I am trying to say that, "He tried to commit suicide but he lived." Would the "he lived" part be passe compose or imparfait? Thanks.
I've sent this to our French expert. Keep checking back for her reply.
Because it sounds "over and done with" the Passé Composé is far better. Here are the English translations:
l'imparfait = he was living, he used to live (concentrating on the "middle" of his living
versus
le passé composé = he lived, he did live (concentrating more on the "ending" of his living!
If you care to post what you finally come up with, I'll flag this so I can come back later to check!
Sra (aka Mme)
In this case, the phrase "he lived" would be in the passé composé tense in French. The passé composé is used to talk about completed actions or events in the past. To form the passé composé, you generally need two elements: the auxiliary verb "avoir" or "être" conjugated in the present tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb.
To decide which auxiliary verb to use, we typically use "avoir" as the auxiliary verb with most verbs. However, there is a set of verbs called "être" verbs (e.g., aller, venir, partir) that use "être" as the auxiliary verb instead of "avoir." These "être" verbs often indicate a change of state, movement, or the beginning or end of an action.
In the case of the verb "vivre" (to live), it is conjugated with the auxiliary verb "avoir." So, to say "He lived," we would use the following construction in the passé composé: "Il a vécu."
However, please note that the context you provided suggests a sensitive subject matter related to suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with such thoughts, it is important to seek professional help and support.