"Du moins, c'est ce que j'ai toujours cru."

Translation: At least, that is what I have always believed.

[ruinchristmas]

At least, it is this that i always have raw.

lol

[AlejoFernandez]

I wrote exactly the same! jajaja

[dapetras]

is there any difference between 'du moins' and 'au moins'?

[Sitesurf]

Not much, one or the other are correct here.

[cancub]

I just asked this in another comment section, but isn't "au moins" exclusively referring to a quantity rather than a situation?

[lmnn]

Why is it in passé composé and not imparfait?

[cockroachlurcher]

i agree, aren't we supposed to be learning that next lesson:$

edit: to put some perspective on this comment, i received this sentence in pronouns 2, the lesson before compound past so it completely threw, me, and should probably be amended.

[andrewduo]

I suspect it's because Duo doesn't know that it's compound past. It just sees it as a word which we already know. It just so happens that at this point we only actually know the homonym meaning "raw".

[Sitesurf]

Duolingo does know what compound tenses are, for sure. The issue is that we should not see the suggestions given as the exact solution to the sentences we are given for translation.

When you hover on words, what you get is a glossary of various possible translations depending on context and construction.

Homographs exist in both languages, but generally with a full sentence, we should distinguish a past participle from an adjective, in particular with auxiliary "have".

[Sjaitkaas]

I'm confused about the same thing. This sentence seems to be a habitual feeling, because of the 'toujours' , so doesn't it have to be in 'imparfait'?

[uql]

Why is imparfait being taught at all?

[Sitesurf]

Because it translates all of the following formulas:

• he was giving me headaches = il me donnait des maux de tête

• he used to walk in the morning = il (avait l'habitude de se promener) se promenait le matin

• he would drink wine at breakfast = il (avait l'habitude de boire) buvait du vin au petit déjeuner.

[evelim1972]

Is there a difference between "past tense" and "present perfect" in French? meaning, I can translated to " I believed" or "I have believed"?

[sherm456]

The French passé composé is equivalent to both English simple past and present perfect. So, depending on context, "j'ai cru" may be best translated as "I believed" or "I have believed".

[ngmuipai]

But in this case the "I have believed" structure implies the imperfect -- that I believed it for some time and continue to believe it. That's part of what is confusing -- the English present perfect transliterates to the passé composé (with avoir), but often translates to the imparfait.

[Ratego]

Can it be "believed IN"?

[Sitesurf]

No, because the French would be: "c'est ce en quoi j'ai toujours cru".

[Harry_Log]

why not c'est que - why the additional CE?

[Sitesurf]

"ce que" translates "what", not "that".

[S0R0USH]

"At least, it is this that I have always believed" is wrong. Should I report?

[cancub]

"Ce que" transliterated to english is "this that," but in practice it translates to "what" as in "Ceci est ce que j'ai trouvé" means "this is what I have found."