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Do you live in France?
Did you live in France?
Avez-vous vécu en France?
Résidiez-vous en France?
My question is whether a native French speaker use the verb vivre or résider in this
context. This is tricky as French has 3 verbs to select.
The following are correct. No doubt about it!
Where do you live?
Où habitez-vous ?
I live in France.
J'habite en France
Tags:
"Vivre" and "habiter" are a more common words than "résider". And both mean the same thing in this context. "vivre" doesn't mean to be alive but the concept of living.
"Résider" is more formal. résider = habiter. In an every day conversation in the street or if I meet you in an event, we don't say "résider".
The use of "vivre" or "habiter" depends on the context, on the question, on the conversation. But it's not easy to explain ...
1) I think (but I didn't think about these rules before) when there is an idea of "when" or how, rather "vivre" and when there is an idea of "where", rather "habiter".
Avez vous vécu en France ? my idea is to answer first "when" and after "where".
Avez vous habité en France ? my idea is to answer first "where" and after "when" : "oui j'ai habité à Paris"
to explain the idea of context :
I live in France, if I meet you in France and you ask : where do you live ? I answer "j'habite à Paris", "J'habite rue du Louvres", ...;
I live in France if I meet you in USA, you ask "where do you live ?" I answer "Je vis en France"
Thanks Chantal.
So French is different than English.
It is always live in English.
I live in France/Germany/the US etc.
I live in Paris, London, Tokyo etc,
The word domicile is also used to some extent.
You may have heard the words 'country of domicile'.
I translate "country of domicile" in french by "pays de résidence".
Thanks Chantal
He lives in France/Germany.
He is living in France/Germany is also correct. But this has some connotation of itinerant aspects. Probably for your job you travel in several countries. If this is the case, we use the -ing form.
Where is he? He is in France.
How do you write or explain this scenario in French?
we add precisions :
"Il voyage beaucoup, en ce moment il reste en France"
"Il voyage beaucoup mais là il est en France"
"Sa résidence principale est en France mais il voyage beaucoup"
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