French language Q&A Forum

I agree with Carl. This was a challenging exercise. (I find the written exercises more difficult then the Dictees in general.)

My question: Why "Mes essuie-glaces arriere" and not "arrieres" ? Shouldn't arriere be plural?

Also: I wrote: "la pile de mon portable etait aussi vide", which I believe is an acceptable alternate translation. I am familiar with the use of "pile" for flashlight batteries or electric appliances, and the use of "etre vide" for a battery being dead.

I have never heard the expression, "le bas-cote". I wrote, "la cote de la route".

Thoughts anyone?

P.S. According to my husband, (who is a car buff) "a beater" is very common expression here in the U.S. As in, "my car is a real beater", ie. "my car is really beat up".

Bonjour, Does n'est-ce pas make a sentence negative and thus require si when replying to it or do you use oui. For example, Tu parles anglais, n'est-ce pas ?Is it si or oui, je parle anglais?

Merci 

I am a bit confused about how to translate certain uses of the present participle of an English verb.  Sometimes the French use the construction, en + present participle, and and at other times they use à  + infinitive.  This story has two examples.  The first: "...was dragging on the ground while making a horrible rattling noise."   'While making' is translated as 'en faisant', i.e. en + present participle. The second example: "Michel and his dad had spent whole weekends fixing..."  This translation of the present participle 'fixing' (one could also think of while fixing to align with the first example) is 'à réparer', i.e. à + infinitive.  Are these two constructions simply options, i.e. one could use either, or is there some guidance as to when to use one or the other?  I hope my question is clear.  Thanks in advance.  BTW, I loved the theme for the workout as it has practical application since most of us drive.  Also, I was impressed that a native French person would know Americain slang like 'beater'.

why for past we use -  j'avais du mal 

But future we don't use - j'aurai du mal 

and uses - je vais avoir du mal ?

In one quiz question it states :

Quand j'étais enfant, ________ au chœur du collège.

When I was a child, I used to belong to the high school choir.

(HINT: Use "appartenir" (to belong))

The correct English for collège is middle school. Lycée is high school. 

I believe that the adjective arrière is invariant; hence, no need for the plural.   If I recall, there was another instance of this in this weekend workout.

when do you use dans for "in" instead of à

Hello, I have a technical question. Why aren’t these called possessive pronouns? Is the term interchangeable with possessive adjectives? It’s been a long time since I’ve been in school, but I don’t remember the term “possessive adjectives” at all.  Thank you.

Could someone please explain when to use which of the above?   Thanks