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   Zach Weinersmith (zachweinersmith@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:20:51 JST Zach Weinersmith

   So, today I learned in French you can stick with the present tense to describe an ongoing action, e.g. "I'm working there since 2004" rather than "I've been working there since 2004." This is interesting because I'm pretty sure I've heard francophone friends use the slightly incorrect "I'm [habitual action]ing since" ! I wonder what the standard English-to-French screwups are.

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     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:20:48 JST clacke

     in reply to

     • Mans R
     • Martijn Frazer

     @mansr And we also have the present tense future tense!

     "You're at building 5? I work there on Friday, maybe we bump into each other then."

     @Tijn @ZachWeinersmith

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     Mans R (mansr@society.oftrolls.com)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:20:49 JST Mans R

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     • Martijn Frazer

     @Tijn @ZachWeinersmith Same in Swedish. English is the exception here.

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     Martijn Frazer (tijn@dosgame.club)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:20:50 JST Martijn Frazer

     in reply to

     @ZachWeinersmith idk about French, but in Dutch you can simply use the simple present, ie "I work there since 2004" and it means you still work there now.

     Another reason why literal translations almost never work, I guess!

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     Dubi is here :Dambo8: (dubikan@tooot.im)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:21:04 JST Dubi is here :Dambo8:

     in reply to

     @ZachWeinersmith as a native Hebrew speaker, tenses are really confusing. Hebrew has only past, and future as full verbs, and present and the imperative which are incomplete verb forms (fewer conjugations). Understanding the very concept of some of the English tenses is still difficult for me.

     clacke likes this.
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     bbbhltz (bbbhltz@framapiaf.org)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:21:07 JST bbbhltz

     in reply to

     • Oggie

     @Oggie @ZachWeinersmith oh yes, "mon nom est..." will generally be your surname and not your given name as well. I teach in English to French students so I've seen some things. But, all of my studies were focussed on being a French professor. 10 years of French immersion plus 17 years in France and I still make mistakes every day.

     clacke likes this.
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     Oggie (oggie@woof.group)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:21:08 JST Oggie

     in reply to

     • bbbhltz

     @bbbhltz @ZachWeinersmith
     The one that always tripped me up is 'My name is' (Mon nom est <blank>)...which is techincally correct! But It's also absolutely wrong, because it's really je m'appalle (I call myself <blank>). It's a very firm disconnect.

     More towards what Zach was talking about, there's also things like 'I am running' and 'I run' as two different verbs in english. Literal translations just aren't going to get you all the way there.

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     bbbhltz (bbbhltz@framapiaf.org)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:21:09 JST bbbhltz

     in reply to

     @ZachWeinersmith there are lots of "false friends" between English and French like "eventually" and "éventuellement" which don't translate exactly while other Anglicisms are becoming common like "réaliser". I would say a common beginner screwup is saying "je suis 40 ans" instead of "j'ai 40 ans" for "I am 40." Followed by things like "je suis sur le bus" instead of "je suis dans le bus" for "I am on the bus."

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     Charlotte Eiffel Lilith Buff (charlottebuff@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Jan-2024 02:21:15 JST Charlotte Eiffel Lilith Buff

     in reply to

     @ZachWeinersmith German has 6 tenses, but realistically you need only 2 to cover everything.

     I’ve been learning English for almost two decades now and I still occasionally lose all my confidence in finding the correct tense to use because I’m so used to it not mattering at all in my first language.

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