I was sitting

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I was sitting, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the children were playing 

Could someone please help me understand why the 'ing' words in the above statement would be

translated using the imperative, except I was sitting - j'etais assis.....here we use the past simple with an adjective.  

 Thanks so much for helping me.  Fiona 

[George Hunt]

I was sitting, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the children were playing 

 

J'etais assis (or je m'asseyais) ,le soleil brillait , les oiseaux chantaient et les enfants jouaient.       

 

I am confused .I don't see an imperative form there.   Oh ,I see you must have meant to say "imperfect".

 

In "j'étais assis" the imperfect form is contained in the "étais" (=was)  and you could similarly , in English , say "I was seated"

 

So I take "asseoir" to mean  "to seat" and  when you say "Je m'asseois" you are saying "I  seat myself" or "I sit down"

And "Je suis assis" means "I am seated"  which we would more normally express as  "I am sitting".

Again "J'étais assis" means "I was seated" or "I was sitting"    

 

Have I been a little long winded? Hopefully you followed my reasoning!