# FR: they were going out for a few months before she became his official girlfriend



## 1amateurdechopin

Bonjour,
   I was wondering if the following sentence is a good translation for "They were going out for a few months before she became his official girlfriend."

"Ils sortaient pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle soit devenue sa petite amie pour de vrai."

Merci d'avance!


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## geostan

1amateurdechopin said:


> Bonjour,
> I was wondering if the following sentence is a good translation for "They were going out for a few months before she became his official girlfriend."
> 
> "Ils sortaient pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle soit devenue sa petite amie pour de vrai."
> 
> Merci d'avance!



The imperfect of _sortir_ by itself is not compatible here with the time phrase "pendant quelques mois." I would say: _Ils allaient sortir._.. And I would use the present subjunctive: avant qu'elle (ne) devienne...

Cheers!


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## Fredau

1amateurdechopin said:


> Bonjour,
> I was wondering if the following sentence is a good translation for "They were going out for a few months before she became his official girlfriend."
> 
> "Ils sortaient pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle soit devenue sa petite amie pour de vrai."
> 
> Merci d'avance!





geostan said:


> The imperfect of _sortir_ by itself is not compatible here with the time phrase "pendant quelques mois." I would say: _Ils allaient sortir._.. And I would use the present subjunctive: avant qu'elle (ne) devienne...
> 
> Cheers!



_Ils *sont sortis* ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'*elle ne devienne* sa petite amie (french Canada: sa blonde) pour de vrai._


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## Laürenar

Bonjour,

in France, we would say : « Ils *sont sortis* (not "ont") ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devienne réellement sa petite amie. »

I didn't know that we said « ont sorti » in Canada, 
« réellement » suits better here according to me.


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## tilt

Fredau said:


> _Ils *ont sorti* ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'*elle ne devienne* sa petite amie (french Canada: sa blonde) pour de vrai._


_Ils ont sorti _is incorrect (in Parisian French at least). In this meaning, the phrase must be _Ils *sont *sorti*s*...
_And I think_ pour de vrai _is not the best translation for _official.

_I'd rather suggest something closer to the English, but perfectly French too:
_Ils sont sortis ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devienne officiellement sa petite amie._


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## tilt

Laürenar said:


> Bonjour,
> 
> in France, we would say : « Ils *sont sortis* (not "ont") ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devienne réellement sa petite amie. »
> 
> I didn't know that we said « ont sorti » in Canada,
> « réellement » suits better here according to me.


I agree _réellement _sounds better, but it has the same drawback as _pour de vrai_: as they were going out for months, she really was his girlfriend, even if it was a secret. Thus, _réellement _doesn't fit the meaning more than _pour de vrai_, in my opinion.


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## Laürenar

You're right, the correct sentence would be :

« Ils sont sortis ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devienne *officiellement* sa petite amie. »


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## geostan

Laürenar said:


> You're right, the correct sentence would be :
> 
> « Ils sont sortis ensemble pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devienne *officiellement* sa petite amie. »



But the passé composé does not translate the English version "were going out." This use of the English imperfect suggests intention. They have not yet gone out. Perhaps I should have used "pour" instead of "pendant" in my translation.


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## Montaigne

Ils se fréquentaient depuis quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devînt officiellement sa petite amie.


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## geostan

Montaigne said:


> Ils se fréquentaient depuis quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devînt officiellement sa petite amie.



Je me demande maintenant, si 1Amateurdechopin a mal exprimé la phrase qu'il/elle voulait traduire.

La phrase originale indique l'intention de sortir au moment où l'on parle. Si c'est le cas, il faudrait dire allaient ou devaient sortir...

Si 1Amateurdechopin voulait exprimer "had been going out..." la construction avec depuis est correcte, mais j'aurais remplacé devînt par devienne.

Cheers!


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## Toaster

Does "se fréquenaient"  have that same sense of dating or going steady that the English "going out" has?


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## geostan

Toaster said:


> Does "se fréquenaient"  have that same sense of dating or going steady that the English "going out" has?



Yes, if the context is clear, as in this case.


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## Montaigne

geostan,
"would" a valeur fréquentative, et c'est le cas de le dire !


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## geostan

Montaigne said:


> geostan,
> "would" a valeur fréquentative, et c'est le cas de le dire !



Et alors...?


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## Areyou Crazy

If  we look at the English
It would have been better to say 

They had been going out for several months before she became his girlfriend
I don't think the English was incorrect but I was taught that this would be an occasion where we should employ the past perfect. I know that it's the French which is important of course but:
I think the main point to translate is the length of time rather than the repetive nature of the action, (but maybe that's subjective)
But I suggest
ils  sont sortis ensemble  pendant quelques mois avant qu'elle ne devienne oficiellement sa petite amie.. although I have just seen that it has already been mentioned !


