French language Q&A Forum

why is:  You had your curtains changed, translated as "Tu as fait changer tes rideaux."

I understood that "had" uses the plus-que-parfait?

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?

I understand that the partative article is used for uncountable amounts. e.g. 'je mange des pâtes'. It is clear that pasta is never going to be counted, so it makes sense it would be partative des.

However if i say 'je mange des carottes', I could mean a big plate of chopped up carrots which are uncountable, which would be partative des. 

Or I could mean I am eating 3 whole carrots which are definitely countable. So would this be indefinite des?

Is it the context that would define which article is used? 

Vous avez utilisé cinq points d'exclamation dans cette dictée!

Plural subject (nous), a single (non-paired) body part for each person: why the singular for the body parts (la tête) and not plural? "Nous nous grattons la tête"

Hello, If I take a subscription, which I would use at the later beginner/early intermediate level, could my husband use a Beginner strand of the program on the same subscription? Or must we each buy a subscription? Does anyone have experience with this?

J'ai bien compris l'usage de "tout ce qui", mais je pensais que l'on ne pouvait "visiter" que des lieux, pas des personnes.

I suspect the prepositions in this lesson don’t mean the same in US and British English.

As a Brit, I wouldn’t say either stop by or pop by somewhere. Pass by and go past mean the same as each other and don’t imply you stopped or went inside: for that, I’d use "go", "pop" or "drop" "into" or "in to" or another construction like "I went to see Laurent at his house".

So I’m not clear if "Elle est passée chez Laurent" means she went in to see him or went past his house without stopping?

 (Setting aside the usage of "place", as in "Laurent’s place")