French language Q&A Forum

Some advice please on when to use vouloir in the present versus the conditional for "I want".  In English, insofar as I know, we don't distinguish between "I want" and "I would like".  On second though, perhaps "I want" expresses a slightly stronger desire.

Why is it "J'ai du mal à (verb)", instead of "J'ai du mal a (verb)"? 

I only know we use it for locations, such as "Je suis à Paris" 

Each of these expressions are translated using 'du'.  In English, both are possessive.  In the first case, we are talking about a place, so I can rationalize the use of 'du' instead of 'de'.  In the second case, I have more of a problem.   It seems like a simple use of the possessive which I think would call for 'de' instead of 'du'.  Can I get some guidance here?  Thanks.

Is "au courant" invariable, or does it agree with the gender and number of the person?

'qu'il m'a donnée pour mon treizième anniversaire.' - the link you provide with this question, 'special cases of past participle agreement with avoir' describes that, in passé composé with avoir, the past participle must agree with the object when the verb is preceded by a direct object, but also explicitly states that the rule does not apply to indirect objects. Is not 'me' in this case an indirect object (he gave it to me)?

La traduction de " students were welcomed by..." n' est-elle pas "furent accueillis" au lieu de "ont été accueillis" ?

I used 'le livre titule....' instead of 's'appelle'

is it fine?

Merci

Bescherelle punctuates haïr in the passé simple as: je haïs, tu haïs, il haït, etc., whereas you insist on: j'hais, tu hais, il hais, etc.  Can they both be correct?