French language Q&A Forum

I know there are lots of exceptions in French! Is there one hiding behind the breaking of the symmetry of taking off two letters and adding one when forming participles (-er > -é, -ir > -i, but -dre > -du, rather than the simpler -re > -u) ?

I don’t understand why this translates in the present as well as in the historic past?

If I remind you of your nanny is 'Je vous rappelle votre nounou.' What is 'I remind your nanny of you'? Is it 'Je rappelle vous à votre nounou' but I don't think this is correct!

Hi. I understand that one could say "Je donne les requins à Anne" (i.e. "I am giving the sharks to Anne...imagine that Anne is a marine biologist) or "Je les donne à Anne" (i.e. I am giving them to Anne) or Je les lui donne" (i.e. I am giving them to her). However, how would one say "I am giving Anne to the sharks" (imagine that Anne has upset the local mafia) using a double pronoun (i.e. "I am giving her to them"? Presumably, one cannot say "Je lui les donne" (because it would violate the rules on the order of pronouns)? What about "Je y lui donne"? Any help gratefully received.

Can one say "le jour avant" as well ? 

I do not understand why in the above sentence écrit (pp of écrire?) has an 'extra' e. I understand this only applies to être verbs + avoir if object preceeds verb?

John M

Hello. Can you please explain why is le passé composé used in the first sentence?

"Mon frère et moi avons toujours aimé les jeux vidéos."

I thought this should be in l'imparfait because it describes a habit in the past and not something that just happened for a day, no?

One of the sentences for translation would not play so I had to leave it blank and continue.

I'm confused why the response given is : "nous allons aussi nous inscrire à la gym." Shouldn't it be "nous allons aussi nous inscrirer à la gym" with an infinitive in the same way that the alternative choice is "nous allons aussi nous abonner à la gym"?