# EN: passer sous un échafaudage



## floralies

Hello,

Je marche dans la rue et je souhaite dire "je passe sous l'échaffaudage" (sans avoir peur des superstitions)

Est-ce que: "I'm passing under the scaffholdings" se dit comme cela?

Merci

Floralies


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## archijacq

under the scaffold(ing)


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## LART01

Hi

I'm walking under the scaffolding ( pas de h)


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## floralies

oups pour le h! my mistake
Et si je ne veux pas répeter "walking " que je dis un peu avant je peux mettres "passing under the scaffolding" ou cela ne se dirait pas, je cherche un autre verbe que "walk under"

Thanks


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## LART01

floralies said:


> oups pour le h! my mistake
> Et si je ne veux pas répeter "walking " que je dis un peu avant je peux mettres "passing under the scaffolding" ou cela ne se dirait pas, je cherche un autre verbe que "walk under"
> 
> Thanks



Oui, bien sur 
Passing under scaffolding, stairs, pipes......


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## floralies

ok,
Une dernière choses, si je veux dire "je passe sous les échaffaudages" mais que ce soit ces échaffaudages là ou d'autres il n'y a pas d 'importance! Puis-je enlever le THE?
"I'm passing under scaffoldings" is it possible?

thanks


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## Omelette

no, it isn't. 'under scaffolding' is.
As regards your more general question, it depends what you're passing under.
'I pass under scaffolding'  is ok.  But of course you couldn't say 'I pass under bridge.'


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## floralies

Hi Omelette

So I can say "I'm walking in the street, pass under scaffolding, then go..."

Thx


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## Omelette

Good morning. Yes, that sounds good.


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## floralies

Thanks everyone


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## Omelette

Btw I think the correct French spelling is ’échafaudage’  (not ’échaffaudage’).


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## floralies

Omelette said:


> Btw I think the correct French spelling is ’échafaudage’  (not ’échaffaudage’).


oups again 
Echafaudage yes


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## sound shift

Note that "scaffolding" is uncountable, so we don't say *"scaffolding*s*".


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## floralies

sound shift said:


> Note that "scaffolding" is uncountable, so we don't say *"scaffolding*s*".



oh thanks, I didn't know that


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## Michelvar

I often see "staging" used instead of "scaffolding", is there a difference?


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## Omelette

For 'staging' my dictionary gives
1. Platform serving as a stage.
2. A set of temporary platforms _supported by scaffolding.
_Though perhaps -- though I've never heard this -- it is used to mean 'scaffolding' itself.


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## Michelvar

Ok, thanks!


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## Enquiring Mind

Mais on peut dire aussi "_going_ under scaffolding ..."   Si tu commences avec "I'm walking ..." il faut aussi employer le progressif pour les verbes qui suivront ...


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## Omelette

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. It depends where the sentence is leading.
This, for example, sounds perfectly correct to me:
‘I’m walking down the street, pass under scaffolding, then turn right and head towards the park.’


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## floralies

Je me disais bien c'était trop beau!

Je sais pas cela me fait bizarre de dire I'm walking down the street, I'm passing under scaffolding.....

Car le fait de descendre la rue est long et l'activité c'est la marche, alors que je passe sous l'échafaudage en 2 secondes alors j'ai vraiment du mal avec le ING là..

Je sais que c'est le présent progressif mais...


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## floralies

Omelette said:


> I don’t think that’s necessarily true. It depends where the sentence is leading.
> This, for example, sounds perfectly correct to me:
> ‘I’m walking down the street, pass under scaffolding, then turn right and head towards the park.’



Ah ouf, parceque je rafole pas des -ing partout
Il y a bien cette notion de durée et d'activité principale n'est-ce pas? Ou on m'aurait menti en sixième?
Thx


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## Michelvar

Non, c'est comme en français, quand on dit "je descends la rue, passe sous l’échafaudage, et arrive au rond point", c'est un "présent de l'indicatif de narration", c'est un effet de style. Normalement on ne devrait pas utiliser le présent, on ne fait pas les trois activités au présent.
Mais on peut aussi l'écrire "je descend la rue, passant sous l’échafaudage, puis arrivant au rond point".

Dans les deux cas le sens n'est pas le même : dans le premier c'est une succession rue > échafaudage > rond point, dans le second l’échafaudage et le rond point sont dans la rue qu'on descend.

Je pense que c'est la même chose en Anglais.


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## Enquiring Mind

Omelette said:


> I don’t think that’s necessarily true. It depends where the sentence is leading.
> This, for example, sounds perfectly correct to me:
> ‘I’m walking down the street, pass under scaffolding, then turn right and head towards the park.’



Yes, you're right Omelette - egg on my face!    Michelvar's "narrative" explanation sums it up well.


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## Omelette

That's very nice of you to say so.
In lots of sentences your explanation would be correct.


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## floralies

Okay,

Je n'ai pas tout à fait compris, pourtant j'essaie... il y a des notions auxquelles je n'avais jamais pensé

Dans le cas 1
"le présent de l'indicatif de narration" dans "je descends la rue, passe sous l’échafaudage, et arrive au rond point" je le traduit par le present perfect c'est cela? "I walk down the street, pass under scaffolding,.."?

Dans le cas 2 "I'm walking down the street, passing under scaffolding..."

hum 

Thanks


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## Omelette

Yes, but there's also an option 3, where you mix the tenses.  See my example. And that's why your suggestion, away back on post no.8 ('walking' + 'pass') could be correct.
Why you would _choose _to mix tenses like that is quite a subtle point, but to an English-speaking reader it would create a slightly different effect.
But your options 1 and 2 are grammatically correct.
(and now I must do some work, so if this isn't all clear, someone else might explain!)


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## floralies

Thanks
Je lis ce que vous écrivez mais quelquechose m'échappe, j'ai googlé "présent simple de narration", je vais encore chercher..

Merci à tous en tout ca
@omelette: have a nice day thx for your posts


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## patriciachingiz

Just want to second what Omelette said, I'm walking down the street, I pass under scaffolding then...... sounds fine. I'm afraid I can't explain why... Likewise I can imagine saying I'm taking the bus to school, talking with my friends, then we stop to pick up someone else and we all look to see who it is... Or in the past, I was taking the bus to school when we stopped to pick up the new girl... My English grammar is awful but I guess you're right that it has to do with a briefer thing that happens within a longer thing that's happening?


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## patriciachingiz

To Michelvar, in America at least you're almost always safe with scaffolding (except maybe if you're up on it or walking under it hah hah). Staging is more specific.


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## floralies

I understand your examples, it's like you're telling this story to someone, the use of the progressive present make it more real for the listener...and the present perfect more dynamic....
"My English grammar is awful but I guess you're right that it has to do with a briefer thing that happens within a longer thing that's happening?" okay thanks I'm starting to understand this notion better..


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