French language Q&A Forum

when is une peinture un tableau?

All of this is in the present (with the exception of one other passe compose (a dish that i've tasted) & one subjunctive).   Why is the sentence "I really feel like I am travelling to the Roaring Twenties" translated using passe compose?

My first thought was that the narrator in this sentence moved into a memory, hence the past--that is, she once HAD that impression when in Paris.  But, the same could be said for other sentences: "What I like above all, (it) is the relaxed atmosphere . . "   It seems all of these sentences relate an ongoing feeling or attitude toward La brasserie La Coupole, so I don't understand why the passe compose is used in this sentence.

Hello! I was wondering how to translate an inversion from English into French. For example, the English 'I left early, so bad was the party'. Could you use an inversion and say 'Je suis parti tôt, si mauvaise était la fête'? Or something more like 'Je suis parti tôt, tant la fête était mauvaise'. 

Thank you very much

Why not simply : J’ai peur qu’il soit à l’heure ? Why is « ne » necessary ?  

Which rule of grammar covers the word order for the sentence below?:

The hint given is «In French, invert the verb and subject “the…spirits that make the planters”

des alcools de palme artisanaux que fabriquent les planteurs

The quick Lesson on this sites that in the negative imperative the subject pronoun (tu, vous, nous) is dropped.

In Schaum's Outlines text, I see the following negative imperatives: Ne te reveille pas,  Ne nous reveillons pas, and Ne vous reveille pas.

One of the exercise questions in chapter 5 of same text  asks for the negative imperative of "Promenez-vous dans le parc" The answer is Ne vous promenez pas dans le parc.

Having trouble understanding this

I do understand the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs, but for this  English speaker there seems to a real difference between "tu as descendu le cadeau" or  "j’ai descendu les boîtes" versus "j’ai descendu les escaliers". You don’t "do" anything (like carrying it down or getting it down) to the staircase/ladder/beanstalk! I’m not sure if the French view the two situations identically or whether it’s just idiomatic to descend something with steps or rungs using the transitive form ?

My petit quiz question was Nous mettrons la table ... which was translated as "We'll lay the table ..."  In the US, we use "set" not "lay," the latter having an uncomfortable connotation!