Breakdown of C'était une vraie catastrophe : on avait volé ma carte bancaire !
être
to be
une
a / an (feminine)
on
one / we (informal)
ce
it / this (with être)
avoir
to have
vrai
true
mon
my (mon, ma, mes)
voler
to steal
la catastrophe
the disaster (f)
la carte bancaire
the bank card (f)
Questions & Answers about C'était une vraie catastrophe : on avait volé ma carte bancaire !
Why do we use avait volé here instead of the passé composé (a volé)?
Avait volé is the plus-que-parfait (past perfect), which translates to "had stolen". We use it to show that an action happened before another point in the past. The disaster was already in the past (c'était), but the theft happened even earlier, causing the disaster!
Why is the first part of the sentence in the imparfait (c'était) rather than the passé composé (ça a été)?
The English translation says "someone had stolen", but doesn't on usually mean "we"?
Yes, on is most commonly used in spoken French to mean "we". However, it literally means "one" or "people in general". In this sentence, it acts as an unspecified "someone" or "they". Using on is a very common way in French to say an action happened without knowing exactly who did it, often serving the same purpose as the passive voice in English ("my card had been stolen").
Why does vraie come before catastrophe? Aren't adjectives usually placed after the noun?
Usually, yes! But vrai(e) is an adjective that changes meaning slightly depending on its position. When it comes before the noun, it means "real" in a figurative or emphasizing sense (like a "real disaster" or a "real hero"). If it comes after the noun, it means "true" as opposed to false (like une histoire vraie, a true story).
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