“Passer un an” vs “Passer une année” (again)I am aware that this has been discussed before but it is clear to me that in certain cases “passer une année” can be used.
For example, on the web page https://acupoffrench.com/french-grammar/an-vs-annee-2/, which also explains when to use “an” or “année”, there is the following example with passer and année used to stress the duration:
“Elle a passé quatre années à chercher un travail.”
So I think it would not hurt to explicitly mention this possibility to use année instead of an to stress the duration.
For the general case (not just related to passer), I think the rule from “Advanced French Grammar”/Monique L’Huillier section 5.2.1 an/année is clearer than the “time unit” vs “duration” distinction: “an usually follows cardinal numbers, whilst année follows ordinal numbers, or an indefinite or demonstrative adjective”.
This rule does not hold for jour/journée, soir/soirée and matin/matinée and these cases are treated separately in the book.
This rule is then followed up in the book with “If the year is modified in any way, “année” should be used” with the following examples.
“J’ai vécu à Londres pendant cinq ans.”
”J’ai gardé un très bon souvenir de mes cinq années à Londres.”
I was going to write about 'very fun' here - it is a controversial phrase in English to say the least ! I haven't heard it used in about the past 60 years. However, I see this has come up in another topic, where 'very fun' was subsequently to be changed to 'great fun' - this should be done in this lesson as well. The preferred answers should also reflect that 'great fun' is not the same as 'very funny'.
While I am here, 'next week's test' - a student is talking, so the informal « l'interro » is more likely than « l'évaluation » unless a major assessment is proposed. Although the final transcript reasonably uses « le test », the correction board on the way through scrubbed « l'interro » for the more formal « l'évaluation », indicating that as the 'best answer' .
On the next screen « camarade de classe » for 'classmate' (correct) was crossed off for the imprecise and less formal « camarade ». Either should be indicated as being correct.
I get really confused with knowing when to use expressions such as "à laquelle". I've read the lesson however for this text for example, why can't I use "que" as well as "à laquelle" for - 'une surprise à laquelle je ne m'attendais pas du tout' ?
je pense que c'est Costard et pas costar.
I don't find it helpful to learn how to conjugate in the passé simple (no plans to become a novelist). I keep getting passé simple questions in my quizzes, which is frustrating because the other C1 grammar is very useful and I want to master those things. Is there any setting that lets us include/exclude certain material from the quizzes?
This is not a question about the subjunctive mood, but the sentence was an exercise of it, so I ask my question here.
What is the role of "en" in the following sentence: "Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'EN ai pas le temps !" Does it mean "I don't have the time for it."? Could you also just write "Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'ai pas le temps !" without the "en"?
I don't understand why we use "j'en ai pour" ? What's the reason behind this?
Report the time from 4-12 in half hours in french
Report the time from 4-12 in quarter past hours in french
Report the time from 4-12 in quarter to the next hour in french
Can i say ‘vous allez devoir trouver’ ?
I am aware that this has been discussed before but it is clear to me that in certain cases “passer une année” can be used.
For example, on the web page https://acupoffrench.com/french-grammar/an-vs-annee-2/, which also explains when to use “an” or “année”, there is the following example with passer and année used to stress the duration:
“Elle a passé quatre années à chercher un travail.”
So I think it would not hurt to explicitly mention this possibility to use année instead of an to stress the duration.
For the general case (not just related to passer), I think the rule from “Advanced French Grammar”/Monique L’Huillier section 5.2.1 an/année is clearer than the “time unit” vs “duration” distinction: “an usually follows cardinal numbers, whilst année follows ordinal numbers, or an indefinite or demonstrative adjective”.
This rule does not hold for jour/journée, soir/soirée and matin/matinée and these cases are treated separately in the book.
This rule is then followed up in the book with “If the year is modified in any way, “année” should be used” with the following examples.
“J’ai vécu à Londres pendant cinq ans.”
”J’ai gardé un très bon souvenir de mes cinq années à Londres.”
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