Carrefour lowers its 2026 targets after the 17 October violence and curfews

Alexandre Bompard juge les revendications sur le pouvoir d’achat légitimes mais pas le vandalisme ni les pillages, et dit que ce que les commerçants attendent, c’est de la sécurité.

Être in the present is est for a singular subject and sont for a plural one. It describes nature, state or place (“is”, “is located”). If what follows (the attribute) is a noun, adjective or prepositional phrase, it is not a passive. If a past participle follows, it is a passive (est annoncé). Headlines and summaries often use the present to describe the current situation.

Le géant de la distribution a abaissé le 20 octobre ses objectifs annuels.

The passé composé is the most common past tense, used for “did” and “has done” — actions completed in the past. It is formed with the auxiliary avoir (a / ont…) in the present + a past participle. Past participles of -er verbs end in -é (annoncer → annoncé); learn the irregular ones (faire → fait, prendre → pris, voir → vu). In the negative, ne … pas wraps the auxiliary (n’a pas annoncé). In the news it reports facts that have already happened, such as “announced” or “voted”.

Le résultat net ajusté par action serait stable ou en légère hausse, alors qu’une croissance à un chiffre élevé était attendue.

The imparfait describes states, background, habits and actions in progress in the past (il était, elle avait, ils pensaient). Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons, and add -ais / -ais / -ait / -ions / -iez / -aient. If the passé composé gives “the event itself”, the imparfait paints “the situation at the time”.

La marge opérationnelle courante progresserait de 0 à 15 points de base, contre +25 visés en juillet.

The conditional expresses possibility, supposition, unconfirmed information and polite requests (“would”, “might”). It uses the same stem as the future and the same endings as the imparfait (-ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient): pouvoir → il pourrait. In the news it is used to avoid asserting, as in “is reported to…” or “there is a possibility…”.

Le résultat net ajusté par action serait stable ou en légère hausse, alors qu’une croissance à un chiffre élevé était attendue.

The passive means “is done” or “is being done”. It is formed with être + past participle, which agrees with the subject in gender and number (la mesure est adoptée / les mesures sont adoptées). The agent is introduced by par (or de). In the news it is common when the event, rather than the actor, is the focus (est prévu / est annoncé / est connu).

Sur France Inter, Alexandre Bompard a indiqué qu’environ 50 magasins du groupe ont été vandalisés et pillés ; selon lui, ce sont surtout des alcools forts destinés au trafic qui ont été volés.

The past passive means “was done”. Its form is present of avoir + été (past participle of être) + past participle. Été does not change, but the last participle agrees with the subject in gender and number (la loi a été votée / les textes ont été votés). It is frequent in news reporting results such as votes, decisions and announcements.

Carrefour n’est pas seul : CCI France estime que plus de 2 000 commerces ont été directement touchés, pour des centaines de millions d’euros.

Normally ne and pas wrap the verb. Before a vowel, ne becomes n’. Check which part of the sentence the negation covers. Ne … plus means “no longer”.

Sur France Inter, Alexandre Bompard a indiqué qu’environ 50 magasins du groupe ont été vandalisés et pillés ; selon lui, ce sont surtout des alcools forts destinés au trafic qui ont été volés.

Selon means “according to”. Put a person or organisation after it as the source. It separates facts the writer checked directly from what another body or report said. Citing a source does not turn a forecast into an accomplished fact.

La « marge opérationnelle » mesure la part du chiffre d’affaires qui reste en bénéfice d’exploitation.

Qui continues a description of the person or thing just mentioned (“the one that does…”). Because qui is itself the subject of the next verb, do not repeat the subject. The verb agrees with the noun qui refers to.

La marge opérationnelle courante progresserait de 0 à 15 points de base, contre +25 visés en juillet.

De…à… shows the start and end, “from … to …”, and is also used for changes in figures. With dates, de + le becomes du and à + le becomes au, giving forms like du 13 au 15. Check whether the interval concerns dates, times or amounts.

Le géant de la distribution a abaissé le 20 octobre ses objectifs annuels.

Le 15 octobre means “on 15 October”. Distinguish the le before a date from the le that marks a weekly habit like a weekday. Du is de + le and au is à + le, so decide the meaning from the verb and period expressions around them. Their role depends on the group: a range of dates, the date of a bulletin or another complement.

損失は、franceinfoによると、80〜200百万ユーロの見込みです。

As in “LCPによると”, it shows where the information comes from. What that source reported follows. It is used differently from “私にとって”, which gives one’s own opinion.

1株あたりの調整後の純利益は、前年と同じか、わずかな増加を見込みます。

予定 is a plan, 見込み a forecast and 方針 a course of action or intention. None of them asserts that something has already been carried out. Note the difference from expressions such as “決まりました”.

カルフールだけではありません。

They negate a noun and similar content. “ではありません” is the polite form and “ではない” the plain form. “成立ではありません” shows that it cannot be said to have been concluded.

保険や、国への請求による補償の方法については、19日の記事にまとめています。

As in “予算について”, it shows the topic to be talked about or explained. In the form “〜についての報道”, の is added so that the group qualifies the following noun.

ロイターなどの速報では、財務責任者が、直接の費用を「数千万ユーロ」と説明したと伝えています。

“暴言など” gives “abusive language” as one example. It is not necessarily a closed list of only the things named. It also helps when reading the scope of a news story.

小売大手のカルフールが、20日に、今年の目標を下げました。

In “発表しました”, ました makes a verb polite past. The negative is “ませんでした”. Read the actual date together with the date and time in the text.