"The day before yesterday, I met Léo at a store."
Translation:Avant-hier, j'ai rencontré Léo dans un magasin.
18 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
At a store or in a store? At a store to my mind would be out the front of a store. In a store would be inside the store and therefore more consistent with dans un magasin.
I think unless modified with a preposition like 'devant un magasin/à côté d'un magasin/près d'un magasin...'at a store' = 'in a store so ' DANS + UN+ magasin.' So "I met AshokKanet near a store in the square = J'ai rencontré AshokKanet près d'un magasin sur la place. But "I met AshokKanet at a store in the square= J'ai rencontré AshokKanet DANS un magasin sur la place. Seems to be in line with how the french use à VS dans for places like restaurants/parks/ etc... it is always DANS if the interpretation is that they are spending time IN the PLACE. And that is the default nuance for 'at a store'. Note though that 'dans' is not a recommended preposition to follow the verb aller... so I am going to a/the store is je vais au magasin although you will see google etc using dans.
228
I wrote "rencontrais", which Duo accepted but thought to be a typoed version of "rencontrai".
- 1797
in a store, or at a store? I found the role.
"Dans un magasin" -- for "A *store", you must use "dans"
"au magasin" -- for "THE store", you have to use "a+le = au"
- 121
I'm still baffled by Duo's insistence on rencontrer all the time rather than retrouver. The English doesn't necessarily mean a chance meeting. On the contrary, 'to meet someone at a place' to my mind is more likely to imply it was prearranged.
- 1096
The problem is that the given English sentence was a mistranslation by Duo.
It should have been "in a store" because the verb was "rencontrer" and not "retrouver".
As a result, Duo is trying to get back to the wrong sentence and "retrouver" should be accepted.
I think the pattern which can be observed as you go through the course or run across more french sentences OF THIS NATURE .
A difference of nuance for DANS VS 'a'!!!..WHEN specificity/inside a physical area IS IMPLIED .== use DANS.
dans... becasue he met leo at a specific store!!.. the store where he met Leo. dans because he met LEO IN the STORE!
Later on you will meet sentences like "we went to the mountains with the waterfalls\" (something like that) and "we spent a day in the mountains(again something like THAT).The former uses 'dans' because it 'narrows the identity /specificity... the one with the waterfall. The latter uses 'A'... they were in a mountainous area..we dont have a clue where.
KEEP an eye for yourself see if the pattern holds..because the two prepositions are often interchangeable but especially for restaurants/parks/subways/stores ... this pattern seems to apply. And it is only by detecting those patterns can the language be enjoyed...
If you mean imparfait.. the act of meeting someone even in the past is usually a complete action "with a defined beginning and end" and therefore is best translated with the passe compose. What happens after you meet may be an action which may require imperfect.
Not criticising ...but just be aware.. you do NOT use the imparfait for ALL 'descriptions of past actions" .
- 290
rencontrais would be closer to I was meeting, but I guess imperfect would work as a translation for this sentence in some particular contexts.