Breakdown of Mon arrière-grand-père avait un registre, mais je ne m'en souviens plus.
je
I
un
a / an (masculine)
mais
but
avoir
to have
mon
my (mon, ma, mes)
en
in, to
ne... plus
(not) anymore / no longer
se souvenir
to remember
l'arrière-grand-père
the great-grandfather
le registre
the register
Questions & Answers about Mon arrière-grand-père avait un registre, mais je ne m'en souviens plus.
Why do we use en to say "it" here instead of le?
Would I still use en if I were remembering a person instead of a register?
Usually, no. For inanimate objects or ideas, you use en (e.g., je m'en souviens). If you are remembering a person, you typically keep the preposition de and add a stressed pronoun. For example, "I remember him" would be je me souviens de lui.
Why are the pronouns in the order m'en?
What is the difference between ne ... plus and ne ... pas in this context?
Why is the imperfect tense (avait) used for the first half of the sentence?
The imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing states, habits, or background information in the past. The great-grandfather "having" a register was a continuous state of possession over time, not a single, completed action, so we use avait rather than the passé composé (a eu).
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