I want to find out why "a eu" is the right tense, not "avait".
Il a toujours eu un sens aigu des limites du savoir humain.
Il avait toujours un sens aigu des limites du savoir humain.
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5Both are right. It depends on what you want to say. Maybe you should clarify the context.– Stéphane GimenezCommented Mar 11, 2019 at 1:23
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2 Answers
"avait" is imparfait, and implies that the action is over, by two means:
- the action is over (narration is in present tense)
- the narration is in past tense, and the action is ongoing in the time you're describing, but over now.
Here I assume it's present tense. If you say:
Il avait toujours un sens aigu des limites du savoir humain.
it means that the action is over, so now, the "acute sense" is gone.
answered Mar 11, 2019 at 10:14
It depends if you want to use the passé composé or the imparfait
Verbe avoir - Passé composé
j'ai eu
tu as eu
il a eu
nous avons eu
vous avez eu
ils ont eu
For further details I would suggest you to read this link.
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2Of course but that doesn't answer the question. Why would you use the passé composé and not the imparfait here? Commented Mar 11, 2019 at 9:47
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As Stéphane Gimenez said we need more context in order to make this choice, so I have planned to update my reply once we know the context– CedCommented Mar 11, 2019 at 10:13