French language Q&A Forum

Why is 'penser a' here, but not 'penser de' (opinion).  Wouldn't it might be good to know that in addition to 'y' for a clause with 'a'; that 'en' for a clause with 'de' is appropriate (and, I think, clearer than just another 'le')?

[Sorry, I can't seem to do the accents, as needed.]

Is the word “alors” necessary in the “a alors demandé Martine”? 

Could anyone please tell me if there are any rules on if and when you can/cannot replace inanimate nouns with subject pronouns? I read the lesson c'est versus il est/elle est and thought you use c'est with nouns while il/elle est is used with adjectives. 

But I have encountered situations where the writer/speaker uses il/elle est with a noun.

For example, if you are referring to (or pointing at) "une lettre", can you say "Elle est une lettre"? Or can you only say "C'est une lettre."?

Or, if you are referring to "une conversation", can you say "Elle va bien" or can you only say "Ça va bien."? 

Thank you for any clarification. 

explain the use of the infinitive with conditional. I don't understand.

I am having a difficult time deciding when devoir is appropriate and when it is not.  All the other applications, I am ok with.  But if devoir implies "must have" why is a purse a necessity? Why not just Avoir besoin?  And why is sleep NOT a necessity (or I may be getting this confused at this point). This is getting to be more of a guessing/memorization thing than an actual understanding thing.  I see from the previous posts that this has been discussed ad infinitum so it's not just me.  Any easy way to decide when to use devoir and when NOT to use it in this context?

Thanks

Hi, I thought that something in the past that continues to the present (and is still continuing) would take the imparfait, not the passé composé: Je voulais toujours essayer…

D’aussi loin qu’elle se souvienne: I get confused about the translation of ‘could’ in this context and had translated this as : ‘D’aussi loin qu’elle pouvait se souvenir’. Can you direct me to an explanation of when ‘could’ is not a tense of pouvoir but a subjunctive?