# EN: je viens de partir / je partais



## prof d'anglais

I'm well aquainted with the futur proche, je vais partir - I am going to leave but until now I was unaware of the passé proche, je viens de partir. Should this be translated into *I have just left*, with the auxillary, as in the passé composé, je suis parti or *I just left*, as in the imparfait, je partais, without the auxillary? Can anyone hear me screaming?


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## Outsider

prof d'anglais said:


> Should this be translated into *I have just left*, with the auxillary, as in the passé composé, je suis parti or *I just left*, as in the imparfait, je partais, without the auxillary?


If I'm not mistaken, both English sentences mean basically the same. The difference is more one of British English versus American English, isn't it?

If this is so, then either translation is right.


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## Gil

I vote for:
 *I have just left

*And "je partais" would be "I was leaving"


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## McVities

"I have just left" in standard english.

I always thought I was progressive but I must say I was never keen on these "futur proche " and "passe proche"....


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## Gil

Explications là


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## prof d'anglais

Now I'm confused (nothing unusual) but wouldn't je partais, imparfait, be I left? I'm not even going to go down the passé simple road. With the auxillary 'just', it's no longer progressive but a completed action in the near past?


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## Gil

This might help


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## prof d'anglais

The Bertrandboutin reference muddies the water even more, because it's using both 'has' and 'had' to translate from venir, the passé récent form.


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## JeanDeSponde

Prof d'anglais: personnellement j'ai du mal à savoir quel temps j'utiliserais sans avoir une phrase complète. Le temps employé, en effet, dépend beaucoup du contexte, du style... et du locuteur !


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## prof d'anglais

Unfortunately, French grammar exercises rarely include a contextual reference. All I have to work on are these two statements - je vais partir (futur proche) and je viens de partir (passé proche). As I said in my original posting, je vais partir - I am going to leave, but je viens de partir - I just left or I have just left?


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## Lacuzon

Hi,

As far as I am concerned I would say : I have just left.


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## JeanDeSponde

PD'A, would you say _I just left_ without any bit before or after?...


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## prof d'anglais

I could imagine replying to a question "Are you still at home?" - "No, *I just left*"."


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## WordRef1

prof d'anglais said:


> I'm well aquainted with the futur proche, je vais partir - I am going to leave but until now I was unaware of the passé proche, je viens de partir. Should this be translated into *I have just left*, with the auxillary, as in the passé composé, je suis parti or *I just left*, as in the imparfait, je partais, without the auxillary? Can anyone hear me screaming?


It's pretty clear to me. "I have just left" and "I just left" mean the same thing to me (though I would more likely use the latter) and therefore either would translate to "je viens de partir". As to which is more "proper" according to some academic standard, I don't know.


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## prof d'anglais

Unfortunately, the French Course I'm attempting does demand a high academic standard. As I dig deeper into this problem, I'm also confronted by the possibility of the simple past tense and past participle of have, as in I had just left. Each of the three possibilities does in, fact have a separate and individual meaning, no matter how similar. Literally translating the French, I'm stuck with "I come to leave", which actually pushes the phrase into the future, which makes the whole exercise nonsensical. The deeper I get, the more complicated it becomes.


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## WordRef1

Ok, not quite following that, but I think "je viens de partir" is more like "I come from leaving." which doesn't really make sense in English, but one can see that it implies a transition from what one did to one's current state. It would work with location in English (though we'd now require the past tense: came) e.g. "I came (here) from the next town over." It would be understood of a traveling person who just showed up in town that he was there just before coming here.


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