French language Q&A Forum

I'm wondering why the verb tense here doesn't match the English sentence that was given : "We **had wanted** you so much for so long... ".

Is "baies rouges" acceptable or only "fruits rouges"? And does "fruits rouges" mean a specific type of berry, or can it be e.g. redcurrants, cranberries etc?

I was not aware that se dépêcher can often be followed by the preposition "de". 

So could I say:  "Je me dépêche d'y arriver à l'heure"?

Thank you for your wonderful website.  Adelaida. 

I struck a problem with moitie/demi- not a problem with French, but with the English sentence in the exercise. If an English speaker says "I ate half a chicken", it is not possible for an English-speaking person to be certain what the English speaker means. It could mean EITHER he consumed 50% of a chicken OR that he bought half a chicken and ate it all. My point is, that one cannot divine the English speaker's meaning without more information. It follows, in this case, that a test question that demands a choice made between moitie or demi cannot be incorrect. Here, I think, the subtlety (or the casualness) of English speech has not been understood.

Is the “ en  train de finir” construct also accepted for the question: “Louis is finishing his homework”?

This is probably British slang for spend extravagantly.  I have never heard this used in the U. S.

How can you tell that the qu'  in "Qu'aimez-vous?" means que rather than qui?  I.e., why isn't it "who do you like?" instead of "what do you like?"

Bonjour,

I was wondering about the sentence , please explain why this would not be ?

merci beaucoup

Martin