French language Q&A Forum

Hi

The English translation of the sentence "Le jour suivant, Ali Baba retourna à la grotte" is Ali Baba returned to the cave the following day. I don't understand why you used future simple instead of passe compose? Thank you.

Pourquoi "Ayons de la foi" n'est pas correct, et on dois dire "Ayons la foi"?

After reading the page: "Is this English Correct", which I found to be very informative and interesting, I have a question regarding some examples given:

"Tom's family are farmers" and "Tom's family is wealthy."

First of all - what a great example of the ambiguities of this particular grammatical issue! And, I agree that both of the sentences sound correct to my native american ear. 

Given that "la famille" is singular in French, I would assume that the adjectives would also be singular. 

"La famille de Tom est agriculteur." and;

"La famille de Tom est riche."

Both of these phrases sound right to my ear. 

I suggest that adding a few examples such as these to the lesson might be helpful. It would underline how the adjectives are singular in French with the singular noun, even when we might use the plural in English. ("Tom's family are farmers.")

Merci !

Hi,

I had written, "...  nous étions partis" in lieu of the recommended, "... nous étions parties". I don't understand the recommendation:

So "étions" as auxiliary "être" in imperfect (indicative) tense, 1st person plural, added to the past participle "parti" so as to construct the compound past perfect tense. 

I constructed the past particle as male gender plural so, "partis". This as we have two assumed female genders (Joséphine and the writer Amélie) as well as at least one other, gender unknown, as expressed through the larger sentence, "... et avec laquelle nous étions parties". 

I thought the rule for French grammar was, choose the male gender when the gender is unknown...l don't want to support patriarchy. I do want to get my grammar straight. Thanks!

hi,

After reviewing the positions of adjectives is it correct to say that the sentence un extremement vieux parchemin would fall under the category for 2 or more syllables for the word extremement?

merci

nicole

In the lesson you state:

English is my native language and I would never say "neither one nor the other". I would say "Neither the one nor the other" or better, as offered "Neither." "Neither one nor the other" just doesn't sound right. "Neither one" seems sufficient (and a third alternative) making the addition of "nor the other" seem superfluous and inappropriate. I wonder if this isn't a dialectical difference within North America. 

If I fill up a form with my nationality –

Example one: nationalité: autricien

Example two: nationalité: autricienne

I am a male Austrian, but I fill up with the feminine word 'nationalité' that agrees with the feminine adjective 'autricienne' but I don't know which example is correct.

Please tell me which example is appropriate for a male Austrian nationality. Thank you. 

“trois-cent-quarante    three hundred and forty”

However, in the lesson “Expressing large numbers -thousands/millions/billions - in French” the description begins with:

“Up to neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf [choses] (999 [things])”       

Which example is correct? Should there be hyphens between all parts of the number, or just some of them?

Thank you.

in the phrase 'avec son architecture colorée.' Why is the adjective feminine when the subject is masculine ?