En septembre, personne ne pouvait deviner que nous travaillerions encore en ligne.

In September, no one could guess that we would still be working online.

Breakdown of En septembre, personne ne pouvait deviner que nous travaillerions encore en ligne.

• travailler: to work
• en: in
• nous: we
• pouvoir: to be able to
• que: that
• encore: still
• en ligne: online
• personne: no one
• deviner: to guess
• septembre: September

Questions & Answers about En septembre, personne ne pouvait deviner que nous travaillerions encore en ligne.

Why is it En septembre and not something like Au septembre or En le septembre?

With months, French normally uses en with no article:

• en septembre, en mai, en janvier

You don’t say au septembre or en le septembre.
If you really want to add mois, you say:

• au mois de septembre = in the month of September

So:

• En septembre = In September (standard, neutral)
• Au mois de septembre = In the month of September (a bit more explicit / emphatic)

Why doesn’t septembre have an article? In English we say “in the September”?

In English you sometimes say the with a month in certain contexts (e.g. “the September of 2020”), but in French, a bare month name is normally used without an article after en:

• en septembre, en octobre, etc.

If you want to be more specific (for example, “the September of 2020”), you’d express that with extra words:

• en septembre 2020
• au mois de septembre 2020

How does the negation with personne ne pouvait work? Why is it not ne pouvait personne?

Personne is an indefinite pronoun meaning nobody / no one. In this sentence it is the subject, so it comes first, before the verb:

• Personne ne pouvait deviner… = Nobody could guess…

French negative structures often follow ne + [verb] + negative word, like:

• ne … pas, ne … jamais, ne … plus, ne … personne (when personne is object)

Example with personne as object:

• Je ne connais personne ici. = I don’t know anyone here.

But when personne is the subject, you flip it:

• Personne ne sait. = Nobody knows.
• Personne ne pouvait deviner. = Nobody could guess.

So the pattern is:

• Personne ne + verb when personne is the subject.

Why isn’t there pas? Why not Personne ne pouvait pas deviner?

You don’t add pas with personne in this structure. Personne itself carries the negative meaning:

• Personne ne pouvait deviner. = Nobody could guess.

If you said Personne ne pouvait pas deviner, it would sound odd or even ambiguous, like “nobody could not guess” (double negation feel). So:

• ne … personne (or personne ne …) already expresses the negation on its own.
• Don’t add pas in addition.

Why is pouvait in the imparfait and not in another past tense like a pu?

Pouvait is the imperfect (imparfait) of pouvoir. Here it suggests a general, ongoing situation in the past:

• Personne ne pouvait deviner…
  = No one was able to / could (in general) guess…

If you used Personne n’a pu deviner, with the passé composé (a pu), it would sound more like:

• Nobody managed to guess (on that specific occasion).

So:

• imparfait (pouvait) → background state, general ability, ongoing situation.
• passé composé (a pu) → completed event / successful or failed attempt at one precise time.

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about the general state in September: at that time, nobody could have guessed.

Why is it pouvait deviner and not something like pouvait de deviner?

The verb pouvoir is followed directly by an infinitive without any preposition:

• pouvoir + infinitive
  
  • Je peux venir. = I can come.
  • Il pouvait deviner. = He could guess.

So:

• pouvait deviner is correct.
• pouvait de deviner would be wrong.

The de you might be thinking of belongs to other verbs such as essayer de, décider de, oublier de, etc., but pouvoir is not one of them.

Why is it deviner que and not something like deviner de or deviner si?

Deviner can take several patterns:

1. deviner que + clause

   • Je devine que tu es fatigué.
     I guess that you’re tired.

2. deviner + noun/pronoun

   • Je devine la réponse.
     I guess the answer.

3. deviner si / quand / où, etc., in indirect questions

   • Je devine si tu mens.
     I can guess whether you’re lying.

In the sentence:

• …personne ne pouvait deviner que nous travaillerions encore en ligne.

we want the structure deviner que + sentence ⇒ deviner que is the right choice here.
Deviner de is not used in this meaning.

What tense is travaillerions, and why is it used here?

Travaillerions is the conditional present, 1st person plural (nous).

• Infinitive: travailler
• Future: nous travaillerons (we will work)
• Conditional: nous travaillerions (we would work / we would be working)

Here, the conditional is used as a future-in-the-past:

• In September, nobody could guess that (later) we would still be working online.

From the point of view of September, that working is in the future, but from the speaker’s current point of view, both the guessing and the working are in the past, so French uses the conditional in the “that” clause.

What is the difference between nous travaillerons and nous travaillerions in meaning?

• nous travaillerons = simple future, we will work
  → neutral prediction about the future (from now).

• nous travaillerions = conditional, we would work / we would be working
  → can express:

  • hypothesis: we would work if…
  • politeness: we would like to…
  • future seen from a past moment (future-in-the-past), as in this sentence.

In que nous travaillerions encore en ligne, the speaker is looking back to September and talking about what was then a future situation, so French uses the conditional, not the simple future.

How do I pronounce travaillerions?

Roughly, you can break it like this for an English ear:

• tra – like tra in “traffic” (but with a French r)
• vaille – like “vie”
  • “y” sound: [vaj]
• -erions – roughly [e-ryon], nasal at the end

Approximate full pronunciation: [tra-vai-ye-ryon], with the final -ons nasalized (no clear “n” sound).

In IPA: /tʁavajeʁjɔ̃/ (depending on accent you may or may not hear a small schwa before the ʁ).

Why is encore used here, and does it mean “again” or “still”?

Encore has several meanings depending on context:

• again:
  
  • Fais-le encore. = Do it again.
• still (continuation):
  
  • Il est encore là. = He is still here.

In nous travaillerions encore en ligne, the meaning is still (continuing situation):

• we would still be working online (not “we would work online again”).

Context (and often tense) tells you whether encore means again or still. Here, combined with a progressive idea (would still be working), encore clearly means still.

Why is encore placed before en ligne? Could I say nous travaillerions en ligne encore?

The neutral, natural position for encore with a verb is generally before the element it modifies or near the verb:

• nous travaillerions encore en ligne
  = we would still be working online.

If you say nous travaillerions en ligne encore, it’s not impossible, but it sounds less natural and can focus more on en ligne: something like we would be working online still (slightly different rhythm/emphasis).

For standard word order, keep:

• nous travaillerions encore en ligne.

Why is it en ligne for “online”? Why not à ligne or sur ligne?

French settled on en ligne as the fixed expression for “online”:

• travailler en ligne = to work online
• acheter en ligne = to buy online
• cours en ligne = online courses

It literally means “in line”, but idiomatically it corresponds to English online.
You don’t say à ligne or sur ligne in this meaning. Those combinations are not used for “online” in standard French.