French language Q&A Forum

Why the verb connaître for “to meet”

Thanks

Details it

Hi, I think I'm a bit confuse when comes to gender. I thought whenever for feminine, need to add -e. But, how come there is a gender for fruits. And when come to souris, how do I know the gender for the animal? 

I was always taught (from textbooks, profs, etc) to use "en" with French countries/states/provinces that end in -e or start with a vowel sound and are singular. "Aux" with plural names, and au for the rest--with the exception of Mexique which uses "au" though it ends in -e. Oh, and à with cities. 

Is this "dans le" thing a change in how the language is done or a regional peculiarity or what?

IMHO, the presentation of "avoir envie de" in this lesson seems to be rambling and less precise than the corresponding "avoir besoin de" lesson. (They were written by the same author.)

Because of the differing presentations, it took me a couple of re-reads to realize that the construction of these expressions is actually IDENTICAL:

 - avoir besoin de + (article) + noun
 - avoir envie de + (article) + noun

and

 - avoir besoin de + infinitive
 - avoir envie de + infinitive

Note that I've replaced the unnecessary "de/d'" by the simple "de", because at this stage of a French course, I don't think anyone would ever say (or write) "J'ai besoin de un crayon". [BTW: I'm impressed by the spell checker. It flagged "de un" ! ]

The use of "parallel text" causes most Brits to prefer US courses. Although the subjects might be of equal complexity and difficulty, the Yanks use parallel text for the overhead projectors and the course notes. That seems to make the subjects seem simpler - both to learn and to remember.

BTW:  Parallel text simply means the use of identical text throughout - except for the differing key words. Look at my "besoin" and "envie" examples above. The differing key words seem to jump out of the page - as if they had been emboldened.

Thanks.

The "les notres" replaces the plural noun "plantes" which is feminine; so why is the " les notres masculine? What am I missing here?  Would appreciate imput. 

Best wishes

Kevin

Exactly! On means we, one, people. It does not mean you. So, if one did not check tu as a correct answer, then one should not have been marked wrong. On y va means let us go. It does not necessarily signify let's me and you go, even though on may include you. I think tu should not be included as a correct answer. Ok?

Vous ________ tôt ce soir-là.

You had gone to bed early that night.

HINT: Conjugate "se coucher" in Le Plus-que-Parfait

Answer: vous étiez couchés

Is it ne vend pas

Or

Ne vends pas