Question about french Verbs?

Question

When is the subjunctive tense, and the imperfect tense used in French?

Also, if En and Dans both mean "in", how do you know which one to use?

Thanks

Answer 1

The prepositions en and dans can both be used to express time and location in French, but their uses are completely different.

En expresses the length of time an action takes.

Je peux faire le lit en 5 minutes. I can make the bed in 5 minutes.
Il a lu le livre en une heure. He read the book in an hour.

En is used to express the month, season (except au printemps), or year in which an action takes place (calendar vocabulary).

Nous voyageons en avril. We travel in April.
Il arrivera en hiver. He will arrive in the winter.

En is also used to mean to or in with some states, provinces, and countries (learn more):

J'habite en Californie I live in California
Je vais en France I'm going to France


Dans indicates the amount of time before which an action will occur:

Nous partons dans dix minutes. We're leaving in 10 minutes.
Il revient dans une heure. He'll be back in an hour.

Dans is used to refer to an action that occurs within a decade:

Dans les années soixantes... In the sixties...

Dans is also used to mean to or in with some states and provinces:

J'habite dans le Maine I live in Maine
Je vais dans l'Ontario I'm going to Ontario

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En is nearly always used directly in front of a noun:

. Location
il est en prison
j'habite en banlieu he is in jail
I live in the suburbs

II. Time (en vs dans)
en août
en 3 jours
en semaine in August
in three days
during the week

III. Like or as
Je te parle en ami
Il agit en enfant I'm speaking to you as a friend
He's acting like a kid

IV. Means
voyager en train
rentrer en taxi to travel by train
to return by taxi

V. Condition or appearance
être en bonne santé
être en guerre
être en pyjama to be in good health
to be at war
to be in pajamas

VI. Transformation
traduire en français
se déguiser en ....
transformer une salle en bureau to translate into French
to disguise oneself as....
to change a room into an office

VII. Material
un pull en laine
une maison en bois wool sweater
wooden house

Answer 2

Subjunctive is a mood not a tense. It is used most commonly when the subject changes in a sentence and is joined by "que".

ex: Je veux QUE tu sois pret.
See, different subjects, there is a list of verbs that do not take the subjunctive, ex: head/thinking verbs
Je pense qu'il est beau. Je crois qu'elle est arrivee.

Subjunctive also follows certain conjunctions:
Avant qu'il parte, Bien qu'elle sache etc etc

Imperfect is a continuous past tense used to express habitual actions.
J'etudiais le francais chaque jour. - I used to study french every day.
J'ai etudie' le francais. I studied french (as in one time and then it was over)