Question 1

English says it happens when they 'have found' a job. Why does French use the future tense auront trouvé?

Accepted Answer

In English, we use the present perfect (have found) after 'when' to talk about the future. French is strictly logical: if an action happens in the future, a future tense must be used after time conjunctions like quand or dès que. We use the futur antérieur here because the action of finding a job must be fully completed before the birth rate increases.

Question 2

Could I just use the regular future tense for both verbs and say quand les habitants trouveront un travail?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it changes the nuance. Using the futur simple (trouveront) makes it sound like the two actions happen at exactly the same time. Using the futur antérieur (auront trouvé) emphasizes the sequence of events: finding the job is a prerequisite that must be finished first.

Question 3

Why does the sentence say un travail instead of just travail?

Accepted Answer

In English, the word 'work' is usually uncountable, so you wouldn't normally say 'a work' (you would say 'a job'). However, in French, un travail is a countable noun and is the standard, everyday way to translate 'a job'. Another great word for this is un emploi.

Question 4

Should I pronounce the 's' at the end of habitants?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you should make a liaison here. Because habitants ends in an 's' and the following word (auront) starts with a vowel, the 's' is pronounced as a 'z' sound linking the two words together. You also make this exact same 'z' liaison between les and habitants!

La natalité augmentera quand les habitants auront trouvé un travail.

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