French language Q&A Forum

Can someone at least point me to a detailed explanation of when to use Tu. I am 74 and I have assumed nobody will tutoyer me automatically. I would prefer not to tutoyer someone else merely for some hierarchical reason, so I am focusing on the vous form (as does Pimsleur, which I am also using). But, if I go to a French Meet Up in America, will everyone be using Tu? And what about visiting Guadeloupe?

Can anyone let me know what is the correct meaning of comment vous vous appelez? 

Is it you call yourself... or your name is... ? 

And, why do we use comment vous vous appelez? instead of Quel est votre nom?. and what's the difference between these two?

Could someone explain the rule for describing who someone is; i.e. why does 'she is my wife' translate as c'est ma femme? - "it is my wife'!

Thanks.

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Avant d’obtenir une réponse: is ‘avant de recevoir une réponse also OK?

I put in some different answers from what was accepted and wondered if any of the following were possible. 

1. For "I really need to save", is it OK to use "il faut vraiment", or does "absolument" always naturally go with "il faut" ?

2. For "I've stopped buying expensive brands", can I also use the reflexive "Je me suis arrêtée d'acheter des marques chères" ?

3. For "and instead I've tried the supermarket brands" can we use "au lieu" in place of "à la place"?; and finally :

4. For "I must admit", can the verb "avouer" replace "admettre", as in "Je dois l'avouer..." or does this have a different sense ?

Thanks

How would you say "someone hadn't lived there since [insert year]"

Why is "j'ai regardé dans le frigo" not accepted ? 

So while you can’t say ‘J’ai des autres chaussures’ , can you say ‘j’ai besoin des autres chaussures?’  More important, how would you say ‘I have some of the other shoes?’ How is that not ‘des autres chaussures’? 

Sometimes Vouloir (to want) is conjugated as veux at the present tense, but sometimes it is conjugated as veux for the pronoun je. Does this have to do with formality?