French language Q&A Forum

What do the letters OVNI stand for ?

Why is there no "s" at the end of "quelque"? Would it ever have an "s"?

Here in SW France, you’ll often come across the road sign “le funérarium” directing you to the funeral parlour. In more formal language, they will also often talk about “des obsèques”, and I believe this refers to the whole funeral service.

For the line “Chaque seconde, un hectare de forêt vierge mondiale est détruit” one lesson listed is passive voice. Is this really passive voice, or is “détruit” just an adjective in this case? I would be able to see more clearly the passive voice nature of, for example, “Every second, one hectare of forest was destroyed by foresters” or even “Every second, one hectare of forest was destroyed” (with an implied subject enacting the verb). However, I’m not getting the passive voice in the original line, perhaps because “is” rather than “was” is being used. Explanation welcome, as I do struggle with passive voice topics.

Passive voice

I enjoyed listening to this voice. I had not heard it before, and it's nice to have a new and different voice to listen to. It's good practice to hear various people speak. I also appreciate the intonation that he uses, especially in the phrase..."et avec le temps, notre relation a changé."

It reminds me of the intonations that I used to hear and learned to use when living in France many years ago. I was wondering if the spoken word has possibly changed over time, (maybe due to the advent of social media?), as I don't hear these patterns very often anymore, when using this site or watching french movies on Netflix.

I really enjoyed this article. Yes, it’s chestnut harvest time, but alas the very hot and dry summer here in south west France has resulted in smaller fruits. However, I have managed to harvest some nice horse chestnuts from a tree tucked away behind a nearby cemetery. I also learned this year to add a fig leaf to the cooking liqueur at it enhances the flavour.  I sous-vide the peeled fruits and freeze them in preparation for Christmas when I add to a meat based stuffing for stuffing the turkey neck cavity.

Why are we using "Fantaisie" and not "fantasme or fantastique" - as it my research shows "fantaisie" is to do with the music?

Next is why is it "Magie" and not "magique"? As my research shows that magie is to do with magic tricks whereas "magique" is to do with something amazing (i.e the film)

Next why is "S'assurer que" followed by the subjunctive "soit"? I've looked up this phrase and it says it's always followed by the indicative? 

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?

Why is there no "une" before "salle de bains" in this sentence: "Oui, une chambre double avec salle de bains privative."

I thought name days were always masculine. Why not here?