what tenses do i use for french essays? i've never written one before and i recieved some odd corrections on a page-long assignment i did.
for instance, i wrote something vaguely along the lines of: le PETA dit que les phoques ne menacent pas l'environnement. i was told to write that as: le PETA a dit que les phoques ne menaçaient pas l'environnement.
i have a couple of problems with this:
1. in writing, i've only seen dire used in present tense.
2. if dire has to be in past tense there, wouldn't i use passé simple?
3. the second action (menacer) is not completed. uncompleted actions are present tense in french if i'm not mistaken. i've been doing (such and such) for a long time = je fais (n'importe quoi) depuis longtemps. right?
i just corrected it the way the prof asked. the course is over in a couple days. but in the future, what do i do?
for instance, i wrote something vaguely along the lines of: le PETA dit que les phoques ne menacent pas l'environnement. i was told to write that as: le PETA a dit que les phoques ne menaçaient pas l'environnement.
i have a couple of problems with this:
1. in writing, i've only seen dire used in present tense.
2. if dire has to be in past tense there, wouldn't i use passé simple?
3. the second action (menacer) is not completed. uncompleted actions are present tense in french if i'm not mistaken. i've been doing (such and such) for a long time = je fais (n'importe quoi) depuis longtemps. right?
i just corrected it the way the prof asked. the course is over in a couple days. but in the future, what do i do?