Breakdown of Nous avons voulu parler au personnel, mais personne n'était là.
être
to be
là
there
mais
but
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
avoir
to have
ne
not (used before the verb)
parler
to speak
au
to the / at the (masculine singular)
vouloir
to want
personne
nobody / no one
le personnel
the staff
Questions & Answers about Nous avons voulu parler au personnel, mais personne n'était là.
Why is avons voulu translated as "tried" instead of "wanted"?
When used in the passé composé, vouloir often shifts from describing a state of mind to describing an action. Nous avons voulu implies that you didn't just have the desire, but you actually made an attempt to act on it (hence "we tried to"). If you merely wanted to speak to them as a general ongoing feeling without necessarily taking action, you would use the imparfait: nous voulions.
Why is être in the imparfait (était) while vouloir is in the passé composé (avons voulu)?
The passé composé (avons voulu) is used for the specific, completed action you took—your concrete attempt to speak to the staff. The imparfait (était) is used in the second clause because "no one was there" describes a state of being or the background context at the exact moment you made your attempt.
Why is there an n' before était if there is no pas?
The word personne means "no one" or "nobody" here, acting as the negative subject of the second clause. French grammar requires negative pronouns like personne and rien to always be paired with the negative particle ne (which becomes n' before a vowel). Because personne already provides the negative meaning, pas is not used.
Why is it au personnel instead of à personnel or aux personnels?
Personnel is a collective noun meaning "staff," and in French it functions as a masculine singular noun. The verb parler requires the preposition à (to speak to someone). When you combine à with the definite article le (the), they contract to form au.
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