𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖌𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖍 𝖋𝖗𝖞

[hoary plank]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[pearl prawn]

It's extremely common and grammatical

[pale forum]

yeah

[little vault]

okay

isn’t it the same as using l’imparfait though?

i mean, just using the imparfait

[pale forum]

yes, but its like continuous

like "i was doing"

[little vault]

i thought imparfait was also continuous lol

you mean like “i was doing and i’m still doing it now”?

is that what you mean by continuous

[pale forum]

you have a point but i have no idea how to explain it to you

[little vault]

damn

i guess i’ll wait for a native then

thank you for your efforts nonetheless 🙏

[remote gull]

.. you mean
J'étais en train de lire
Vs
Je lisais
Non ?

Ne serait ce pas le même que
I was busy reading
Vs
I was reading
?

Idk maybe busy has a slightly different connotation

Je pense que "j'étais en train de lire" met en avant le fait que tu t'engage dans une action, alors que "je lisais" met en avant l'action elle-même (prend ça pas comme réponse mais comme mes pensées personelles que je voulais juste partager)

[pine sinew]

« J'étais en train de » is like when something has just finished.

[remote gull]

In the sense that's it's been interrupted ?

Soit pas soi-même ou par autrui

[vernal plover]

oui par exemple

j'étais en train de lire quand le téléphone a sonné

"je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné"
sounds weirder and more literary for a reason that i can't explain

[wary marsh]

Is it? Because that background imparfait + interrupting passé composé is very standard in grammar books and articles

I thought that the « être en train de faire » structure in the imperfect just emphasises the action

[vernal plover]

i mean yes

but in this specific structure (I was X when Y) you almost always want to emphasise the X i think