Breakdown of Ils sont en train de rédiger la circulaire.
ils
they (masculine/mixed)
être en train de
to be in the middle of (doing)
rédiger
to draft
la circulaire
the memo
Questions & Answers about Ils sont en train de rédiger la circulaire.
Since this lesson is about the causative 'faire', how would you change this sentence to say 'They are having us draft it'?
You would say Ils nous la font rédiger. In the causative construction, when you have both a direct object pronoun (la for la circulaire) and an indirect object pronoun (nous for the people being instructed to do the action), both pronouns go before the conjugated form of faire, not before the infinitive.
Could I just use écrire instead of rédiger here?
Is it necessary to use en train de here instead of just the standard present tense (Ils rédigent)?
It is not strictly necessary, as the standard French present tense can mean either "They draft" or "They are drafting." However, using être en train de puts a strong emphasis on the fact that they are currently in the middle of the task right now, perhaps implying they shouldn't be interrupted.