Question 1

Why does the sentence use venaient de trouver to mean 'had just found'?

Accepted Answer

The expression venir de followed by an infinitive verb (like trouver) is used to say that someone 'has just done' something. To shift this into the past ('had just done'), we put venir into the imperfect tense, which gives us venaient. If it were in the present tense (elles viennent de trouver), it would mean 'they have just found'.

Question 2

Could I try to translate this literally as elles avaient juste trouvé?

Accepted Answer

It is best to avoid that. While an English speaker might instinctively try to translate 'had just found' word-for-word using the plus-que-parfait (past perfect tense) and the word for 'just', the natural French structure for this specific idea is always venir de in the imperfect tense.

Question 3

Does le fil only mean a literal 'thread'?

Accepted Answer

It often means a 'thread' for sewing, but it is a very useful everyday word. Depending on the context, un fil can also mean a 'wire' (like an electrical wire), a 'string', or even a 'feed' or 'timeline' on social media.

Question 4

Is it common to use n'est-ce pas to say 'right'?

Accepted Answer

Yes, n'est-ce pas (literally 'is it not?') is the standard way to add a tag question like 'right?', 'isn't it?', or 'didn't they?' to the end of a statement. In casual spoken French, you might also hear people simply add non ? at the end of the sentence to get the exact same meaning.

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