"Mes clés sont tombées par terre pendant la manifestation."
Translation:My keys fell to the ground during the protest.
11 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I think the preposition "on" is at least as natural in English: "My keys fell on the ground during the strike."
------ i tried "onto " . duo didn't like that, either . . .
Big 22 jun 20
When a time frame is given English uses the simple past. You could say ‘My keys have fallen to the ground’, without a specified time, meaning it has happened recently.
977
That is yet another arbitrary formalism of usage that precludes grammar. Rejecting actual English -- how's that going for you?
The adverbial phrase "during the protest" modifies the verb "have" which is in the present tense so it means the protest is currently ongoing or relevant as experience (answering "What have you done?", say: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/299609/during-present-perfect-tense/403519 ) and is rightly true to the French here. The problem with the hard past tense "fell" is that it definitely limits "during the protest" to something that has happened in the past. This is a rule better kept in British English, but even Americans agree here.
------- this may help: New browser extension for viewing the lists of accepted solutions
I've been using this extension for a couple of weeks, ever since I found this post by accident. I can just honestly say WOW! Thank you so much, Bia-Hoi! I can't tell you how fantastically useful and informative this extension has been! It's one of those things you didn't know you needed until you used it and then you realize you've been living like a savage before that. :) I'm kidding a bit, of course, but I am so very thankful for this, nonetheless. it also showed me how much work the contributors to the courses have - some sentences have so many possible solutions, it's insane.
Peter Yes, the extension by bia-hoi can be found at
- 1690
My answer was correct but marked wrong. I do not have access to the 'accent' keys and haven't had this problem before.
------- duo doesn't count punctuation, diacritics (accents ), capitalizationorspacing and usually is okay with one typo - unless it changes the meaning of a word . . .
if you could copy and paste your response here, somebody might be able to spot what made duo so fussy.
- 1690
You're very kind but I've decided not to give it anymore free headspace! When I'd finished the lesson I retreated to 'Stories'. Thanks again.
- 771
Well I trust you noticed and picked them up or you would have been locked out of your house. It's rather an odd statement if it's about losing your keys, but it's not wrong.