French language Q&A Forum

Pourquoi on a écrit du marathon et pas au marathon?

why this is marked incorrectly 

Je suis arrivé dans cinq minutes." I'll be there in five minutes 

while this is given in lesson 

Je suis là dans deux secondes !I'll be there in two seconds!

Yes “finissait” is the right answer here, but the verb “terminer” is more appropriate here.

Please help! Text: "Le matin on fait le lit. On le couvre pour faire joli et bien rangé." I translated it loosely as "we cover it(the bed) for 'it' to be pretty and tidy"  But why is it not '.. pour le faire joli et bien rangé ' (why is the object pronoun not repeated??) Without the object pronoun (pour le faire) couldnt it also mean "we cover it (the bed) to be 'pretty and tidy'...(we do it so we appear to be nice and organized). Bottom line... what is the grammar explanation, if any, for no 'le/la' between pour and faire in the text.

"Hi, "Les étudiants ont été accueillis par le directeur ce matin." Why not:- "Les étudiants étaient accueillis par le directeur ce matin." I've been pondering why the first is correct but the second verb construction isn't. I realise the Kwiziq sentence is presented in a passive voice but it seems to me to be saying "they had been welcomes by the director this morning" rather than "were welcomes". Any guidance gratefully accepted, Edward"

And while we're on that question, the correctEnglish option, you decorated your flat, is not available. You did decorate your flat is a bizarre emphatic response to a conversation that goes something like ' Who  decorated your flat?' 'We did' 'Oh, I was told it was done for you. So you did decorate your flat.' It's such an odd thing to say it's hard to construct a piece of fiction to illustrate it.

The question is:We don't hate that she is therelà. Why is Nous  ne haïssons qu'elle soit là.

The rules you give are quite useful. Thank you.

One thing that I would add is that I can remember easier if I think in terms of who is actually entering. If the Subject is entering, then we use être, but if the "entering" is being done by someone/something other than the Subject, then we use avoir.

Mes filles sont entrées en CP cette année. -> Mes filles

Nous avons entré les informations dans le programme. -> les informations

This works in other cases where we need to decide between avoir and être.  (or where the sentence seems to indicate that the action is not done by the sentence subject)

It is my observation that a Frenchman will do almost anything to avoid double objective pronouns - for fear of making mistakes and because they sound fussy, awkward, and a bit snobbish. As they are used less and less frequently, the "correct" order is being lost even to the French. I have been encouraged by my teachers to reformulate to avoid this mare's nest. So

Je lui ai donné cela plutôt que je le lui ai donné.