French language Q&A Forum

In the first paragraph "Santa claus " is used instead of Pere noel. Can we use santa claus in french as well??

Why can you not get any points if all the spelling and words are correct but that you have missed a comma or exclamation mark?

Please can someone explain why is this sentence in the passé composé instead of the imparfait ?

I have a few questions relating to the B2 writing exercise "What Monster Would You Be" (which was great, BTW!):

without any memory of what I had done the night before.

Kwizbot's answer:

sans aucun souvenir de ce que j'aurais fait la nuit d'avant.

Your answer:

sans aucun souvenir de ce que j'avais fait la nuit d'avant

Question #1: Why is it the conditional perfect here and not the past perfect?  The English says I had.  Isn't that past perfect?  

before reverting to normal the next morning,

Kwizbot's answer:

avant de redevenir normal le matin suivant,

Your answer:

avant que je ne redevienne normal le matin suivant,

Question #2: Why is my response here incorrect?  Why do I need to use avant + infinitive instead of avant que + subjunctive? Is there a subtle difference in meaning?

I would know many magic spells

Kwizbot's answer:

Je connaitrais de nombreux sorts

Your answer:

Je connaîtrais beaucoup de sorts

Question#3: Why can't you use "beaucoup de" here?  Is there a subtle difference in meaning between beacoup and nombreux?  For example, does beaucoup mean "a lot" and nombreux "many"?

Merci d'avance de votre aide!  

PS - I LOVE the writing challenges and find them the most helpful part of your app!  I would LOVE it if the NEXT button were right under the self-rating system so I wouldn't have to scroll down over the grammar lessons links to get to it.  

why "que ... d'autre" but not "que d'autre" like "qui d'autre, quoi d'autre"? Thanks.

1. Is there any word called 'reprimande' in French denoting the same sense as reprimand in English. 

2.  Le pire était à l'école où l'on m'envoyait dans le bureau du directeur.   In this sentence means they?

3. This sentence is difficult for me to understand: je m'étais calmé avant qu'il ne soit trop tard !

The first part of the sentence is in the plus-que-parfait tense, while the second part is in the subjonctif present tense. Since the past perfect tense is always used to describe a past action that took place before another past action, shouldn't the subjonctif passé here be more appropriate? The English sentence itself illustrates this fact: ... had calmed down ... was

Thank you! Overall, a difficult but good exercise to think about the complex constructions of the sentences.

Elle avait fait ses devoirs avant qu'il n'arrive. She had done her homework before he arrived. Why is 'avant qu'il n'arrive' translated as before he arrived?