"depuis que j'etais petite pendant l'hiver, on a campé dans les montagnes dans le canton de Geneve."

If you were to place the comma after "petite" only, it would make the sentence more clear as to the intended meaning. The verb camper is in the passé composé so you need to write the past participle as shown in my amendment to your original text.

Hope this helps

Jim

 

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

In this case, you would use the present tense with depuis (if it is still something that's happening now):

Depuis que je suis petite.... -- Ever since I was little... (Note the different use of tenses in French and English.)

is this correct??

depuis que j'etais petite pendant l'hiver, on a campe dans les montagnes dans le canton de Geneve. 

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Clever stuff happening!