nous étions de retour de l'école

Question

I wrote : nous rentrions de lécole. could that be an option?

Accepted Answer

Hi Radhika,
There is actually a difference between 'rentrer de l'école' which is the action of 'going home from school' and 'être de retour de l'école' which is the result of that action when you are home from school.
Comme je rentrais de l'école, j'ai rencontré Monique = As I was getting home from school, I met Monique
as opposed to -
Quand nous étions de retour de l'école, notre mère nous préparait un bon goûter = When we were back from school our mother would prepare us a lovely tea
Bonne Continuation !

Answer

Bonjour Radhika,"As soon as we were home from school"  You propose to replace "étions de retour" with "rentrions".My concern here is that you would lose the effect of "a state of being" by omitting être from the text.The "state" is the return from school rather than simple "entre de nouveau" which I understand rentrer would mean.I'm interested to see if others would agree with me or not.Bonne journéeJim

Answer

I get it. thank you Cécile and Jim. I didnt translate it right.