How to translate "did" in French?

[Meertje]

Hello,

Yesterday, during a cours of English with some French students, someone asked me to translate " Did" in the following sentence

" Why didn't he return"
I personnaly think that it should be : Pourquoi n'est-il pas revenu?
Could someone explain to me " did" in French?

Thank you!!
Maarten

[Tamta]

Hi Meertje,

In your sentence "did" is an auxiliary verb and it isn't translated,it's just used to express the past form in an interrogative sentence.
And your translation of this sentence in French is quite right. Pourquoi n'est-il pas revenu?
If your friends want to know the lexical meaning of "did" ,you can tell them that it's a past form of the verb "do" which is "faire" in French.
_________________
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[Meertje]

Hi Tamta,

Thank you very much for the translation!!!
I now will be able to respond correctly! :)

If I will encounter more problems, you'll find them here:)

a plus
Maarten