Breakdown of Nous taillions délibérément la haie depuis une heure.
une
a / an (feminine)
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
l'heure
the hour / o'clock (f)
la
her, it (feminine direct object pronoun)
depuis
since/for
la haie
the hedge
tailler
to trim
délibérément
deliberately
Questions & Answers about Nous taillions délibérément la haie depuis une heure.
Why does the French sentence use the imparfait (taillions) when the English says 'had been pruning'?
In French, when an action started in the past and was still continuing at another specific point in the past, you use the imparfait with depuis. English uses the past perfect continuous ('had been doing'). Because the action was ongoing at that moment in your past story, the French continuous past tense (imparfait) is the perfect fit.
Could I use the plus-que-parfait (Nous avions taillé) instead of the imparfait?
No, that would clash with the meaning. The plus-que-parfait (avions taillé) implies an action was completely finished before another past action. Because depuis shows the action was still ongoing for an hour at that past moment, you must use the imparfait.
Since the English translation says 'for an hour', why can't I use pendant instead of depuis?
If you use pendant une heure, it means the action lasted for exactly one hour and then stopped completely (and you would typically use the passé composé). By using depuis with the imparfait, you are showing that the pruning had been going on for an hour and was still happening at that exact moment in the narrative.
Why is délibérément placed right after taillions?
How do you pronounce the difference between the present taillons and the imparfait taillions?
It comes down to a subtle 'y' sound! The present tense taillons ends with a single 'y' sound flowing into 'ons'. For the imparfait taillions, the ending -ions adds a second 'y' sound. When spoken carefully, you pronounce a slightly prolonged or double 'y' sound to make it clear you are using the past tense.
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