French language Q&A Forum

is, for example, j'habite (or j'hésite) spelt like that even in written texts? If so why?

The English states "... neither head nor tail".  If one translates this to  "...ni tête ni queue", it is not accepted.  Instead "ni queue ni tête" is the only accepted translation, which seems to be an error.  Do you agree?

why is recevrez, the future tense being asked for?  wouldn't ce weekend indicate a "near future action " and so take the present tense?

I’m wondering if there’s a logic for having a singular beetroot in this phrase? Usually you’d make it with more than one, as with "tarte aux pommes"

Quand is an indicator of futur anterieur, when quand is used with simple, isn't next tense is anterieur?
My mentor taught it something like that..

AVEC DE (du, des) vs aux Is there a rule for this?

Salade DE

Saumon AVEC DU , DES

Poulet AVEC DES

Pâtes AUX Gâteau au...AVEC glace

aux pommes AVEC crème

How do you remember which countries/regions are masculine/feminine? I find this hard.

Hello,

I am having trouble understanding why "Ils se sont parlé hier soir au téléphone." is the correct orthography.

Bescherelle explains that there are three cases (https://www.bescherelle.com/faq/comment-accorder-le-participe-passe-dun-verbe-pronominal/):

1. Lorsque le verbe est essentiellement pronominal (c’est-à-dire qu’il se construit toujours avec un pronom réfléchi), le participe passé s’accorde avec le sujet.

2. Lorsque le verbe est occasionnellement pronominal, le participe passé s’accorde avec le COD si celui-ci est placé avant le verbe.

3. Il ne s’accorde pas s’il n’y a pas de COD ou si celui-ci est placé après le verbe.

Obviously case 1 does not apply because parler normally takes a direct object. But everyone seems to put "Ils se sont parlé" into case three. How is "se" not the direct object? They're talking to each other. Why is it "Ils se sont brûlés." but "Ils se sont parlé."? These two seem like they should be in the same category to me. Is it just that "se parler" is a special case, or am I completely misunderstanding?

Sorry if this was already answered somewhere but I haven't found it in my searches if so.

Thank you for your help.

How do I say 'I am well'?

This is doing my head in... My grammar exercise book has:

1. Nous devons fermer tous les volets. -> Nous devons tous les fermer.

2. Elle va faire toutes ses courses au supermarché. -> Elle va toutes les faire.

BUT

3. Nous souhaitons recevoir tous nos amis pour notre anniversaire de mariage. -> Nous souhaitons les recevoir tous.

My textbook gives no explanation as to why tous/toutes comes before the object pronoun in 1,2 but after the infinitive in 3.