French language Q&A Forum

Hi

Can we say il y avait beaucoup de "personnes" instead of "gens"?

Thanks

Are there rules about when to use the abbreviation for heure? For example, huit heure or 8h or huit h. Also, when typing 8h is there a space between the number and the abbreviation or no space (8h or 8 h)?

To me, according to the lesson, it seems like "It was the last time that you told me you loved me" and "It was last time that you told me you loved me" could both be acceptable answers for this phrase. The lesson says to use "la dernière fois" to mean "last time" when it's followed by a clause. Is it not followed by a clause in this case - "que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais" - and therefore could mean "It was last time" as well as "It was the last time"?

I believe there is an error in the sentence: "mais la majorite des parents inscrivent leurs enfants.

La majority is singular, hence the verb should be "inscrit"

Right?

Why is au used with Pays de Galles and not aux?

In the quiz it gave this translation of the English : 'Ils n'ont plus de vin" but I would have translated this as 'they don't have any more wine', which is quite different in meaning in English. Would my version be incorrect? If so how would I say that in French? Merci!

Sometimes the English translation is not even close to what the French should be. Could you possibly give us the basic expression and then we can make the necessary changes? It is very frustrating and disheartening to spend so much time looking up vocabulary and invariably choosing the wrong word/expression. For example in this exercise," Do you ever hear  from Tatiana?" Looks pretty easy! If you could give the basic "ça + pronoun+arrive de+ infinitive", we might have a much better chance of getting it right and actually using it again. I have a pretty good understanding of French grammar but I am having a hard time with these writing exercises because I don't know the idiom or the expression. It would be more useful if you could list the most important vocab in French in the writing exercise ! Many times the explanations that accompany the exercise don't apply because the problem was not the grammar but the idiom or the expression used. Just a suggestion! I have really improved so much using this site. I do appreciate all your hard work. It is the best site on the Internet.

Shouldn’t the participle agree with the preceding object? Or is it only a direct object?

We were asked to translate from English "nights when you are not here."  The answer is "les soirs ou tu n'est pas la."  I don't have accents on my keyboard."  Why "la" and not "ici"?  Is "ici" a correct alternative?

The "preferred" translation indicates that their son fell asleep "a poings fermes," indicating that he was deeply asleep.  I dispute this -- kids may fall asleep with their fists closed, but not tightly unless they are under severe stress.  I would suggest that a better indication of deep sleep would be the other suggestion - "il dormait profondement."  This is from years of watching a number of sleeping children -- mine and others'.  Just a thought....