French language Q&A Forum

I know that this phrase is incorrect: "Le bâtiment d'ancien où mes parents habitaient", but I also know that sometimes "de" is used with an adjective in similar phrases.

What is the rule about whether to add "de" to an adjective?

"Les aventures d'Astérix sont traduites" - Grateful if you could explain why "traduites" is used instead of "traduisent". My thinking is that the translation refers to the adventures (which is plural).  Thank you in advance!

I asked about this previously & the answer that was given was that both spellings were acceptable with the hyphenated spelling more widely used. But in the text of this lesson the first sentence uses "week-end" & the last sentence uses "weekend". At the very least wouldn't the convention be to use the same spelling throughout a composition unless directly quoting another written piece?

In the first sentence, "la tempête [...] a frappé notre village à Noël," why do we use "à" here? Can you say, "la tempête a frappé le Noël"? Is "à" used with all holidays, e.g., "la tempête a frappé à Paques," etc.?

1. Jean- Pierre remarque la belle Mireille. Jean-Pierre

………remarque.

2. Mireille lève les yeux. Elle…….

lève.

3. Robert ne connaît pas Henri. Il ne………

connait pas.

4. Il n'ouvre pas cette porte. Il ne

……….ouvre pas.

5. Paul va fermer la fenêtre. Il va

……….fermer

Could you use "je suis pressé(e) de..." for "I can't wait to...". i.e. Je suis pressé(e) de découvrir le manoir hanté...

I thought I had seen that construction suggested as a possibility somewhere in the past, but I'm never quite sure if it rings correctly to a native speaker, or if that sounds more like "I'm in a hurry to..." (i.e. more stressed than excited).

Yes Paul. I agree with you. I never learned phrases like that in school. Would they be commonly used ie. Should I try to use them in conversation or would I get funny looks, haha?

What would "some teacher" be in french if not -"un professeur"?

If it was "some teachers", It would have been ... something else?

I put in some different answers from what was accepted and wondered if any of the following were possible. 

1. For "I really need to save", is it OK to use "il faut vraiment", or does "absolument" always naturally go with "il faut" ?

2. For "I've stopped buying expensive brands", can I also use the reflexive "Je me suis arrêtée d'acheter des marques chères" ?

3. For "and instead I've tried the supermarket brands" can we use "au lieu" in place of "à la place"?; and finally :

4. For "I must admit", can the verb "avouer" replace "admettre", as in "Je dois l'avouer..." or does this have a different sense ?

Thanks

In my French - Japanese dictionary, there is an explanation of the usage of «passer» (verb intransitive), the example there says «J’ai passé à l’écrit (= I passed the writing exam)», whereas Kwiziq explains that 'in French, «passer» never means 'to pass an exam'.

So, practically, «passer» in French also means 'to pass an exam' occasionally?