French language Q&A Forum

If you want to say "I think about my wife". ChatGPT suggests I say "Je pense à elle", instead of "Je lui pense".

It says "Je lui pense" can be grammaticaly correct but it's too formal, old or used in literary.

However, this lesson says nothing about this. Can anyone explain this?

My questions are about the sentence, "Et puis, une mère n'est pas uniquement celle qui t'a donné la vie.": Why is 'te' used here instead of 's'a', 'l'a' or some other construction, since it seems to be some kind of generalisation? And also, if 't'a' is used and the speaker is talking to another woman, why doesn't 'donné' agree in 'donnée'?

Is there a list of verbs that are followed by "a" ?....  such as demanded 

The expression "to make new sandals" is "faire de nouvelles sandales" 

To say I have new sandals made, the correct answer is "Je me fais faire de nouvelles sandales" but I don't understand why it is a reflexive verb. I would have thought the answer is "Je fais faire de nouvelles sandales"

How do l know when to use de in the sense of some although it isn't necessarily expressed in the English sentence eg je mange DE la confiture = l eat /am eating jam or perhaps peu d'élèves ?

il en existe toutes sortes - why isn't is  this : il en existent toutes sortes.

Thanks

Paul.

La première partie de ce paragraphe utilise l’imparfait, par exemple adorais, étais, allais, achetait, s’asseyait, étaient ce qui représente des actions qui continuent au passé.  Mais soudain le temps change pour les films de Marvel.  Quelle est la différence ? 

Would you say a doctor visites ses patients, OR il rend visite à ses patients?

Hello!

Just a question regarding the usage of venir vs. être when saying where one is from: 

This lesson notes " To say which city you are from in French, you will use the following expression: Je viens de + [city]". One example given is "Je viens de Londres / I am from London". (And no alternative to "venir de" is mentioned in the lesson).  

However, a related lesson (À = To/in and De = From/of with cities in French (French Prepositions of Location)) gives an example using "être" to say where one is from: Je suis de La Rochelle / I'm from La Rochelle.

It seems there is a subtle difference in meaning (I am from vs. I come from), however in both of the above cases the translation given is "I am from". 

Could someone clarify if venir and être are interchangeable in this context, or if there are specific uses for each?