EN: It always rains when I am not working

[Hela]

Re-bonjour,

Pourriez-vous, SVP, m'expliquer le choix du present progressive dans le dernier verbe? Merci

It 1 was raining when I 2 woke up last Saturday. It 3 always rains when I 4 am not working. → pourquoi ne dit-on pas "when I do not work"?

Merci mille fois.
Hela

 

[Glaçon]

"It was raining when I woke up" montre qu'il pleuvait (là on insiste sur la durée) et hop - I woke up! "je me suis réveillé", l'action qui s'est achevée (il n'y a pas de continuité ici).

"It always rains when I'm not working" Ici on insiste sur la durée du verbe "travailler". Donc, pendant la durée de mon repos il pleut toujours. "It always rains" ne peut pas etre utilisé en progressive tense, car "always" montre que l'action est répétitive. Donc - Present Simple (or indefinite) tense.
J'espère que c'est un peu plus clair maintenant.

 

[Benjy]

i dont know if thats the only reason.. for example you could say "it never rains when i work" or "whenever i work, it rains" i think it has something do with the fact that normal negation uses the present emphatic which just seems wrong in her sentance, so it gets switched to the present progressive. but i know very little about english grammar (never actually studied it lol) so i couldnt tell you if thats the real reason why.

 

[ishatar]

Typically the kind of sentences that you'd better learn by heart and not try to explain. Languages are not always not as a rule rarely logical.