Question 1

Why does 'reportedly contains' translate to the conditional contiendrait?

Accepted Answer

This is known as the journalistic conditional. In French, the conditional tense isn't just used for 'would' scenarios. It is frequently used by journalists or everyday speakers to share information that is unconfirmed, rumored, or alleged. So, using contiendrait implies that the passage supposedly contains the treasure, but it isn't a proven fact yet.

Question 2

Why is qui used here instead of que for the word 'that'?

Accepted Answer

You use qui when the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb that follows it. Here, the passage is doing the action of containing the treasure, so qui is the subject of contiendrait. You would use que if the passage were the object of the verb (for example, le passage que je vois meaning 'the passage that I see').

Question 3

What is the infinitive of contiendrait and how is it formed?

Accepted Answer

The infinitive is contenir (to contain). Just like tenir (to hold) and venir (to come), it has an irregular stem in the conditional and future tenses: contiendr-. To form the conditional present, you take this future stem and add the imperfect ending for the third-person singular, which is -ait.

Question 4

Could I say cet trésor instead of ce trésor?

Accepted Answer

No, it has to be ce trésor. Trésor is a masculine singular noun starting with a consonant, so it takes ce. You only use cet for masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel or a mute H, like cet arbre (this tree) or cet homme (this man).

Où est le passage qui contiendrait ce trésor ?

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