French language Q&A Forum

Why 'du' in 'la demeur du Capitaine Haddock' instead of 'de' as in fan de Tintin and Château de Cheverny?  In general, when I interpret something as possessive, for example Tintin's fan or Cheverny's castle, I use 'de'.  So, I am puzzled about the use of 'du' for Captain Haddock's house.  I get this wrong a lot, so if you can point me to a grammar lesson or give me some guidance, I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks, in advance.

A couple of the examples appear to use être in constructing the past tense:

Yann est passé par ton quartier 

While others use avoir:

Nous avons passé une semaine

The above question linked to this page, though it’s not one of the examples given (can’t find "il y a longtemps" elsewhere on the site)

It’s translated as "This story happened a long time ago" and I’m wondering why it’s not "a very long time ago", or is "très" needed for the distant past?

“jamais encore” is not acceptable?  You cannot say “ Marco n'ira jamais encore à un concert de rock”?

It seems strange that such a beautiful song should finish with the line “ In the shadow of your dog”. Chien can also be translated as charm eg avoir du chien. For what reason, therefore, is the final line not “ In the shadow of your charm”?

The French name of the exercise is written as ‘“My” liste de courses’  

The English sentence says "She can sing", not "She knows how to sing". I know how to sing but I can't sing because my voice is terrible. Can all French people (or Quebecoise) who know how to sing, actually sing???

In the list of words to be familiar with at the beginning of this exercise, "nutmeg" (the last word given) is included for some reason.

I don’t think u should put the word pot belly for Eric cuz on the picture it doesn’t show that Eric have a pot bell + I think it is kinda mean

I understand this is plus que parfait, but shouldn't it be avait fait? Why is there an e here?