# FR: tu m'avais promis que + tense



## Diddlina

I was wondering. When I have a sentence in le plus-que-parfait don't I have to continue in a past tense?

The sentence is:
*
Tu m'avais promis que tu le...

*Here I come to my problem.

Should I choose le conditionnel passé or le conditionnel présent?

I would think you need to keep the context ergo:

*Tu m'avais promis que tu le aurais fait demain.

*But still it sounds so completely ridiculous!

You had promised me that you would have done it tomorrow just sounds so silly.

So the basic question, do I need to keep the verb context, e.g. when using a past tense do I have to keep using it?


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## jann

You had promised me that you would have done it tomorrow 
_Tu m'avais promis que tu *l'aurais fait/fini* demain._

This is just discours indirect where the introducing phrase is in _plus-que-parfait_ instead of _passé composé_.  Your English sentence, unwieldly though it may sound, is absolutely correct.  I believe that your French one is too.


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## marget

jann said:


> You had promised me that you would have done it tomorrow
> _Tu m'avais promis que tu *l'aurais fait/fini* demain._
> 
> This is just discours indirect where the introducing phrase is in _plus-que-parfait_ instead of _passé composé_.  Your English sentence, unwieldly though it may sound, is absolutely correct.  I believe that your French one is too.



I wonder if we could also say "tu m'avais promis de le faire demain ou le lendemain, selon le contexte".


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## jann

> tu m'avais promis de le faire demain ou le lendemain


Almost.    You are absolutely correct that it is probably preferable to use an infinitive form instead of a _que_ clause, since we have a single subject.  But this tense set doesn't quite translate the English sentence.  Better:

_tu m'avais promis de *l'avoir fini* demain/le lendemain_

Thanks for pointing out that the choice of _demain _or _le lendemain_ will depend on when the task was supposed to be finished:  tomorrow from when the person is speaking (-->_demain_) or the day after the promise was made (-->_le lendemain_).


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## Diddlina

jann said:


> You had promised me that you would have done it tomorrow
> _Tu m'avais promis que tu *l'aurais fait/fini* demain._
> 
> This is just discours indirect where the introducing phrase is in _plus-que-parfait_ instead of _passé composé_.  Your English sentence, unwieldly though it may sound, is absolutely correct.  I believe that your French one is too.



And does this have anything to do with a rule about verb context or was it just a lucky guess on my behalf?

If it has something to do with that can you give me the correct term so I can google it and read about it.


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## Teafrog

jann said:


> You had promised me that you would have done it tomorrow
> _Tu m'avais promis que tu *l'aurais fait/fini* demain._
> 
> This is just discours indirect where the introducing phrase is in _plus-que-parfait_ instead of _passé composé_.  Your English sentence, unwieldly though it may sound, is absolutely correct.  I believe that your French one is too.


I would have said "_Tu m'avais promis que tu _l'aurais fait_ *d'ici* demain" or __"Tu m'avais promis que tu _l'aurais fini_ demain", in the same way that I would have said in English "_You'd promised me that you would have done it *by *tomorrow".

I could be barking up the wrong tree, though…


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## marget

Teafrog said:


> I would have said "_Tu m'avais promis que tu _l'aurais fait_ *d'ici* demain" or __"Tu m'avais promis que tu _l'aurais fini_ demain", in the same way that I would have said in English "_You'd promised me that you would have done it *by *tomorrow".
> 
> I could be barking up the wrong tree, though…



I also wondered about the possibility of "by tomorrow" or "by the following day".


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## marget

Diddlina said:


> I was wondering. When I have a sentence in le plus-que-parfait don't I have to continue in a past tense?
> 
> The sentence is:
> *
> Tu m'avais promis que tu le...
> 
> *Here I come to my problem.
> 
> Should I choose le conditionnel passé or le conditionnel présent?
> 
> I would think you need to keep the context ergo:
> 
> *Tu m'avais promis que tu le aurais fait demain.
> 
> *But still it sounds so completely ridiculous!
> 
> You had promised me that you would have done it tomorrow just sounds so silly.
> 
> So the basic question, do I need to keep the verb context, e.g. when using a past tense do I have to keep using it?



Is this an exercise from a textbook?


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## Avignonais

I read Diddlina's question differently: Does the plus-que-parfait have to be followed by conditional passé. The answer to me seems no. It can also be followed by conditional.

Tu m'avais promis que tu le ferais.
You had promised me that you would do it.

It means something different, but is possible in both languages.


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## Diddlina

marget said:


> Is this an exercise from a textbook?



Yes and only avoir was in brackets.


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## Diddlina

Avignonais said:


> I read Diddlina's question differently: Does the plus-que-parfait have to be followed by conditional passé. The answer to me seems no. It can also be followed by conditional.
> 
> Tu m'avais promis que tu le ferais.
> You had promised me that you would do it.
> 
> It means something different, but is possible in both languages.



Yes, that was my original question. Does it have to be conditionnel passé because of the plus-que-parfait being a past tense or is conditionnel présent also an option.

If so, how do I know which to choose, given this is from a textbook?

So I get the lendemain, demain thing right, if it said lendemain that would be the next day after the promis so I should then definitly choose conditionnel passé right?


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## Avignonais

No, the lendemain does not tell you whether to use conditional or conditional passé. Both are possible in my opinion. I am not 100% sure, so let's see what others think.

Also it depends on how the exercise restricts the answer or is phrased.


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## marget

Diddlina said:


> Yes and only avoir was in brackets.



So are you saying that all you were asked for was the appropriate tense of avoir in that particular sentence?  If so, I would say "aurais".


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## Diddlina

marget said:


> So are you saying that all you were asked for was the appropriate tense of avoir in that particular sentence?  If so, I would say "aurais".



No sorry, the verb was faire, of course... Just a silly mistake on my behalf.

The sentence before this one was:
*Tu m'as promis que te le (faire) demain.*
And I conjugated that like this:
Tu m'as promis que tu ferais demain.

Then this one is set up like this:
*Tu m'avais promis que tu le (faire) le lendemain.*
Initially I thought to use the conditionnel présent but then I started thinking that since you have the plus-que-parfait in this one and passé composé in the other should you really use the same tense?

p.s. It actually says le lendemain in the example and I'm sorry for not including that info. A mistake on my behalf as well, not going over this well enough before sending it in.


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## Avignonais

In that case, I would say the simple answer is _conditionnel présent_: ferais.

As Jann mentioned if you think of this is _discours indirect_, then the _futur_ statement that the person being addressed said ("je le ferai demain") turns into _conditionnel_.


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## Diddlina

Avignonais said:


> In that case, I would say the simple answer is _conditionnel présent_: ferais.
> 
> As Jann mentioned if you think of this is _discours indirect_, then the _futur_ statement that the person being addressed said ("je le ferai demain") turns into _conditionnel_.



Yes I guess I was just thinking too much about the previous sentence and thinking that the answer couldn't possibly be the same in both cases...


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