Example: Je n'y avais pas pensé avant de recevoir ta lettre.
Definition
"Je n'y avais pas pensé" is a French expression meaning I had not considered or thought about that before. It is used to indicate that the speaker did not previously have an idea or awareness about something mentioned or implied in the conversation.
Translations
I hadn't thought of that
No había pensado en eso
Daar had ik niet aan gedacht
No hi havia pensat
Daran hatte ich nicht gedacht
Etymology
The phrase "Je n'y avais pas pensé" comes from French, where "je" means I, "n'y" is a negation combined with a pronoun referring to a previously mentioned idea or place, "avais" is the imperfect tense of avoir (to have), and "pensé" is the past participle of penser (to think). Together, it literally translates to 'I had not thought about it.' Did you know that French often uses double negations like "n'...pas" to form a negative?
Learn to use this expression actively
"Je n'y avais pas pensé" appears in the Vocaplus list "", containing 105 commonly used expressions.
Would you like to not only understand these expressions, but also remember them and use them actively? Create a free account and select French as the language you want to learn.
I hadn't thought of that