#ThomasNL (A2)

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

regal talonBOT
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Please be patient

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fervent locust
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They only use "en train de" to emphasize that they're doing something at this specific moment.

Otherwise they just use the simple present tense.

  • Tu fais quoi, là ?
  • Je me repose.
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Which means:

  • What are you doing right now?
  • I'm resting
real holly
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Okay so the key part is "to emphasize"

gritty flame
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It’s like saying “in the middle of”

mystic sand
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yes, it's similar to "currently", "right now" or "in the middle of" in English

real holly
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Hmm yeah, in dutch you have "aan het" which is used way more regularly than something like "currently". Its not really emphasizing that you are doing it right now, but we do almost always use it when you are doing it at this moment.

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Hard to really get a feel of the nuance

crisp flicker
# real holly Hmm yeah, in dutch you have "aan het" which is used way more regularly than some...

@real holly
I'll repeat here what I explained to someone else earlier.

être en train de (faire quelque chose)
to be in the process of; to be in the middle of (doing something)

je suis en train de cuisiner

I am in the process of cooking
I am in the middle of cooking

on l'utilise quand on veut mettre plus d'emphase sur le fait qu'on fait quelque chose. par exemple:

hey, thomas, pourrais-tu m'aider? j'ai essayé de le faire moi-même mais je n'en suis pas capable.
hey, thomas, can you help me? I've tried to do it my self but I'm not capable.

bah, je suis en train de manger, tu pourrais attendre 10 minutes?
*well, i am in the middle of eating, could you wait 10 minutes? *

***

above, I could've just said « je mange » to mean "I'm eating" but I wanted to focus on the fact that I am in the middle of eating and so would prefer that he wait until I'm finished.

another example

bonjour? salut? allô!! BONJOUR!
hello? hey! allo? HELLO!

attendez, s'il vous plaît! je suis en train d'aider quelqu'un déjà!
wait, please! I'm in the middle of helping someone already!

***

here i want to emphasize to the person that i'm in themiddle of helping someone and therefore they are being rude.

does that make sense

real holly
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Yes okay, so if you are just saying "i am cooking" you dont have to use 'en train de'. You can just say "je cuisine"