55 Mais elle se trompe
venir de
Non, à côté de chez moi il y a un complexe multisalles qui vient d'ouvrir. No, next to my place there's a multiplex that has just opened.
The French construction "venir de" + infinitive is used to express recent past actions. 1
Structure and Meaning
"Venir de" + infinitive is used to say "to have just done something" in French. It's equivalent to the English construction "have/has just + past participle".
The basic structure is:
Conjugated form of "venir" + "de" + infinitive verb
For example:
- Je viens de finir mon livre. (I have just finished my book.)
- Nous venons d'apprendre la nouvelle. (We have just heard the news.)
Conjugation
"Venir" is conjugated in the present tense according to the subject:
- Je viens de
- Tu viens de
- Il/Elle/On vient de
- Nous venons de
- Vous venez de
- Ils/Elles viennent de
Usage
This construction is used to talk about actions that happened in the very recent past. It's like a whole new tense in French, and it's often easier to use than other past tenses like passé composé.
Contraction
The "de" contracts to "d'" before verbs starting with a vowel or silent h:
- Je viens d'arriver. (I have just arrived.)
Other Tenses
While most commonly used in the present tense, "venir de" can also be used in the imperfect tense to say "had just done" something:
- Je venais de terminer ce puzzle quand... (I had just finished this puzzle when...)
Additional Note
It's important to note that "venir de" has another meaning when used with locations rather than verbs. In that case, it means "to come from" a place.
se passer vs. passer
- passer to pass
- se passer to happen
Le film se passe à Paris, où je passe mes vacances. The film takes place in Paris, where I spend my holidays.
s'entendre
- entendre to hear
- J'ai entendu un bruit. I heard a noise.
- Un jour, la femme est seule à la maison lorsqu'elle entend des bruits étanges dehors. One day, the woman is alone in the house when she hears strange noises outside.
- entendu I see, I understand
- Venez tôt demain. - Entendu. Come early tomorrow. - Will do.
- s'entendre
- simple reflexive: to hear oneself
- Faites moins de bruit, je ne m'entends pas parler au téléphone. Make less noise, I can't hear myself speaking on the phone.
- idiomatic pronominal verb: to reach an agreement, to get on well
- Je m'entends très bien avec le frère de Jacques. I get on well with Jacques' brother.
- C'est l'histoire d'un vieux couple qui, en apparence, s'entend à merveille. It's the story of an old couple who, apparently, get on marvellously.
- simple reflexive: to hear oneself
tromper
- se tromper to make a mistake
- Mais elle se trompe. But she is mistaken!
- tromper to deceive, mislead, to be unfaithful to, to cheat on (informal)
- Le vendeur m'a trompé sur le prix des appels téléphoniques. The salesman misled me about the price of phone calls.
- Si une femme trompe son mari, c'est souvent parce que le mari trompe sa femme. If a wife is unfaithful to her husband, it's often because the husband is cheating on his wife.
battre
- Il a battu les records d'audience pour un film d'épouvante. It has broken viewing records for a horror movie.
- Elle se bat avec lui mais il est beaucoup plus fort et il la bat à coups de bâton. She fights with him but he is much stronger and he hits her with a stick.
- Nous avons battu tous les records de froid pour un mois de décembre. We have broken all the cold-temperature records for a month of December.
un coup
- un coup d'œil a quick look
- donner un coup de main à quelqu'un to give somebody a hand
- un coup a blow, a knock
- un coup de bâton a blow with a stick
- J'ai pris un coup sur la tête. I banged my head.
- Elle le battait à coups de brosse. She was hitting him with a brush.
Vocabulaire
| mots | explications |
|---|---|
| atroce | terrible |
| mort | dead la mort death |
| battre | to beat P.P. battu |
| épouvante | terror, dread - un film d'épouvante a horror movie |
| épouvantable | dreadful, appalling - Quel temps épouvantable ! What dreadful weather! |
| à côté de | next to - Il habite à côté de chez moi. He lives next door to me. |
| multisalles | ADJ. cinéma multisalles multiplex cinema |
| varié | varied, various |
| spacieux | ADJ. spacious / FEM. spacieuse |
| glace | ice l'ère de glace the ice age une glace an ice cream (elision of une crème glacée an iced cream) |
| la vedette | star - une vedette de cinéma a film star |
| un monstre sacré | (a holy monster) a giant, a legendary figure |
| amuser | to amuse (someone) - Il m'amuse avec ses histoires drôles. He amuses me with his funny stories. |
| s'amuser | to enjoy oneself - On s'est bien amusés. We really enjoyed ourselves. - Il joue mal de la guitare mais il s'amuse. He plays the guitar badly but he enjoys himself. |
| en apparence | apparently, seemingly |
| vieux | old. FEM. vieille MASC. vieil if before a vowel |
| hameau | hamlet |
| l'apparence | appearance |
| tuer | to kill |
| énorme | huge |
| hache | ax |
| battre | to beat se battre to fight |
| le bâton | stick |
| cacher | to hide se cacher to hide - Elle s'est cachée sous la table. She's hidden under the table. |
| néanmoins | nevertheless |
| le/la gosse | kid |
| la moitié | half - la moitié du temps half the time - Elle est partie à la moitié du film. She left halfway through the film. |