# Using longtemps



## Rex

Dear all  
Collins-Robert has a number of consturctions using longtemps: what I'm trying to say in the following is that Manly has long been a magnet etc. And if what I've written is corect, it certainly doesn't look very elegant, so any suggestions to improve it will be appreciated. Here it is: "c’est depuis longtemps que Manly a sert comme aimant"

Many thanks
Rex


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## Markus

I think that you usually use the present tense with depuis, unlike English. So maybe "Manly sert comme aimant depuis longtemps"? That would be my suggestion, but I would wait for a francophone to see if it is correct.

Markus


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## Rex

Many thanks Marcus: I'll see what else turns up.
Rgds
Rex


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## fetchezlavache

_cela fait longtemps que _ .....


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## Rex

Hello again. 
That's certainly much neater: instead of cela, could one usw ça? 
Rex


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## Ze Zeum

yes, but it is more colloquial. As for the sentence, it would be : 
"Cela fait longtemps que Manly sert comme aimant" but "sert comme" seems a little awkward to me. I would prefer "est utilisé comme" or "sert d'". I may have missed a nuance, still.


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## Rex

Hello again
Where I'm now at is: cela fait longtemops que Manly est un aimant...OK?
Many thanks once again
Rex


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## rayb

Et pourquoi pas: "Depuis longtemps ....."


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## Rex

Many thanks Rayb. 
What I now have is: "...depuis longtemps Manly est plutôt un aimant aux touristes..." Rgds
Rex


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## Cath.S.

Rex said:
			
		

> Many thanks Rayb.
> What I now have is: "...depuis longtemps Manly est plutôt un aimant aux touristes..." Rgds
> Rex


Hello Rex,
you can't say être un aimant à (or aux, in this particular case)
I'd write:
_Cela fait longtemps que Manly agit comme un aimant sur les touristes._

Btw, why did you use_ plutôt_?


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## rayb

egueule said:
			
		

> Hello Rex,
> you can't say être un aimant à (or aux, in this particular case)
> I'd write:
> _Cela fait longtemps que Manly agit comme un aimant sur les touristes._
> 
> Btw, why did you use_ plutôt_?


 
Alors, pourquoi pas?: "Depuis _longtemps Manly agit comme un aimant sur les touristes"_


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## Cath.S.

rayb said:
			
		

> Alors, pourquoi pas?: "Depuis longtemps Manly agit comme un aimant sur les touristes"


 
Pour moi les deux se valent.


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## Rex

Dera Equele
The more one asks, the more one learns. Taking your last point first, I wanted to express the idea of Manly being 'something of a magnet' rather than one in the literal sense. 
Your agit comme seems to meet all my requirements and using agir rather than servir makes it more 'active'. Many thanks, and if people are not yet thoroughly bored with it, this is what I now have as the complete sentence: 
"Se vantant de trois plages et plusieurs autres attractions, cela fait longtemps que Manly agit comme un aimant sur beaucoup de touristes, de vacanciers et de excursionnistes : il semble que presque tout le monde y soit tiré par l’attrait de soleil, sable, et vague. "
Rgds
Rex


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## fetchezlavache

.... monde y soit attiré par le soleil, les plages et la mer...


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## Rex

fetchezlavache said:
			
		

> .... monde y soit attiré par le soleil, les plages et la mer...


Dear fetchezlavache
Thank you again for taking such an interest in my postings. The reason I had omitted the articles was because I thought this was permitted in the case of a list of three or more things, and I actually thought it flowed a little more smoothly.
Rgds
Rex


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## charlie2

egueule said:
			
		

> _Cela fait longtemps que Manly agit comme un aimant sur les touristes._


Hello everyone,
Manly is beautiful, but I have to side-track a bit, si Rex ne m'en veut pas.  
If I am making a negative statement, is _passé composé_ the tense to use instead of the present tense?
e.g. Ça/ Cela fait longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vu./ Depuis longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vu.
Thank you.


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## Jean-Michel Carrère

Ça/ Cela fait longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vu./ _Fine._

Depuis longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vu. _Correct tense, but incorrect syntax._Correct syntax : je ne t'ai pas vu depuis longtemps.


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## Jean-Michel Carrère

*Pouvant se targuer * de trois plages et de plusieurs autres attractions, Manly agit comme un aimant sur beaucoup de touristes, de vacanciers et *d' * excursionnistes : il semble que presque tout le monde *___* soit *attiré* par *le* soleil, *le* sable, et *les* vague*s*. "


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## charlie2

Jean-Michel Carrère said:
			
		

> Ça/ Cela fait longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vu./ _Fine._
> 
> Depuis longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vu. _Correct tense, but incorrect syntax._Correct syntax : je ne t'ai pas vu depuis longtemps.


I see, thank you.


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## Rex

Dear Jean-Michel
Thank you again for what I see as the definitive version. I note the need for articles for each of the items sun sand and surf. Actually, there are several other places in the essay where I'm using lists or series of nouns and which seem to flow well without the articles, but look rather topheavy with them. Besides the literary omissions quoted eg. in Grevisse L'Huillier et al, is there perhaps a more general rule on their omission in lists or series?
Rgds again
Rex


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## Cath.S.

