French language Q&A Forum

Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers

13,788 questions • 29,662 answers • 847,860 learners

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level

Duke H.B1Kwiziq community member

Please explain "Il lui (verbe)"Bonjour! I'm trying to improve my French through reading, and I've encountered a problem that I don't think was covered in my lessons. I keep seeing the following structure used in a sentence: "Il lui (verbe)." For example: "Il lui manque la montié d'une oreille et ses yeux sont... ." I unferstand this sentence to mean "He is missing half of an ear, and his eyes are... ." My problem is that I can't figure out why such sentences are using "Il lui (verbe)" instead of just "Il (verbe)." Another example is "Il lui arrive même de nous faire cadeau d'un rat." Could you please explain (1) is "lui" is being used as a stress pronoun in this case? And (2) why is it being used at all? Marci! -Duke

Asked 6 years ago

Like1Answer4

Park J.A0Kwiziq community member

Gros vs Grand

It says here that 'my nose is small but their noses are big' is translated to 'Mon nez est petit, mais leurs nez sont gros' . Is there a certain reason why it is "gros" isntead of "grand" ? Or is it just an optional thing?

Asked 4 years ago

Like0Answer2

LauraNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

H. asked about bel homme > beaux hommes"The first sentence uses 'bel homme'. Is that right? Should it not be 'beau homme' so the plural would be 'beaux hommes'?"

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer3

John C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Is there a rule for using liaison after "mais."I hear the different usages of liaison with "mais" before words beginning with a vowel. In your video "La Bretagne se révèle en Côtes d'Armor" the speaker sometimes uses it and sometimes does not before the same sound, making her difficult to understand. Is it simply facultative or is there more to it. Thanks.

Asked 6 years ago

Like0Answer5

D. A.C1Kwiziq community member

Just because "I have played football since ...." doesn't mean "I still play football".

Asked 6 years ago

Like0Answer5

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Le plat

The idicated translation is "dish." In English, a dish can either be a plate on which food is placed or it can mean an entree. I suspect that the meaning of "plat" is the physical plate on which food is served. Can you verify?

Asked 3 years ago

Like0Answer1