"No one tasted the dishes Duo made."

Translation: Personne ne goûtait les plats que Duo faisait.

[deactivated user]

Why the imperfect tense?

[LoisDelaney]

I was wondering that too!

[MaryDuffin2]

Me too.

[JLN20]

Me too

[GraemeSarg]

There are three valid tense combinations (ignoring Simple Past):

• "Personne n'a goûté les plats que Duo a faits."
• "Personne n'a goûté les plats que Duo faisait."
• "Personne ne goûtait les plats que Duo faisait."

[trung.n.thu]

Personne n'a goûté les plats que Duo a préparé

[GraemeSarg]

The past participle needs to be "préparés" to match its Preceding Direct Object: "les plats".

[NickWoodal1]

What is wrong with "personne n'a goûté les plats que Duo a fait." Surely the translation given by Duo above means no one used to taste the dishes duo used to make?

[InvertedGo]

Personne ne goûtait could also mean that people were sitting around awkwardly trying really hard to avoid tasting the dishes. So it's an ongoing action in the past. However, I don't understand why faisait and not a fait. Surely they could not have the opportunity to try them had they not already been made (finished action).

[JLN20]

I feel the same way

[srshti]

Yep, I tried the same except with "a préparé" instead of "a fait".

[GraemeSarg]

You would need to use "… les plats que Duo a préparés".

Although "…les plats que Duo a fait." might be classified as a common error, "… les plats que Duo a préparé." would not be.

[lamemanlayman]

Curious, this.

[Black_Cherries]

Agreed; that's the same translation I used. Reported, 8/8.

[Linda4406]

They accept the passé composé also, but most people make another error in the sentence by not putting an "s" on "fait"--"que Duo a faits." This is necessary as the direct object (les plats) of the verb in passé composé is plural.

[GraemeSarg]

"Personne n'a goûté les plats que Duo a faits." is accepted.

[Mike904263]

What happens to 'pas' in these constructions?

[InvertedGo]

It's a different negation couplet. Ne...pas is one. So is ne...personne, ne...jamais, etc.

In this sentence it is ne...personne. Only because personne is the subject of the sentence, the order is different. Personne comes first because it is the subject in a declarative statement, then ne (because it goes in front if the verb) and then the verb.

So a standard sentence would be: Paul ne voyait personne.

The sentence for this exercise is: Personne ne goûtait.

[Antonis106693]

D'accord ! Duo ne sait pas cuisiner, il est un hibou !

[deactivated user]

Il n'est pas nul qu'en cuisine.

[STRADS1551]

"Personne n'a goûté les plats que Duo a préparés" is accepted