# FR: You'd have thought he had been in Fiji, sipping margaritas out of a coconut



## Nyxtia

My problem with translating this sentence is the locution:

He had been in ___, doing ___.

Il avait été aux Fidji, où il buvait... ?

Full context:

"he looked so happy you’d have thought he’d been in Fiji sipping margaritas out of a coconut."


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## Maître Capello

You should use the present participle: _il avait été aux Fidji, *buvant* des margaritas dans une noix de coco_.

That being said, the pluperfect sounds strange in your full-context sentence. Wouldn't the simple past be more appropriate?

"He looked so happy you'd have thought he *was* in Fiji sipping margaritas out of a coconut."​
At any rate, the imparfait would make more sense in French.

_Il avait l'air si heureux qu'on aurait dit qu'il *était* aux Fidji, buvant des margaritas dans une noix de coco._​


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## AmaryllisBunny

I agree with Maître Capello that the pluperfect does not sound right. Either the indicative past or the subjunctive would be '_better_.'

"…he was/were…"


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## Nyxtia

It was in the pluperfect because it was a novel where a guy had come back from prison, the narrator said it was as if he had been in Fiji.

Thank you both for your help


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## geostan

I think one could also say:

_Il avait l'air si heureux qu'on l'aurait cru aux Fidji, buvant des margaritas dans une noix de coco._

Amaryllisbunny,

Surely not the subjunctive. *...he were...* sounds absolutely wrong to my ear.


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## pointvirgule

_he looked so happy you’d have thought he’d been in Fiji_

Am I wrong in reading this as meaning, "you would have thought that he had recently been to Fiji (and come back)"
(_qu'on aurait cru qu'il revenait de siroter des margaritas... aux îles Fidji_)?


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## Nicomon

Je viens de découvrir ce fil et je serais curieuse d'avoir l'opinion d'un Anglophone à la question de pv  (salut ).

J'ai compris la même chose, et j'aime bien cette dernière version.


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## Wordsmyth

Anglophone reporting for duty, Nico.


pointvirgule said:


> _he looked so happy you’d have thought he’d been in Fiji_
> 
> Am I wrong in reading this as meaning, "you would have thought that he had recently been to Fiji (and come back)"



I don't think you'd be wrong at all, pv. That ties in perfectly with what Nyxtia said ...


Nyxtia said:


> It was in the pluperfect because it was a novel where a guy had come back from prison, the narrator said it was as if he had been in Fiji.


 ... and it's fair to assume from his happy look that it would have been recent.

In fact that's what I took Nyxtia's sentence to mean when I first read it, _because_ he'd used the pluperfect. I didn't think for one minute that he might have meant something else and used the wrong tense. (Am I just too trusting?)

Ws


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## Nicomon

Thanks a lot Ws.   

J'espère que pv verra lui aussi cette réponse bien claire.


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## pointvirgule

Wordsmyth said:


> In fact that's what I took Nyxtia's sentence to mean when I first read it, _because_ he'd used the pluperfect.


Mille mercis, Ws.


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## Maître Capello

While I fully agree that the use of the pluperfect in both languages *implies* that the person is back from the Fiji, it is still strange for me from a pure logical point of view. How can you look so happy from being *back* from vacation? Since it is a mere comparison and nobody actually was in the Fiji, I would have chosen a more fitting comparison. It would make more sense to me to look happy because you *are* on vacation, doing fun things like sipping margaritas out of a coconut…


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## Wordsmyth

Are your pleasures always so fleeting, MC? I'm sure that if I'd just got back from an exhilaratingly pleasant experience, I'd be beaming for days (possibly even grinning like a Cheshire cat if I'd had enough margaritas!)

Ws


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## Maître Capello

Yes, I get your point, but to me the experience itself is much more pleasant than a reminiscence of it.


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## Kelly B

Well, yes, but in fact he had been, and indeed had recently returned from, prison, according to Nyxtia. I assume the author intends for us to be surprised at his demeanor, under the circumstances. Or at his suntan, maybe.


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## Wordsmyth

Kelly B said:


> I assume the author intends for us to be surprised at his demeanor, under the circumstances.


I agree, Kelly. So the tense of 'had been in Fiji' is consistent with that of 'had been in prison'.


Kelly B said:


> Or at his suntan, maybe.


 

Ws


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