Depuis, pendant, and the versatility of il y a will be the utter death of me.

Quel dommage. :-/

L'art de sortir/partir/quitter

So let's take a moment to discuss something of philosophical interest. Why are we so concerned with entrances, arrivals, and comings -- so much so that it is much easier (at least for me) to remember those respective verbs of "transitive positivity"? It is much harder to sort out their negative counterparts -- the exits, leavings, and going outs.

Hopefully this post will clear my head on the matter.

First off, let's discuss the properties of each of the three verbs, individually:

Partir - (je pars, tu pars, il/elle/on part, nous partons, vous partez, ils/elles partent) Partir is the direct counterpart to arriver. If you arrive at something, then rest assured that the opposite is to "partir" from it. Partir, then, loosely means depart.

Sortir - (je sors, tu sors, il/elle/on sort, nous sortons, vous sortez, ils/elles sortent) Sortir is the counterpart to entrer. If you enter into something, then you may also "sortir" out of it. Additionally, sortir being a highly versatile verb, can mean "to get out" (as in out of a pool of water) or "to go out" (as in the English sense -- to go out for the evening or to go out with a boyfriend/girlfriend).

Quitter - (je quitte, tu quittes, il/ell/on quitte, nous quittons, vous quittez, ils/elles quittent) Quitter is an INDIRECT counterpart to the verb venir (to come). Quitter literally translates as "to go away from." Therefore quitter is more final in nuance than the other two leaving verbs. Note that quitter ALWAYS needs a direct object.

So here's a little practice with those ideas:

Une fille vient sortir pour le soirée. Elle arrive au théâtre mais elle n'a pas été amusante. Après partir du théâtre, elle regarde un fils. <> elle pense. Parceque sa vie a été en disordre, elle lui ne va pas. Elle quitte sur le soirée et elle a commencé aller à sa maison.

Eugapae...

C'est 6.16 AM. Je fait classe française dans deux heures.

Ugh.