French language Q&A Forum

I think this is more a question about the use of lui, but there are some examples here that use it. Ils rient avec lui, pas de lui. They laugh with him, not at him. 

How do we know lui is HIM and not just him/her without any other context. Do I just take the translation for what it is, or am I missing something fundamental? I find this to be so confusing. Thank you. 

In the above examplers, it shows both "payeras" and "paieras" as being valid.

So why is "Je m'ennuierai à cette fête" considred correct, while "

Je m'ennuyerai à cette fête" was not?

Is it only "-ayer" verbs that allow the two alternatives?

Bonjour,  la cinquième phrase a le mot “départments”. Qu’est - ce que c’est, un départment? Pourriez - vous m’éxpliquez? Merci beaucoup.

For some verbs like passer, monter etc there's a rule: 

When a verb is followed immediately by a noun (as opposed to a preposition), it uses avoir as the auxiliary, like most verbs.

But in the book « Les verbes et leurs prépositions » (by Jean-Michel Robert, Isabelle Chollet) there's a note for the verb convenir:

Le verbe convenir se conjugue avec l’auxiliaire avoir lorsqu’il a le sens de « plaire, être appro­prié à », avec l’auxiliaire être lorsqu’il signifie « décider ensemble ».

So I'm confused. What would be the right choice in the following case?

1. La date que vous m’aviez proposée ne m’a pas convenu.

2. La date que vous m’aviez proposée ne m’est pas convenue.

From the one side, here convenir means « plaire, être appro­prié à », therefore it shoud be conjugated with avoir.

From the other side, there's no COD here: "La date" is the subject and "me" is COI, so être should be used.

the lesson says "Adjectives modified by adverbs with 2 or more syllables"
And the lesson made an example:
"Compare these examples with the following counter-example containing a one-syllable adverb:
un très joli manteau
a very pretty coat"

Based on the information the lesson provided, I assumed "une histoire très intéressante" wouldn't be right.
I saw other questions on this, but none really explained the rule.

Is it because besides having one-syllable adverb, the adjective also have to be one of those that are put before the verb?

I thought it is depuis...je suis (not past).

Or is it a difference between:

Since then, I have been following her career

Vs

I have since been following her career.

I hope it’s OK to pose a vocabulary question - at first I took this to mean the dog has taken the person’s food, but today I came across a module in Duolingo (apologies...) translating "croquettes" as "kibble", ie dog food. Is that the intended meaning?

In the first sentence.  Can you use 'autant que possible' in this instance?

Just wanna double check, in the sentance "J'admire leurs belles créations" there is actually no way of hearing if it's plural or singular? Or am i suppose to understand that it was suppose to be plural somehow?