French language Q&A Forum

Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers

14,808 questions • 32,083 answers • 985,839 learners

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it

Find your French level

D. A.B1Kwiziq community member

Passé Composé

Question: What is the best way to say ''He waited for twenty minutes.''?

Correct Answer: Il a attendu pendant vingt minutes.

Wrong Answer: Il attendait pendant vingt minutes.

If the question was "He was waiting for twenty minutes.", would the correct answer then be "Il attendait pendant vingt minutes."?

Asked 8 years ago

Like1Answer7

H. N.C1Kwiziq community member

"On est gentilS"?You give the example "On est gentils" - should that be "On est gentil" (i.e. the adjective is singular after 'on' even if I'm using "on" to talk about a group of people)? Or am I mistaken? Thank you.

Asked 8 years ago

Like1Answer2

Robert S.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I am learning to detest predictive text... ;)

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer1

Robert S.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Can you élaboration on the difference between using "en" + gerund versus l'imparfait and passé composèrent ?

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer1

Nancy S.A1Kwiziq community member

I don’t understand how Julie beut du chocolat can mean Julie wants some chocolate and Julie wants chocolate

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer2

Gary T.B2Kwiziq community member

Il faut que?

Please refresh my memory. Is there a construction: "Il faut que vous (subjunctive)? E.g. Il faut que vous soyez ici demain?

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer2

Lanny R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

certain -vs- (un) peu deSo I overlooked answering with "certain" for the question : Il y a un ___. (There is some risk.) As risk is uncountable I went with : Il y a un peu de risque. (There is a bit of risk.) In English I can think of instances where those differ (your example of full stress on "some" being one of them.) but they seem mostly interchangable. Any hints on when to use "certain" and when to use "(un) peu de" in French?

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer1

Almut H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

She is lucky - elle est chanceuse."Elle est chanceuse" should be accepted too. The second link provided by Ron (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french/lucky) event lists "chanceux" as translation of "lucky".

Asked 8 years ago

Like1Answer10

Joseph K.C1Kwiziq community member

'En' other uses

When 'in' is used in other contexts, apart from physical locations, would 'en' be used?

E.g. En réalité - In reality

Je suis fort en langues vivantes - I am strong in Foreign Languages

En industrie du bâtiment - In the building industry

Ces médicaments sont en sirop - This medication is in (the form of) syrup

Paul est rentré en colère - Paul returned home in Anger

By the way, please correct if wrong, thank you

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer5

Shruti C.A1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

En means the total duration of time has been taken to do a task.

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer3

Find your French level for FREE

And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it

Find your French level