How to say 'While my parents would read'

[Iman Pirmohamed]

Hey, Google translate thinks it would be this: pendant que mes parents auraient lu.

Is this right? Thanks :)

 

[Neil Coffey]

It depends slightly on the actual sentence, but assuming you mean the equivalent of "Whereas my parents used to read", you could usually say e.g. "Alors que mes parents lisaient".

 

The version given by GT would mean something like "While (i.e. "during the time that") my parents would have read" -- i.e. it won't make terribly much sense in most cases (I could juuust about concoct a context where it would make sense, but only with a bit of linguistic gymnastics).

 

[Iman Pirmohamed]

Ah right. The sentence I wish to use it in is "I would pass the time my looking out the window and listening to my iPod, while my parents would read." Does putting it into context help in anyway, or is the sentence generally poor?