French language Q&A Forum

Bonjour,

The online Collins dictionary gives the translation of 'être inconnu(e) à qn' meaning to be unknown to someone, which I used in the response. The correction provided for 'inconnues de' and this was confirmed by my big Collins Robert dictionary. Could anyone shed some light on the difference between à or de in this context please?

Merci beaucoup :-) 

If I point to a tarte (little cake), which is a feminine word, and say “It’s me who made this” (not the most elegant phrase, but bear with me), should I say “C'est moi qui l'ai fait” or “C'est moi qui l'ai faite”? 

I’m trying to tease out whether the “past participle agreement with direct object when before the verb” rule applies even if the feminine object has not been *linguistically* referenced (only referenced, visually, or implicitly in some other way).

...in the following:

“et qui lui ont promis de lui montrer la vie...”

“et qui lui ont promis de lui faire découvrir la vie...”

Is this (a) a mistake, (b) just my ears missing the sound, or (c) a natural French abbreviation (a bit like “tu as” being pronounced as “ta”)?

What does "en gras" mean in the context of a title?

Line 2:

Oh, mes rhumatismes me dérangent un peu......

Is the 'me' before dérangent missing? I've listened several times but can't hear it.

Is there a rule that explains when to use « de » versus « par » to mean « by » in English?  Thanks. Last of my questions. 

Le mot est magnifique, bien sûr.