French language Q&A Forum

Could I technically ask Qu'est-ce qu'il y a la distance entre Paris et Lyon? Would that make sense considering "il y a" can be used in questions.

Could "elle s'y est installée" be used to translate "she moved there"?

I put "passé" rather than "passée" - usually a straightforward mistake - but on this occasion, I'm thinking and thinking, but I can't see what it is that "passée" is agreeing with. La soixantaine? Or Forme physique? And if so, why ?

Hello All.

I was reviewing pronouns using this page:

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/indirect-objects-2/

It mentions using the adverbial pronoun "y" and then gives an example:

I thought that "y" could only be used to reference an inanimate object, not a person.

Are there special cases? What am I missing here?

Thank You in advance.

Bob

Hello,

I have a tiny question. If I want to say "I thought about her", should I use:

a) Je lui ai pensée

b) J'ai pensé à lui

c) J'ai pensé à elle

Because I notice that for verb + de, we can use "penser d'elle" (think of her), so for the case verb + à, can we use à + pronouns as well (option b,c)? Can we use "elle" instead of "lui" for such case? Finally, can we use option b) instead of a)?

Hey everyone, 

I’m a novice when it comes to spoken French and the subtleties of the language but  I really want to do it justice when I reference it in my novel. The particular scene I need help with is a first person account of a French woman where she tells the reader about an occasion when was approached by English Gentleman (an official and very well educated) who was fluent French speaker, but not a native, and how she knew he wasn't French. I wanted to include details of how she

she might have missed initially if she wasn’t paying too much attention to him but as her guard was up already in the scene, she was able to spot the giveaways that others may have missed. 

Whether it be pronunciation, tense, inflection or something to do with the time etc. 

The English man in the scene approached the French woman when she’s at work in a post office and hands her a note. He tells her something along the lines of  ”I need this delivered by tomorrow morning, 9:30 at the latest. Tracked” with a French name and address on the envelope. I’m thinking something around the way he says the time could be interesting, but I’m not sure how it would work yet?

What are some subtle giveaways that native French speakers pick up with non native French speakers that indicate to them them that they’re not French?  (That aren’t so obvious.)

Any thoughts will be helpful. Thank you for your time🙏🏻

Why "au praliné" and not "au praline"?

For the phrase, "je suis né pour travailler dans ce domaine."  the audio says something like, "je suis né pour cette vocation."