French language Q&A Forum

Looking up the word for 'cooking pot' in Collins dictionary, I found two translations: 'une casserole' and 'une cocotte'. I am familiar with 'une casserole' being used more specifically for a 'saucepan' so I used 'cocotte'. I had completely forgotten about 'marmite', but was reminded of it after seeing it for the first time in many years - and, it makes complete sense.

My question: Is 'cocotte' incorrect here, and if so, how would it be used?

Merci !

Hi,

I was wondering. My friend had asked me a question How is your room? Would I still use elle est since it is specific when i respond to her?

Meric

Nicole 

I translated ancient crater as  "cratère ancien", but the answer guide has "ancien cratère". The lesson about "ancien" says that it means "ancient" after the noun, but "former" before. Why is it before the noun here?

We say “j’aime le chocolat” (in general) or “j’ai mangé du chocolat” (a quantity). So I thought the translation for  “we tasted sausage rougails with yellow rice” might be “nous avons goûté DES rougails”, but the answer was “nous avons goûté LES rougails”. I thought it would follow the same logic as the accompanying yellow rice, “… avec du riz jaune”.  But my reasoning is obviously not quite correct. Can someone please explain why “les” and not “des” for the rougails? 

1.       Ses déclarations étranges auront déconcerté le public.

how to write this in passive form?

1.       Ses déclarations étranges auront déconcerté le public.

how to write this in passive form?

I have not been able to get my arms around when to use "test", "interrogation", "contrôle", or "examen". I gather that "examen" is for a more comprehensive test or a performance assessment, like a driving test, but the usage doesn't seem consistent. Terms like "Examen finale", "quiz pop" & "mi-parcours" are pretty easy to figure out because they're so specific, but the more generic "test" situation is a little unclear. 

Ça m'a rendu fou !

Hi all,

In the sentence below, I used l'imparfait of pouvoir (pouvait) rather than the passé composé. I would have thought l'imparfait was appropriate as it describes actions that were repeated in the past i.e. they organised meetings that were repeated over a period of time.

Can someone please explain why the passé composé is used here? Choosing when to use l'imparfait or le passé composé does not seem to get any easier!

Du coup, leur petit groupe a pu organiser des rencontres quotidiennes, ce qui les a aidées à garder le moral.

Could I also use 'prudent' instead of 'vigilant'?

Is the second 'd' in "descendent" pronounced because in the audio file it seems like it isn't? (Les enfants descendent de la voiture) Or is it not pronounced because of the "de" succeeding it?