My understanding of "être" in passé composé is that it's supposed to be used for reflexive verbs. If this were true, then "je suis allée" would imply, in the present tense "je me vais", which isn't correct. Could someone explain this?

Asked 1 year ago

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J. R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why is the past perfect used, rather than the passé composé? Bonjour! These writing exercises are absolutely fantastic resources that I'm enjoying very much. A little question, however: I'm also going to raise (or re-raise) Meryl's question about why the French past perfect is used, rather than the passé composé, to translate what looks like the past simple in English. I've never knowingly come across this usage before, but I've seen it now in a couple of these writing exercises and wonder if I have overlooked something. Perhaps it's a matter of perspective -- perhaps this is an extract from a longer passage where the writer has just been writing about the past, and then for these first few lines, goes back further into the past? (Though strictly speaking, you'd mirror that with "had rented" and "had travelled" in English.) The last line of the text does actually use the passé composé. Many thanks!

A few years back, when I still lived in Brittany, my cousin Sarah and I rented a camper [US: RV] and for two weeks, we travelled up and down the west coast of France. ... During that trip, we also learned how to change a tire...
Il y a quelques années, quand je vivais encore en Bretagne, ma cousine Sarah et moi avions loué un camping-car et pendant deux semaines, nous avions voyagé partout sur la côte atlantique française. .... Pendant ce voyage, nous avons aussi appris à changer une roue...

Asked 2 years ago

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J. L.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

tous as adverb/pronoun/complement

Are these correct ??

a)they want to interview us all == ils veulent tous nous interviewer ???

b)they want to interview all of us == ils veulent nous interviewer tous

c)they all want to interview us == ils, tous nous veulent interviewer ?? **note only a comma distingushes a from b**)

Asked 4 years ago

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D. A.B2Kwiziq community member

why not partir de ?

In the last sentence I typed "quand ils partent de mon salon !" but "partent de" marked as an error and advised "quittent" or "sortent de".

Could you please explain why "partent de" cannot be used here as an option ?

For "partir", in the relevant lesson, it is written as: "When used with a place, it will always be followed by a preposition (e.g. I leave from / for = Je pars de / pour)" Example: Je pars de cette ville.

Asked 4 years ago

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David C.C1Kwiziq community member

fond ou font

Hi, shouldn't it be

sur un fond vert, pas font vert, ou peut-être qu'on se cache dans une église :-)

Merci

Asked 4 years ago

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Anne C.C1Kwiziq community member

Horse riding on the beach

I have no recollection of attempting this exercise. Why has it appeared? Thank you.