You can safely omit the article in shopping lists : 
_- beurre_
_- huile d'olive_
_- essuie-tout..._


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## Rex

Dear equele
That's a start! How about in the following: il y a une large esplanade, vibrant avec marcheurs, landaus, patineurs et beaucoup de chiens, parsemée de bancs, tables, cabines téléphoniques et petits bâtiments....?
Rex


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## Cath.S.

You definitely need the articles here, especially for the second part of the sentence.
de bancs, de tables etc.
"vibrant avec " does not sound correctin French, what words would you have used in English?


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## Rex

egueule said:
			
		

> You definitely need the articles here, especially for the second part of the sentence.
> de bancs, de tables etc.
> "vibrant avec " does not sound correctin French, what words would you have used in English?


Hello and thanks again. Vibrant avec = pulsating with.
Rgds
Rex


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## Cath.S.

The only suggestion I can think of is: 
_il y a une large esplanade, ébranlée par les promeneurs, (_better than _marcheurs) les landaus, les patineurs et  beaucoup de  les nombreux chiens._
_ébranler _= to set in motion, to move.


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## Rex

That's great, but wouldn't I be using the present rather than the past pasrticple?
Rgds
Rex


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## Cath.S.

Sorry it took me so long answering, I was elsewhere in the forums.
No, no, it is the past participle you want here, because literally in French it does not say *moving with* but *moved by*


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## Rex

egueule said:
			
		

> Sorry it took me so long answering, I was elsewhere in the forums.
> No, no, it is the past participle you want here, because literally in French it does not say *moving with* but *moved by*


Many thanks once again. I think i've rather done this one to death for a while, so I'd better return to my essay - in English this time - on Huis clos!
Rex


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## LV4-26

Rex,

Article omission _is_ possible in some cases. But not everywhere and not really in your sentence. But you could definitely say something like :
_Cette rue est en perpétuelle effervescence. Promeneurs, journalistes, cadres et employés s'y côtoient dans une grande agitation._ 
I couldn't really explain why article omission doesn't work in your sentence, though. Maybe one reason is the use of the passive voice. And maybe the nouns without an article have to be the subjects of the sentence...


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## Cath.S.

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Rex,
> 
> Article omission _is_ possible in some cases. But not everywhere and not really in your sentence. But you could definitely say something like :
> _Cette rue est en perpétuelle effervescence. Promeneurs, journalistes, cadres et employés s'y côtoient dans une grande agitation._
> I couldn't really explain why article omission doesn't work in your sentence, though. Maybe one reason is the use of the passive voice. And maybe the nouns without an article have to be the subjects of the sentence...


I think it's the use of the passive voice that makes it impossible, not the fact that it's the subject, since you could write:
_Par la fenêtre du train, elle voyait défiler champs, villages, ponts et riviières._


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## Rex

Many thanks LV4. This is my first experience with the forum and I must say I am so impressed with the number of friendly people coming to my aid.
Weighing up all the replies, I'm inclined to put all the articles in, rather than run the risk of leaving some out which should be in. What you say about being the subject also seems to gel with the various literary quotes in Grevisse etc., while it seems one may leave them out in genuine lists, like shopping etc.
Thanks once again
Rex


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## la grive solitaire

I keep going back to vibrer... 

Cette rue/esplanade vibre sous le pas des promeneurs, etc. ?


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## Cath.S.

la grive solitaire said:
			
		

> I keep going back to vibrer...
> 
> Cette rue/esplanade vibre sous le pas des promeneurs, etc. ?


That solution had also accured to me, but then U found the _cetera_ bit in your etc. was not so easy to deal with.
Les pas des promeneurs et (celui) des nombreux chiens woulc be ok, but what do we do with the landaus and the patineurs?


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## Rex

Dear Eguel et La rive solitaire
The more one looks into it, the more one realises that the concept of zero article, at least for intermediate students like me, is quite a minefield, and curiosly neglected in the atandard txt books etc.
Thre follows what I ghave as the "definitive version: I preferred innonder as I'm trying to keep the water  motive adloat!
" Comme pièce maîtresse il y a une large esplanade, inondée par les marcheurs, les landaus, les patineurs et les nombreux chiens, parsemée de bancs, de tables, de cabines téléphoniques et de petits bâtiments, et la scène entière surveillée d’une ligne de vieux pins." 
Rgds
Rex


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## la grive solitaire

...not to mention adding in the "bancs, tables, cabines téléphoniques et petits bâtiments" 
Actually, I thought [was hoping?] that LV4-266 had replaced the landaus and the patineurs with "journalistes, cadres et employés" !


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## Cath.S.

Rex, 
if you_ must _ have_ inonder_, at least say: inondée *de* marcheurs, de landaus etc.
Grive Solitaire, 
LV4-26 (not 266) was just providing a made up example. Unfortunately, lol!


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## Rex

OK, and thanks again to you both.
Rex


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