French language Q&A Forum

The English translation "I'm washing after you got up" is grammatically incorrect. You're essentially saying "I'm doing this after you did that", which makes no sense in English. The proper structure would be "I'm washing after you get up" (I'm doing this after you do that") or "I'm washing after you have gotten up" ("I'm doing this after you have done that").

This is one of the most frustrating things in studying any language, when you see a direct translation given that you know is grammatically incorrect (even if it is understandable by somebody who's fluent in the language that the sentence is being translated into) instead of a transliteration that makes more sense.

For a change of pace I decided to use seulement instead of ne...que for the following sentence:

"J'ai eu deux chats." . Write "I had only two cats.": ________ deux chats. My answer J'ai au seulement deux chats... was marked wrong! I understand Chris' response to another use that the focus of the exercise in ne que..but in many of the tests (choose ALL the correct answers) they had both the 'seulement' version and the 'ne que' version as GOOD answers.
Unless my answer has an error which I am overlooking  ,or there is a point of grammar why seulement is unacceptable here,  I would like to suggest a revision of the test marking to accept seulement.
There may be sound reason why learning to use seulement is beneficial, even if 'ne que' is considered better in formal writing. Based on further reading, I have found that SEULEMENT ALSO can VARY IN PLACEMENT  ..to differently focus the restriction. Rules for seulement: Cannot be placed BEFORE the conjugated auxiliary/ does not have to be placed (unlike many adverbs) IMMEDIEATELY after the conjugated verb/can be placed just like the 'que' before the 'target word '  being restricted.
So it seems : I had ONLY two cats= je n'ai eu que deux chats OR J'ai eu seulement deux chats.

I ONLY had two cats == Je n'ai qu'eu deux chats or J'ai seulement eu deux chats.
As usual I stand ready to be corrected!

In the line “The second page seemed almost identical to the previous one” the answers do not contain a word for “almost”, such as “presque”. Is this intentional, or should the answers be corrected?

For reference, the answers are: (i) La seconde page avait l'air identique à la précédente, (ii) La deuxième page avait l'air identique à la précédente, (iii) La deuxième image paraissait identique à la précédente, (iv) La deuxième page semblait identique à la précédente. 

Thanks, Brian

He quit smoking for five months but when the sun returned he started going out again?  Is “when the sun returned” an expression meaning when warm weather returned?

Here in SW France, you’ll often come across the road sign “le funérarium” directing you to the funeral parlour. In more formal language, they will also often talk about “des obsèques”, and I believe this refers to the whole funeral service.

Kwiz question " we see her tonight"  answer "nous la voyons cet soir".   I think it should be "nous lui voyons...if you follow the quick lesson.

In my French - Japanese dictionary, there is an explanation of the usage of «passer» (verb intransitive), the example there says «J’ai passé à l’écrit (= I passed the writing exam)», whereas Kwiziq explains that 'in French, «passer» never means 'to pass an exam'.

So, practically, «passer» in French also means 'to pass an exam' occasionally?

Qui fait les mots "à ce que" dans la phrase suivant: "Vous aurez pu le rejoindre d'ici à ce que je sorte du travail"?