French language Q&A Forum

I don't understand "Il ne me restait plus qu'à cacher les oeufs." What is the use of "qu' à"?

I believe there is an issue with the recording on the last sentence, I can report it to support if you like but thought I would post it here first. The sentence is Mes progrès sont encourageants !

The issue is around the sont word. I should have just thought about what made sense instead of just what I could hear, but it just threw me and I wouldn't wnat it to affect other beginners.

Please help! Text: "Le matin on fait le lit. On le couvre pour faire joli et bien rangé." I translated it loosely as "we cover it(the bed) for 'it' to be pretty and tidy"  But why is it not '.. pour le faire joli et bien rangé ' (why is the object pronoun not repeated??) Without the object pronoun (pour le faire) couldnt it also mean "we cover it (the bed) to be 'pretty and tidy'...(we do it so we appear to be nice and organized). Bottom line... what is the grammar explanation, if any, for no 'le/la' between pour and faire in the text.

Consider...

1. "Paul should have left earlier."

As I understand it, both these sentences would be translated as "Paul aurait dû partir plus tôt", even though, in English, there is a difference in meaning. Is there a better way to translate #2 to convey the meaning that Paul was compelled to leave?

I'm wondering if in the lesson on d'ici.... the English translation might be "between now and such and such a date or time" and that d'ici be explicitly contrasted with "dans", which of course refers to a specific time when such and such will be done rather than a span of time within which it will be done. Just a thought. It was not until I came up with this idea that I began to understand "d'ici..."