"Nous sommes allés nous promener dans la forêt."

Translation:We went for a walk in the forest.

April 6, 2013

20 Comments
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https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Muzorewi1984

Typed in we went to walk in the forest got back the message "you forgot the article a"

Where is the indefinite article in the French?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Chuckles16

I did exactly as you, with the same outcome. According to Larousse, "Se promener" means "to go for a walk" so it seems to me that the correct translation of the phrase would be "we have gone to go for a walk in the forest"!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ariaflame

Too many 'go's It is more or less We have gone for a walk in the forest, or possibly We went for a walk in the forest.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Kevin968039

I have a question for an indigenous French person: Do the French use the English term of "woods" or "wood"? Or is it just "forest"? Anyone know that answer?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Betty45

The translation "We have been to go on a walk in the forest" is nonsensical in English. In this case, "have been" already indicates that one went, so the "to go" is superfluous. Please try to give translations in proper English syntax!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Layke1123

Would the translation "We went walking in the forest" not be a correct translation?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/capehope

May I translate the sentence as "we were going to take a walk in the forest"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/cornflaked

No, I think that would be 'Nous allions aller... etc.' - literally, we were-going-to go.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/capehope

Sorry, but I don't quite understand. Why the extra "aller"? I thought "aller nous promener" already means "be going to take a walk".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/cornflaked

'aller se promner' is 'to go for a walk'; 'allions' is 'were going', so together 'nous allions se promner' is 'we were going to go for a walk'. Aller se promner is just a set phrase meaning to go for a walk, so just as you repeat the verb 'go' in English, so you repeat it in French. Does that make sense? I'm only a French learner too!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RoniG

Why is "We had gone for a walk" wrong? What's the difference between "we have gone" and "we had gone"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/rosemary5645

We have gone/we went = nous sommes allés.
We had gone = nous étions allés.
You might leave a note for your parents saying " we have gone for a walk".
Telling someone about it later you might say "we weren't there when our parents came back - we had gone for a walk"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RoniG

Now this totally makes sense. Thank you.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LIMEYFRUIT

Is "Nous sommes aller nous promener dans la foret" a correct solution as I can not tell the difference between aller and alles. Can not put the accents on from this keyboard and if not do the 2 words actually sound different.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/BrainyPirate

I was told that "to walk" was incorrect and that it should be "for a walk" instead. ????


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ariaflame

Yes. Marcher is to walk and se promener is to go for a walk. To walk oneself. One is the action of walking and the other is to do with the activity to take a walk.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/divaluisa

We went for a walk in the forest - accepted But why the 2nd nous. Literally "we went to walk us ....."?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ariaflame

Because it's se promener - it's reflexive. Je suis allée me promener dans la fôret would be "I went for a walk in the forest"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/supermollusc

On pourrait dire "Nous nous sommes alles... etc"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/La_Mariette

Would "Nous nous allons promené dans le foret" be correct?

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