French language Q&A Forum

This may be a little arcane, but what is the general naming convention in French when using proper names from other languages that use the Latin/Roman alphabet, especially for famous persons? For example, in this exercise Leonardo Da Vinci is rendered in the French Léonard de Vinci. The Italian spelling seems to be widely used & in the States at least there has been a move towards using the native spelling of names in academic works & history books.

In English calling him Leonard from Vinci would sound really weird.  

Hello,

I came across this quiz: "Je regarde de belles collines." which confuses me a lot when choosing the answer. Because if taken out of the context of this specific lesson, I personally can't tell whether it's:

1. "I'm looking at some (des) beautiful hills"

2. "I'm looking from (de) these (les) beautiful hills " which I think also makes sense.

The answers available are: 

a) "I'm looking at beautiful hills." (correct answer)

b) "I'm watching from beautiful hills."

Can I ask why a) is correct and b) is not? Is it because "regarder de" doesn't mean "watching from"? If this is the case, what happens if it's another verb + de (in french) that means verb + from (in english)? Better yet, how can I actually say option b) in french?

I hope my question makes sense.

Bonjour mes amis! Je m'appele Parsa et je viens de Leiden. C'est une ville des Pays-Bas. J'aime la ville.

Same query regarding the subjunctive but different sentence:

C'est le seul footballeur qui ait réussi à me faire pleurer....

Is it right that you don't pronounce the 'S' at the end of 'suis' when it's followed by 'à'?

I had thought anytime a vowel sound follows a word ending in 's', you pronounce that s. Like with 'Je dine dans une...'

Shouldn’t the adjective be plural to match the noun?

Hi Kwizik

I am a Premium member and really enjoy the Kwizik model of learning, but I also use a number of other apps, books and websites to study French.  I also use 2 or 3 Translators to verify my study before committing “pen to paper” but I am getting a bit frustrated with being marked down in Kwizik, when I have picked different phrases from the recognized and popular translators (Reverso, Google, sometimes DeepL).     The latest exercise is  “a day in my cat Max’s Life.   

EG.  donner un câlin or faire un câlin?  I chose donner - Kwizik said wrong, should be faire.

EG.  Nourriture sèche pour chats or aliments secs pour chats - Kwizik said wrong, should be croquettes.  

These are just a couple of examples, but I have many more.

My question is therefore, can Kwizik please suggest the best translator app to use, one Kwizik recommends, which will give us the best information so we get things right.  Everyone uses translators so it would be handy to have that information.

I look forward to hearing back from you.  Thanks - Jo