Breakdown of J'étais un adolescent très rebelle.
je
I
être
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
très
very
l'adolescent
the teenager (m)
rebelle
rebellious
Questions & Answers about J'étais un adolescent très rebelle.
Where does the form étais come from?
It is the imperfect (imparfait) form of être (to be). Usually, to find the stem for the imperfect tense, you drop the -ons from the present tense nous form. But être is the only exception! Its imperfect stem is simply ét-. For je, you add the ending -ais to make J'étais (I was).
Why do we use the imperfect tense (J'étais) here instead of the passé composé (J'ai été)?
The imperfect tense is used to describe continuous states of being, habits, or background information in the past. Since being a rebellious teenager was a prolonged, ongoing state rather than a single, completed event, the imperfect is the right choice here.
Why is it adolescent très rebelle and not très rebelle adolescent?
In English, adjectives come before the noun (rebellious teenager). In French, most adjectives go after the noun they describe. Only a specific group of common, short adjectives (usually describing Beauty, Age, Goodness, or Size) go before the noun. rebelle follows the standard rule, so it comes after adolescent.
How would this sentence change if a woman were saying it?
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