French language Q&A Forum

Why not just "jusqu'août"?  What does the 'en" bring that is not already there?  Thanks.

(Histoire de ma vie) I have the desire to write a novel or I have no more the desire to write a novel. What means : se passer qchose? 

Cette nouvelle aventure m'enthousiasme = this new adventure excites me.   But "enthousiasme " isn't a verb (is it?), so how does this clause work?

Are there any patterns to looks for in the verbs that are conjugated with è VS. the verbs conjugated with the (ll/tt) rule? If not, are there any tricks to memorize these select exceptions from the (ll/tt) rule? 

I can't seem to get these two lessons down because I have no rule for distinguishing between the verbs which have distinct conjugations. 

Why is this incorrect?  Il est aussi riche qu'ils

In English there is a strong feeling to want to say “the period”. Below, the definite article is missing, so it’s just “période”. Is this just the way it is in French?

“se levait et se couchait en même temps que le Soleil du vingt-deux juillet au vingt-trois août, période pendant laquelle apparaissaient les fortes chaleurs.”

The bot marked "lave-linge" as incorrect, but according to the Larousse dictionary or good old Google exists as well.

I got a quiz question from the "a besoin de" lesson:

Cette année, Michaël ________ perdre du poids.

I was using "doit" here, but the correct was "a besoin de"

I couldn't find a full explanation why the second one is correct but the first one not.

Does the meaning change in this case (I could imagine that doit would be closer linked to a real need, e.g from a medical perspective, while besoin would be more linked to his wish to lose weight, but no idea if that's the case).