French language Q&A Forum

Qu'est-ce que c'est [chose]?, Qu'est-ce que c'est que + [something] , Qu'est-ce que + [chose] all mean the same thing and they have the same level of formality, right? Am I understanding this correctly?

Hello: I'm wondering why the two phrases "will there be" (popcorn) and "there must be" (mermaids) require avoir rather than être. "Est-ce qu'il y être" doesn't sound right, but I don't why. On the other hand, "il doit être des sirènes" sounds okay. I'd be grateful for an explanation.

Thanks so much!

Why would it be "C'était un bâtard" not "Il était un bâtard?" The statement is specific. I asked my partner, who is a native French speaker, and he said both sounded correct/normal to him. He couldn't figure out why the latter is unacceptable, even viewing the rules provided. 

There are two sentences in this text using amener and emmener in ways I thought were more correctly expressed with emporter: Taking too many clothes along with mother, and bringing one’s dolls to bathe in the sea. We’re talking about objects here, either personal or something brought from one place to another. I suppose the dolls could be expressed with apporter, as they were brought to Lola, but why did you choose amener and emmener, which I’ve studied as being used only in reference to people, animals, or vehicles?

I got "nearly" as an answer on a quiz for an example that was never given. 5,900.45 (pounds) is never shown as 5.900,45 in French, only 5 900, 45 in French. Please explain.

Would it also be correct to say, "Elles dorment en s'enlacant."? 

(Sorry I know that the C is missing the cedille, here.)

Merci !

I thought and had the same meaning and are both passive voice constructions. This comes up in a question asking for an active voice sentence to be turned into a passive. I used which sounds better to me than . So, are reflexive constructions passive voice or not? I was taught, like 50 years ago, that they were. C'est un peu tatillon, mais j'ai envie de savoir.

Does effort refer to the skiing activity or to the production of the raclette ?   The sentence seems a bit ambiguous.

When would you use this expression (s`en aller) instead of the verb partir?  Je m`en vais or Je pars.