French language Q&A Forum

Why Couldn't we tell Dans l' Yorkshire ?  '' 'Y'is a semi vowel right ?

"I wrote, J'ai passe de bons moments" and it was marked wrong. The correct answer was "J'ai eu de...." All the prompt said to do was to conjugate avoir. I don't think there's anything wrong with my answer. Could you please explain? Once again, I'm checking the box that says "Send email notifications of new answers," and I haven't gotten any responses. 

How would you say "Which shoes are yours?" 

I just took the same test twice about "A l'aéroport". The first time I you said I had 7 correct, 1 near-miss and 5 wrong. I do not believe any were wrong. I then took it again. 

This time I went through the vocabulary provided by Lawless for L'aéroport.  My marks for the second time were 9 correct, one near miss, one unanswered and two incorrect. Absurd! The apparent unanswered one I had answered and correctly. It was the first question. Why on earth your system ignored my correct answer I have no idea but it is very frustrating. 

The two apparent wrong answers were not wrong. I used the vocabulary you provided. One said that my use of "bagages enregistré" was wrong and I should have used "bagages en soute"! I used "bagages en soute" in the first quiz and had it marked incorrect! 

What on earth is going on?

How can anyone have any confidence in how you mark these quizzes?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Mark Adams

One of the questions was to write in what would go before "chaud" in order to create the sentence, "It is hot." I wrote "Il est" because I'd learned in Rosetta Stone that with a simple adjective, you should use "Il est" and not "C''est". They used the example of "Il est dangereux de toucher un serpent." Is there something different in this sentence that makes the use of "Il est" more appropriate? Would love to get an answer.

I still don't understand whey, "Qu'est-ce que le fois gras," Is not an acceptable way of saying "What is?" QUE (what) est-ce (is it) le fois gras.

Why is it any less acceptable than "Qu'est-ce que c'est que" The explanations just don't make sense to me. Could you clarify?

I was almost finished the level evaluation test when I inadvertently logged out.

However when I returned clicked on finish test to bring back the work and was told I had 0% correct with nothing answered (not true). Why can't I access the test again or a similar one? I'd like to know the results. Now the system is choosing work for me based on 0% knowledge.

Can this be rectified?

Thanks,

Bonjour Madame Cécile !

I wrote to you regarding a nuance between the use of tenses in the Past Time a while ago. 

You had provided me with this sentence ->

Après qu'il avait vu ce film, il avait été bouleversé .

After reading your answer several times, I understand that you mentioned “avait été” instead of “était” because once he ‘had seen’ the film , then he ‘had completely got shattered’ which happens immediately as the film finishes; making the actions almost simultaneous.

Hence, the use of le plus-que Parfait is recommended.

So in response to a question I had asked earlier ->

What does the use of Le plus-que-Parfait signify about the sequence of events happening in the sentences ? Does it connote an action getting completed or finished prior to another or simultaneous actions occurring in the past ?

It can also be used to signify an action getting completed prior to another however, the time interval between the two actions in the past should be a longer one .

As in the sentence-

Nous étions très surpris de les voir, car ils n'étaient pas venus ici depuis trois ans.-> We were very surprised to see them, for they hadn't come here for three years.

The action of “not coming there” got finished three years ago and the result of this action is that ‘they were surprised to see them when they returned’

J'étais sorti de la voiture quand je les ai entendus.-> I'd got out of the car when I heard them.

The action of “getting out of the car” was finished long back . He was already out when he heard their sound.

Elles étaient allées manger une glace quand le voleur est venu.-> They had gone to eat an ice cream when the thief came.

Here, the sentence emphasises on the point that the girls were not at home (they had already went out) when the thief entered. [LONGER TIME GAP]

If one writes it as - Elles sont allées manger une glace quand le voleur est venu. 

This will imply that the action of the girls going to the ice cream parlour happened in close proximity to the action of the thief entering the house. [SHORTER TIME GAP] which makes the case less elegant.

Is my justification correct ? Again, thanks for spending time to respond.

Frankly speaking Madame, I am working really hard to get right with my tenses and your endeavour and support is crucial to hone my skills.

Bonne journée!