French language Q&A Forum

Hey everyone, 

I’m a novice when it comes to spoken French and the subtleties of the language but  I really want to do it justice when I reference it in my novel. The particular scene I need help with is a first person account of a French woman where she tells the reader about an occasion when was approached by English Gentleman (an official and very well educated) who was fluent French speaker, but not a native, and how she knew he wasn't French. I wanted to include details of how she

she might have missed initially if she wasn’t paying too much attention to him but as her guard was up already in the scene, she was able to spot the giveaways that others may have missed. 

Whether it be pronunciation, tense, inflection or something to do with the time etc. 

The English man in the scene approached the French woman when she’s at work in a post office and hands her a note. He tells her something along the lines of  ”I need this delivered by tomorrow morning, 9:30 at the latest. Tracked” with a French name and address on the envelope. I’m thinking something around the way he says the time could be interesting, but I’m not sure how it would work yet?

What are some subtle giveaways that native French speakers pick up with non native French speakers that indicate to them them that they’re not French?  (That aren’t so obvious.)

Any thoughts will be helpful. Thank you for your time🙏🏻

Hi. Regarding the Ikea (C1) exercise https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/exercises/judge/1046/12894963?response=2395393&page=8
It links to this lesson and gives the best answer as "elles m'ont quand même forcée à faire tous les rayons !".
Why would it be forcée and not forcé in this case? Wouldn't it be the same as the indirect object pronouns shown in this lesson?

In the statement "mon fils a de grandes oreilles" , why is it not "DES grandes oreilles"? Ears is plural, and "de" is the article, and "grand" is following a feminine plural suit.... I've noticed this with other items, mostly body parts, like toes, fingers, eyes. They all use a plural article "les" but when describing them, it turns to "de"

If I said "he had cats" it would be "il a des chats", right? What am I not getting!?

I realize this has come up before but it doesn’t seem there’s been a satisfactory answer yet: Why is only “On peut toujours trouver plus fort que soi” and not also “On peut toujours trouver plus fort que soi-même” correct? 

C's at biença

Hi! 

For "Je me fais appeler" what does the "fais" mean? What are you doing/making to your name??

Thanks :)