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Je voudrais skier avec un ami pendant les vacances.

Je voudrais skier avec un ami pendant les vacances.
I would like to ski with a friend during the holidays.
From Lesson 99:Closed duration (pendant)·French

Questions & Answers about Je voudrais skier avec un ami pendant les vacances.

Why do we use pendant here to mean 'during'?
The preposition pendant is used to talk about an action that happens for a set, closed period of time from start to finish. It translates to 'during' or 'for' in English. While English speakers often want to use pour to say 'for a period of time', French uses pendant for these defined blocks of time, like a holiday.
Why is the verb vouloir conjugated as je voudrais instead of je veux?
Je voudrais means 'I would like', which is a softer, more polite way to express a wish than saying je veux (I want). This is the conditional form of the verb, which you will often use to sound polite in everyday French.
Why doesn't the verb skier have a conjugated ending?
When two verbs are used together to express a single idea, only the first verb gets conjugated. Since voudrais is already conjugated to match je, the second verb skier (to ski) stays in its full, unconjugated dictionary form, which is called the infinitive.
Is the word vacances always plural?
Yes, when it means 'vacation' or 'time off', les vacances is always a plural feminine noun in French. Even if you translate it as the singular word 'vacation' in American English, you must treat it as plural in French!

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