Breakdown of Le château a été vendu par la reine et nous habitons ici depuis janvier.
être
to be
ici
here
et
and
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
avoir
to have
habiter
to live
le château
the castle
vendre
to sell
par
by, through / out of (motive)
depuis
since/for
janvier
January
la reine
the queen
Questions & Answers about Le château a été vendu par la reine et nous habitons ici depuis janvier.
Why is it a été vendu and not just a vendu?
A été vendu is the passive voice in the passé composé. If we said Le château a vendu, it would mean "The castle sold" (as if the castle were doing the selling). To say it was sold, we use the auxiliary verb être in the past (a été) followed by the past participle of the main verb (vendu).
If the sentence was about a feminine word, like la maison, would vendu change?
Yes! In the passive voice, the past participle always agrees with the subject. Since Le château is masculine singular, vendu stays as is. If the subject were La maison, it would be La maison a été vendue, adding an e to agree with the feminine subject.
Why does the French say nous habitons (we live) when the English translation says "we have lived"?
In French, when an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense with depuis (since/for). Because we are still living in the castle now, we say nous habitons ici depuis janvier, which functions exactly like the English present perfect but translates literally to "we live here since January".
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