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## radagasty

geostan said:


> But the passé composé does not translate the English version "were going out." This use of the English imperfect suggests intention. They have not yet gone out. Perhaps I should have used "pour" instead of "pendant" in my translation.


 
The English original did strike me as being somewhat careless with the sequence of tenses, but I'm not quite sure I see what you mean by the use of the imperfect suggesting intention. Certainly, I do not get the idea that they have not yet 'gone out', as it were.


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## Areyou Crazy

If I can interpret geostan's statement; I think he was referring to the confusion surrounding what is meant by going out...
They were going out together (as friends) or
They were going out together (as lovers)
Either way I don't see how this would change the grammar
Apologies if I have wrongly interpreted Geostan's statement


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## geostan

Areyou Crazy said:


> If I can interpret geostan's statement; I think he was referring to the confusion surrounding what is meant by going out...
> They were going out together (as friends) or
> They were going out together (as lovers)
> Either way I don't see how this would change the grammar
> Apologies if I have wrongly interpreted Geostan's statement



Unfortunately, that was not my point. Let's see if I can explain it better.

"They were going out for a few months before she became his official girlfriend." If the speaker intended to show that the couple had already been out a certain number of times before they became or decided to become officially a twosome, then the English would have to state it as a past perfect progressive with a time expression introduced by "for."  This much has already been stated in the above postings.

My point is that the only possible way the past progressive could be used is if the couple had not yet begun their sorties, as in this more specific context:

"They said that they were going out for a few months before she became his official girlfriend." The original words would probably be: "We are going out for a few months before she becomes my official girlfriend." Clearly, they wanted to try a few dates before becoming the proverbial "item."  I doubt that this is what the original poster had in mind. I suspect he/she is not a native English speaker.  But only in a context such as the one I've just outlined, would one consider using a past progressive.

I hope this clarifies my point.

Cheers!


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## Areyou Crazy

_lost my messages!! bizarre !

_ah j'ai pigé
Isn't that future in the past?
I agree I think he or she  ( chopin) is a Pole
Yes then it would become reported speech
We can only guess the context I would assume though that it was the former case; they had been going out!


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## geostan

For AreYou Crazy..

"isn' t that 'future in the past' ?" 

...which is why I originally suggested  "allaient or devaient sortir..."

Cheers!


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## Areyou Crazy

I feel sorry for chopin they only asked a simple question!


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## 1amateurdechopin

Bonjour à tous,

Merci pour vos réponses. Oui, mon pays natal n'est ni l'Angleterre ni les Etats-Unis mais je parle l'anglais assez bien.  Je ne me suis pas rendu compte que j'étais "désordonné" (sloppy).  Je voulais dire "They had been going out for a few months before she became his girlfriend" ie. they went out as friends, did activities together but only after a few months did they start dating "officially". 

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi je ne peux pas utiliser le mot "pendant quelques mois" au lieu de "depuis".  Est-ce que c'est parce qu'on utilise "depuis" pour les actions qui continuent au présent?  
Le couple est encore ensemble, donc dirais-je:

"Ils allaient sortir (ils sont sortis?) depuis quelques ensemble avant qu'elle ne devienne officiellement sa petite amie."  ???

Merci encore une fois.


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## tilt

_Ils allaient sortir_ _ensemble _impliquerait que finalement, ils ne l'ont pas fait, ou pas encore au moment relaté par la phrase : _ils allaient sortir ensemble lorsqu'elle rencontra quelqu'un d'autre_, par exemple. Ce temps ne convient donc pas à ta phrase.

Le temps adapté dépend de la préposition que tu choisis. Avec _pendant_, il faut dire _ils sont sortis _; avec _depuis_, il faut dire _ils sortaient_:
_- Ils sortaient ensemble depuis quelques mois*...
- Ils sont sortis ensemble pendant quelques mois...
_L'idée exprimée est la même, mais la différence tient dans le moment choisi comme référence dans le temps. Avec _pendant_, c'est le 1er évenement (_ils sortent ensemble_), qui est décrit comme suivi du 2e (_elle devient officiellement sa petite amie_), alors qu'avec _depuis_, c'est le 2e qu'on relate, en mentionnant qu'il a été précédé du 1er.

Suis-je clair ? 

* Ou _depuis quelques mois ensemble_, les deux sont équivalents.


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## 1amateurdechopin

Merci Tilt! Je comprends mieux les deux choix (le passé composé et l'imparfait) mainenant.


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