"I have been waiting for an hour; I can't take it anymore."
Translation:J'attends depuis une heure, je n'en peux plus.
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880
I was curious if there is an implied verb that is left out of "je n'en peux plus". Specifically, where is the "take" or "stand" verb. My word-for-word translation would be "I can't anymore of it". In fact, according to Lawless French, there is an implied verb. Here's a good explanation for anyone interested:
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/expressions/jen-peux-plus/
She states, "The French expression "j’en peux plus" despairs that you’ve had enough: you’re at the end of your rope and can’t take it any more. That "it" is represented by the adverbial pronoun en; whatever has driven you to this despair—crying, whining, fighting, etc.—must be obvious from the context, as there is no verb after peux."
Note that "ne" is often left out when used verbally with "pouvoir", reducing the phrase to "j'en peux plus".
A similar phrase is "je n’y peux rien" meaning "I can’t do anything about it".
- 1957
It's marked wrong. I've reported it. "Ça fait une heure que je patiente / que j'attends" should mean the same as "Je patiente depuis une heure"
which is the more common everyday French, using the verb attendre or patienter
- 1133
J'attends depuis... is accepted.
Is there a usage difference/local preference between using attendre and patienter ? I'm happy to use either (certainly happy to know what people are saying to me!), but if there's no real difference, I can try to remember both but will likely just use the former, because it's easier ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
The problem with the latter is that on seeing the infinitive, I'm inclined to write "please be patient" rather than "please wait". Either has its own place in the grammar/vocab list, but if translated like that they're not completely synonymous. Is this a similar thing when these words are in actual usage as opposed to finding them in exercises? Thanks!
- 2104
Yes, I would like to know why the present tense is used. It looks like if you just write 'je patiente' it translates as 'I am waiting' but id you add 'depuis' it changes to 'I have been waiting'. Maybe we just have to learn that.
Yes, I believe present tense plus "depuis" always means "I have been ... for X time" or "I have been ... since Y."
- 1308
It is the wrong word order:
→ je ne peux plus le supporter
But that's not what you would say here. Your sentence woud be correct only when talking about someone in particular (le), or some annoying sound for instance, that you can't stand anymore.
Je n'en peux plus or j'en ai marre are a much more general feeling of being fed up.
Another question on this sentence. Does the use of "depuis" in this sentence require use of a verb in the conjugated infinitive
Plus is one of the rare words that actually keeps all letters in its pronunciation (in certain contexts)! I just checked out this article, and it might help you too :) https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/plus/
it does'nt acept me : j'étais pattienté pour une heure. je n'en peux prendre plus I don't know why
- 1094
I think you are aiming for "J'ai patienté pendant une heure, je n'en peux plus.", but:
- You have used the wrong auxiliary verb and
- it's in the wrong tense.
- You have misspelt "patienté".
- You have the wrong preposition: "pour" instead of "pendant".
- You have a "prendre" which should not be there.
I do not know whether Duo accepts the corrected sentence, but it ought to.