# FR: she joined us



## madeleineze

Bonjour.
How do I say "she joined us to the café?"
Elle nous rejoignit au café   ?

p.s. I have to use passé simple, that's why I didn't put it in passé composé.

merci d'avance!


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## Pohoda

If you *really* have to use passé simple that's correct, but i would never say it in this way.
If not, you should use, as you said, passé composé and say : Elle nous a rejoint au café


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## madeleineze

Pohoda said:


> If you *really* have to use passé simple that's correct, but i would never say it in this way.
> If not, you should use, as you said, passé composé and say : Elle nous a rejoint au café


in this case, is the 'nous' a indirect object? 
are we using rejoindre à or just rejoindre?


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## itka

_Elle nous rejoignit au café  _Perfect if you're writing a literary text._
Elle nous a rejoint*s* au café._

In both cases, "nous" is a direct object.
_Elle a rejoint *ses amis* au café._


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## Bix

Heu mais si c'est un objet direct, ne faudrait-il pas accorder puisqu'il précède ?

_Elle nous a rejoint*s* au café_


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## Maître Capello

Oui, bien sûr qu'il faut faire l'accord. (C'est sans doute une coquille…)

_Elle nous a rejoint*(e)s* au café_.


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## Bix

J'étais étonné qu'Itka ne l'ait pas soulevée 

Et merci M. Capello d'avoir ajouté la possibilité d'un féminin


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## jann

> How do I say "she joined us to the café?"


What does this mean? 

"To join X *to* Y" means that you attach the two things together (physically or otherwise).  Did you mean to ask about "she joined us *in* the café," meaning that she sat down with you there?


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## madeleineze

jann said:


> What does this mean?
> 
> "To join X *to* Y" means that you attach the two things together (physically or otherwise).  Did you mean to ask about "she joined us *in* the café," meaning that she sat down with you there?


it means that you ran into someone while on the way to a place, like a cafe for instance. this said person then decides to join you(to the café). they come along with you. this sentence has nothing to do with attaching things together. its not quite an idiom, but it not a literal statement either.

to say she joined us *in* the cafe would imply that you met up in the cafe, and the date was fairly prearranged.


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## jann

> it means that you ran into someone while on the way to a place, like a  cafe for instance. this said person then decides to join you(to the  café). they come along with you. this sentence has nothing to do with  attaching things together. its not quite an idiom, but it not a literal  statement either.


Thanks for this explanation!  It's certainly the first time I've ever heard "to join us *to* the café"!   In context, I think I would have understood the meaning, but I certainly would never have guessed seeing the sentence by itself.  It's certainly not an idiom!  Just to to be sure I understand properly, does "join us to the café" make it clear that she did not go into the café with you??  Or does it mean that she came along with you on the way to the café, and then also went inside with you?

Depending on exactly what she did, I think I'd be more likely to say something like "she joined us as far as the café" (in that case, she didn't go in with you), or "she joined us on our way to the café" (she might have gone in with you), or "she joined us and came along to the café" (she definitely went in with you).

The French translations you have so far are for "She joined us *in/at* the café."  They mean that you met her there, and they make it clear that she did not accompany you on the way there.





madeleineze said:


> to say she joined us *in* the cafe would imply that you met up in the cafe, and the date was fairly prearranged.


I definitely agree that it means you met up with her in the café, but I don't think it means the meeting was prearranged.  Depending on the context, you can also use "she joined us in the café" even if she ran into you there by chance.


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## AudeS

madeleineze said:


> it means that you ran into someone while on the way to a place, like a cafe for instance. this said person then decides to join you(to the café). they come along with you. this sentence has nothing to do with attaching things together. its not quite an idiom, but it not a literal statement either.
> 
> to say she joined us *in* the cafe would imply that you met up in the cafe, and the date was fairly prearranged.



Well, in this context, the translations given above are wrong, I think.
"Elle nous rejoignit au café" means that "nous" was at the café, talked to "elle" on the phone or something and that "elle" decided to join "nous".

If "nous" ran into "elle" on the way to the café, I'd say:
"Elle décida de se joindre à nous pour aller au café" (she decided to come along to the café)
or
"Elle se joignit à nous pour aller au café"

I'm not very satisfied with the "pour aller au café" bit. It's not incorrect, but it's awkward. It would be better if you had the possibility to change the sentence a bit and either omit it ("elle se joignit à nous" is enough if the context already provides us with the intention of going to the café), or replace it with the drink they're gonna have, coffee maybe? "Elle décida de se joindre à nous pour un petit café"...

Hope it helped!


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## jann

> If "nous" ran into "elle" on the way to the café, I'd say:
> "Elle décida de se joindre à nous pour aller au café"


In this case, she has decided to come into the café with you.  Another possibility:  _elle nous a rejoints et nous sommes allés au café ensemble._

But if you happen to meet her in the street, and you are all walking in the same direction, and she decides to walk with you so that you can talk... but then she continues on her own errands when you go into the café, a different translation will be necessary: _Elle nous a rejoints/accompagnés jusqu'au café, etc.
_


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## AudeS

jann said:


> In this case, she has decided to come into the café with you.  Another possibility:  _elle nous a rejoints et nous sommes allés au café ensemble._
> 
> But if you happen to meet her in the street, and you are all walking in the same direction, and she decides to walk with you so that you can talk... but then she continues on her own errands when you go into the café, a different translation will be necessary: _Elle nous a rejoints/accompagnés jusqu'au café, etc.
> _



Hey Mr Co'Mod!

Passé simple, here, please!  rejoignit, allâmes, accompagna...


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## jann

AudeS said:


> Hey Mr Co'Mod! Passé simple, here, please!  rejoignit, allâmes, accompagna...


That's Ms. Co'Mod to you. 

Sorry, I had forgotten about that stipulation from post #1.  But the transformation is not rocket science.  
And for those who are less comfortable with _passé simple _conjugations, there is always the conjugator.


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