We were asked to translate "I always knew." Seems to me this is an ongoing action in the past. A description of the past. I think this should be "Je savais toujours." "J'ai su" is more like "I found out."
J'ai toujours su
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Carl C.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
J'ai toujours su
This question relates to:French writing exercise "I've always loved French"
Asked 4 years ago
Alan G. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Interesting question. Normally savoir is used in the imparfait, except, as you say, when it means something like "I found out". Similarly, toujours is often a sign that the verb should be in the imparfait. But when you combine them, I think it's a little different.
Toujours often implies a repeated action, e.g. "J'avais toujours du mal avec les maths." = "I always used to struggle with maths."
However "Je savais" doesn't refer to a repeated action, but a single action with no clear beginning or end.
If you combined them as "Je savais toujours", I think it might imply that you knew on multiple occasions, i.e. "I always used to know".
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