Tenses please (no need to translate)

[Katerina James]

Let me confess to you at once that if I had not, on the spur of the moment, picked up my pen and scribbled a note to Jim inviting him to address my passing-out-class on the closing evening of their entry course - and had Jim not, against all my expectations, consented - I would not be making so free to you with my heart.

 

Tenses to choose from:

1. conditional present tense

2.present subjunctive tense

3.imperfect subjunctive tense

4.pluperfect tense

5.past anterior tense

 6. future perfect tense

 

Which tenses typify the phrases within the sentence, please! Pluperfect? and future perfect tense, "would not be making so free to you with my heart"?

 

Merci!

[Neil Coffey]

I'm not quite clear what you're asking here? Are you asking which tenses would be used to translate these in French?

[Katerina James]

Ya, something like that. In other words I have to know what the tenses of this sentence are or is. After then would I consult my conjugation book, conjugate and translate the rest. My guess is pluperfect or future perfect. I don't know.

[Neil Coffey]

Ah, OK, I understand.

Well, the first verbs ("had not picked up/scribbled") would usually be pluperfects in French.

In the case of "had Jim not consented", you could also use "si" + pluperfect. In a fairly literary style, you could also use "que" + pluperfect subjunctive, but I stress that this is quite formal/literary.

The last case could just be a conditional -- e.g. some suggestions that spring to mind, "je ne prendrais pas la liberté de m'ouvrir à toi", "je [ne pourrais pas/ne me sentirais pas à même de] me confier à toi de tout mon coeur"..., all end up using a conditional. But equally, something like "je n'aurais pas pris le courage de me confier à toi" expresses the idea with a conditional perfect.

[Katerina James]

Past anterior tense and pluperfect tense.  These are how I see these sentences, neil..not guessing