"Cette vieille dame veut que nous l'aidions."
Translation:This old lady wants us to help her.
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762
The translation is fine, but we would often use "elderly" rather than "old" in this context, especially if she were within earshot!
"This elderly lady..." rejected. "Lady" is a courtesy title in UK. We would not usually use "old" to describe a lady
Aidions implies imperfect right ? But the English translation is in the present, why? Duolingo error ?
- 718
sorry, can someone explain why its not aidons, I'm not sure I understand this bit of french at all yet. thanks!
- 762
See what relox84 wrote a year ago. It's the present subjunctive and the presence of "que" provides the clue. A literal translation might be: "This elderly (old) lady wants that we help her." That would sound odd in English so we cheat by just using the ordinary infinitive of the verb "to help" and then we change the "we" to "us".. etc. The element of doubt is there in the French because whilst she might want us to help we might or might not decide to.