French language Q&A Forum

Bonjour - J’ai remarqué que l'homme de gauche a utilisé le passé simple deux fois (“et ce fut une défaite cuisante” et “notre équipe obtint . . .”).  Est-ce qu’il est courant d'utiliser le passé simple en parlant ?  Est-ce parce qu'il parlait de faits historiques ?  Merci !

In the first sentence, "Depuis que je suis petite fille, j'ai toujours adoré m'asseoir" why is the first half in present tense, and the second half passé composé?

Also, for the sentence, "les gracieuses ballerines qui se produisaient à l'Opéra," is "jouer" not an acceptable translation for perform? 

The sentence :

Je suis aussi allé acheter une nouvelle bibliothèque que j’ai passé plus de deux heures à monter.

The hint given was ‘la bibliothèque’.

I took this to mean that passé should agree with bibliothèque and wrote passée.

I was using the rule for the ‘case of subordinate clauses with que’. Why am I wrong here?

In the first sentence, "...if you ended up alone on a desert island, and (that) you could only take one thing with you..." the french verb prendre is not accepted for take.  Yet in the third sentence,  "OK, if I had to take one thing I can't do without...", prendre is in fact usedfor take.  The context seems the same in both sentences.  Should not prendre be acceptable in the first sentence as well ?

I struggle to understand why this means "I forgot to bring you your glasses!"

I thought the word used to express "bring" should have been "apporter" not "rapporter"

I want to sign in on a new device, but it already has someone else's kwiziq account set up.  How do I get a new sign-in option so I can get on with my account?

Qui fait les mots "à ce que" dans la phrase suivant: "Vous aurez pu le rejoindre d'ici à ce que je sorte du travail"?

This may be a little arcane, but what is the general naming convention in French when using proper names from other languages that use the Latin/Roman alphabet, especially for famous persons? For example, in this exercise Leonardo Da Vinci is rendered in the French Léonard de Vinci. The Italian spelling seems to be widely used & in the States at least there has been a move towards using the native spelling of names in academic works & history books.

In English calling him Leonard from Vinci would sound really weird.