Using "avec" or "de" to say with in FrenchThe proper use of prepositions is quirky and hard to master. In the Lumberjack Part 1 writing exercise, the phrase in English is, "he was filling up his sleigh with branches". I thought "avec" was too literal and did not sound "French". I wrote, "Il remplissait son traîneau des branches" because "de" can mean "with" and there were multiple branches.
The correct answers are: "remplissait avec des branches" or "remplissait de branches".
Can someone please explain why "de" becomes the plural "des" after "avec" but is the singular "de" when used alone? Thanks.
PS - I think a unit devoted just to the quirks of prepositions would be helpful as well as a vocabulary unit with all the everyday idioms that use etre, avoir, pouvoir, faire, mettre, tenir together with y or en in sentences like "je n'y suis pour rien" or "je n'en peux plus." It's the little simple words that sound the most "French" but are also the most difficult to master. Thanks again.
Lise connaissait un super restaurant local.
Je porte des vêtements superbes. (this sentence is from another writing exercise, Louis XIV)
When do I use 'super' and when do I use 'superbe'?
The proper use of prepositions is quirky and hard to master. In the Lumberjack Part 1 writing exercise, the phrase in English is, "he was filling up his sleigh with branches". I thought "avec" was too literal and did not sound "French". I wrote, "Il remplissait son traîneau des branches" because "de" can mean "with" and there were multiple branches.
The correct answers are: "remplissait avec des branches" or "remplissait de branches".
Can someone please explain why "de" becomes the plural "des" after "avec" but is the singular "de" when used alone? Thanks.
PS - I think a unit devoted just to the quirks of prepositions would be helpful as well as a vocabulary unit with all the everyday idioms that use etre, avoir, pouvoir, faire, mettre, tenir together with y or en in sentences like "je n'y suis pour rien" or "je n'en peux plus." It's the little simple words that sound the most "French" but are also the most difficult to master. Thanks again.
Are there any more examples you could give us? I used the direct object le with the apostrophe and it was marked wrong. How can we tell what word should be accented? Is ça always correct as opposed to le, la? In other words, are there certain times when the direct object must be before the verb or certain times when it has to be after the verb? Thank you.
"We improved rapidly" why is this "nous nous sommes rapidement améliorés" instead of "nous avons rapidement amélioré"? I have no idea when to make a verb reflexive!
Hi guys,
I still don't get it.. I thought you could use c'est if after you have un, une, le, la, les, des. Then, why people use c'est ma mère instead of elle est ma mère ? Thank you
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