# FR: the car wouldn't start



## Jasper30

Hello,

[...]

Would I also use the conditional if I wanted to say 'The car wouldn't start'?
La voiture ne commencerait pas

*Moderator note*: this question split from a separate thread.  Please open a new thread for each question!


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## Arioch94

No in this case english and french are different.

"The car wouldn't start" is a statement : the car doesn't start, period. No need for conditionnel there.

It depends on the context though


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## Jasper30

So it would be 
La voiture ne commençait pas or La voiture n’a commencé pas?
 
As the car wouldn't start, I had to take the bus.


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## Tim~!

[...]




> Would I also use the conditional if I wanted to say 'The car wouldn't start'?


Erm ... that's not even a conditional_ in English_, never mind looking to do it in French!


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## Jasper30

Thanks Tim,

So it would be 
La voiture ne commençait pas or La voiture n’a commencé pas?

As the car wouldn't start, I had to take the bus


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## Arioch94

to start (a car) = démarrer (une voiture)

Comme la voiture ne démarrait pas,...


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## Jasper30

Again, many thanks. So, finally As the car wouldn't start, I had to take the bus = Comme la voiture ne démarrait pas, j’ai oblige de prendre le bus


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## hotpocket

A mon avis

[...]

Vu que la voiture ne voulait pas démarrer (imparfait), j'*ai dû prendre* le bus / j'*ai été obligé(e) de prendre */ j'*ai été censé(e) prendre* le bus


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## Tim~!

Man, I really don't know!

I think that this is one of those things that I would say in either tense (or even the plus-que-parfait) and my French friends would allow to pass without correcting me where necessary, since they would know what I meant.

One thing I can tell you though is that your second choice is written wrongly: Where there's an auxiliary, _ne _and _pas _wrap around either side of it, so you'd have _la voiture n'a pas commencé_.


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## Moon Palace

I believe that when you say _the car wouldn't start _in English, you don't hint only at a past event, but also at the car's refusal to start, and I would naturally say in French: 
_Comme la voiture n'a pas voulu démarrer, j'ai dû prendre le bus / j'ai été obligé de prendre le bus. 
_or in the imperfect tense (which I would reserve for a narrration, a more literary style)
_Comme la voiture ne voulait pas démarrer, j'ai dû prendre le bus /..._


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## jann

Jasper30 said:


> Would I also use the conditional if I wanted to say 'The car wouldn't start'?
> La voiture ne commencerait pas





Tim~! said:


> Erm ... that's not even a conditional_ in English_, never mind looking to do it in French!


On the contrary!  We cannot possibly know what tense this is in English, or what tense to translate it with in French, without more context. Compare these examples:

It's very cold, so if I didn't use (preterit of "to use") a engine block heater, the car wouldn't start (present conditional of "to start"). 
_Il fait très froid.  Si je ne me servais pas (imparfait) d'un réchauffeur de bloc-moteur__, la voiture ne démarrerait pas (conditionnel)._

I forgot to plug the heater, so the car wouldn't start this morning (preterit of modal verb "will").
_J'ai oublié de branché le réchauffeur, et par conséquent, la voiture n'a pas voulu démarrer (passé composé of "vouloir") ce matin._

As the car wouldn't start (preterit of modal verb "will"), I had to take the bus.
_Comme la voiture ne voulait pas démarrer (imparfait of "vouloir"), j’ai été obligé de prendre le bus._

You seem to have a lot of questions about translating "would"... I think it might help you to review this verb's uses in English first, because depending on the role it plays, it will be translated by a different French tense.  Here are some relevant threads.


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## Jasper30

Thanks. As the car wouldn't start, I had to take the bus - this is the full sentence. It is in fact the entire paragraph as well.


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## itka

> I believe that when you say _the car wouldn't start _in English, you don't hint only at a past event, but also at the car's refusal to start, and I would naturally say in French:
> _Comme la voiture n'a pas voulu démarrer, j'ai dû prendre le bus / j'ai été obligé de prendre le bus.
> _or in the imperfect tense (which I would reserve for a narrration, a more literary style)
> _Comme la voiture ne voulait pas démarrer, j'ai dû prendre le bus /..._


I completely agree with Moon Palace. I would merely say :
_Comme la voiture n'a pas voulu démarrer, j'ai dû prendre le bus._


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## geostan

itka said:


> I completely agree with Moon Palace. I would merely say :
> _Comme la voiture n'a pas voulu démarrer, j'ai dû prendre le bus._


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## Nicomon

Ma version - je suis plus fâchée que les autres...

- Comme la voiture a refusé obstinément de démarrer, j'ai été forcé(e) de prendre l'autobus/le bus.


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