French language Q&A Forum

In the answers to "and equality also means freedom", it seems as if "l'égalité" and "la liberté" can be used in place of "égalité" and "liberté".

Does this mean that if you use "l'égailté" that you should also use "la liberté", or if you use "égalité" you should use "liberté"? Or is there some subtlety with the verb chosen that would require the use of an article?

The recommended translation of 'you are an animal lover and a camping enthusiast' is 'Vous êtes un amoureux des bêtes et un passionné de camping'. Is it possible to explain why 'bêtes' is preceded by a definite article and 'camping' isn't?

Bonjour Kwiziq Team,

I completed a question on your website: Aurélie ________ avec sa soeur.

I was trying to decide if it should be "s'est disputée" or "s'est disputé". I thought it would've been the former, since Aurélie is a girl. But I remembered stumbling upon an article about Le cas de non-accord which said:

Le participe passé ne s'accorde pas lorsque le C.O.D. suit le verbe.
Exemples :
- Ils se sont lavé les mains. (COD "les mains" placé après le verbe)
- Ils se sont écrit des lettres. (COD "des lettres" placé après le verbe)
- Ils se sont réparti tous les billets. (COD "tous les billets" placé après le verbe)

Hence, I selected "s'est disputé"" which turned out to be the wrong answer. Can someone explain why? Is it because "sa soeur" is not a C.O.D. and if so, why not?

Thanks very much for all you do! 

The question asked for the correct version translated with despite not in spite but this is still labeled correct. I'm confused.

As I read this lesson, I see two directives: 1) with trouver one always needs "que" and 2) with trouver, sometimes you don't need "que". Please explain a deeper difference between the two usages presented.

If you wanted to say "You are not going to drive me...", would you say "Tu ne me conduis pas..."?   

It seemed to me that any time I was tested on "C'est" or "Il Est", I was simply guessing.

The closer a question matched one of the examples in the Lesson - the more likely I was to choose the correct answer. But if there was no exact match with an example in the lesson - I was stumped.

With respect, I found the following article somewhat easier to follow than the Lesson on this page:

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/cest-vs-il-est/

That article uses the descriptor "determiner". IMO that descriptor seems to clarify everything for me.

There's a good article on determiners here:

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/determiners/

So a determiner is just a posh name for a word that modifies a noun. It's similar to an adjective

The Lawless article is several times longer than the KwizIQ article. But if you ignore any material that is not mentioned in this current KwizIQ article, then the amount of instructional text will be about the same.

Here's how I read the Lawless article:

 (1) Read every word from the start until just before the red warning triangle.  .

 (2) You can ignore the material immediately after the red triangle. It's useful info, but it's not tested by KwizIQ.

 (3) Restart reading at "2. C’est and il est with inanimate nouns".

 (4) Ignore everything after the green scales icon. Again, it's useful info but - but not tested in KwizIQ.

Thanks

I came across this question in the quizzes. Why are these two sentences correct? One uses the feminine form and the other the masc. They are both referencing the time in the past. How does one determine if it is about the duration or precise moment?

“J’ai passé la journée avec Martin.”

I spent a day with Martin

“J’ai passé un an en Espagne quand j’avais dix-neuf ans.”

I spent a year in Spain when I was 19

In English if there are two children then he or she is the elder not the eldest.

Eldest is used when there are three or more.