French language Q&A Forum

I found one of your recent posts awhile back and now I fully understand it. It helped me a lot and now i'm hoping it will help me do better with the tests.

thanks again

Celine

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.”

I thought I’d sorted this out already but evidently not. I believe that the answer I gave in the heading is, according to the lecture notes, correct. Correction welcome. So why was it marked wrong and the correct answer given as “je suis avec cinq minutes d’avance”? I’m fine with this answer too but why was my answer marked as incorrect?

I know it must be my ear, but, having listened to it over and over, it seems the speaker says "mais cera n'est pas obligatoire."  

If you use the inverted form, the answer key asks for the extra -t- after s'adapte, so s'adapte-t-il. That looks redundant, since adapte already ends in a t sound. (Inverted questions in the present tense (Le Présent) in French - il/elle/on forms)

Is there perhaps a different rule for silent 'e' endings?