# French Grammar Question: Expressing intentions: I hear you were going ..."
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 20, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704 "2016-04-20T03:28:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/1 "2016-04-20T03:28:35Z")
Hi,
Why is it correct to say “J’ai entendu dire que vous partiez tous en randonner” (imparfait) rather than"J’ai entendu dire que vous partirez tous en randonner", since it is a potential/future event, and hasn’t happened yet? Is the imparfait correct because “I heard” about this potential event and the act of having heard dictates the tense of the potential action “partir”?
I look forward to your feedback.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/2 "2016-04-20T14:36:06Z")
Are you sure it is imperfect and not present subjunctive?
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### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/3 "2016-04-20T16:04:54Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#):
>
> Are you sure it is imperfect and not present subjunctive?
Pretty sure it’s imperfect(imparfait). It should be following passé composé. The present subjunctive just happens to have the same ending in the second person plural. I’ve resigned myself to learning set syntactical sequences. There are just a handful anyway.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/4 "2016-04-20T16:08:49Z")
Ah. You’re right: it’s because it’s “j’ **ai entendu**.” The main verb is in the past tense; the tense in the dependent clause is relative to the tense of the main clause.
In other words I am now (j’ai) in the state of {having heard (entendu) that you were leaving (partiez)}.
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### Author:  [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/5 "2016-04-21T01:21:44Z")
At the moment when I heard it said that you would leave, your leaving was a future event.
But now, some time later, when I am relating to you that in the past I heard it said that you would leave, your leaving is an event which may already have happened. (I heard it on Monday, you left on Tuesday, I’m telling you about it on Friday.) So you wouldn’t use the future tense for that.
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### Author:  [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2016, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/6 "2016-04-21T11:57:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Is the imparfait correct because “I heard” about this potential event and the act of having heard dictates the tense of the potential action “partir”?
Yes. _Concordance des temps_: verb in the past in the main clause requires a verb in the past in the sub-clause. There are other possibilities but that’s the gist.
And it should be _“…vous partiez tous en randonn **ée** ”_ ;).
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### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/7 "2016-04-21T15:53:20Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#):
>
> Yes. _Concordance des temps_: verb in the past in the main clause requires a verb in the past in the sub-clause. There are other possibilities but that’s the gist.
>
> And it should be _“…vous partiez tous en randonn **ée** ”_ ;).
Thanks Les Espaces Du Sommeil. I just realized that mistake. Quelle erreur grossière!
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### Author:  [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/8 "2016-04-21T18:02:24Z")
You’re welcome.
And it’s just a regular mistake, not a _grossière_ one :).
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-grammar-question-expressing-intentions-i-hear-you-were-going/752704/9 "2016-04-23T02:27:18Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#):
>
> Are you sure it is imperfect and not present subjunctive?
That was my first thought too, but then I replaced “vous” by “tu”, and the sentence became : “j’ai entendu dire que tu partais”, which is clearly imperfect, not subjunctive.
In doubt, trying the same sentence with another verb, or with a different person, generally clears things up.