French language Q&A Forum

Can we also use 'habituellement'?

I got a quiz question from the "a besoin de" lesson:

Cette année, Michaël ________ perdre du poids.

I was using "doit" here, but the correct was "a besoin de"

I couldn't find a full explanation why the second one is correct but the first one not.

Does the meaning change in this case (I could imagine that doit would be closer linked to a real need, e.g from a medical perspective, while besoin would be more linked to his wish to lose weight, but no idea if that's the case).

Looking back through the Quick Lesson and the accompanying discussion I still can’t tell the difference between “none arrived” and “no one arrived”. Aren’t they just two ways of saying the same thing? (Albeit, the second being my preference.)

In the text the 'e' at the end of 'carte' seems to be pronounced. If so could you please explain why this is, as the next word 'bleue' starts with a consonant and not a vowel (which then normally requires the liaison). Thank you.

I thought and had the same meaning and are both passive voice constructions. This comes up in a question asking for an active voice sentence to be turned into a passive. I used which sounds better to me than . So, are reflexive constructions passive voice or not? I was taught, like 50 years ago, that they were. C'est un peu tatillon, mais j'ai envie de savoir.

Is the ¨s¨ always pronounced in this usage (i.e. ¨plus que¨, ¨plus ... que¨), or are there some conditions for when it is and is not pronounced (i.e. ¨plu que¨)? 

(This may be covered in another lesson, but might be a useful tip for this lesson)

Could anyone please tell me if there are any rules on if and when you can/cannot replace inanimate nouns with subject pronouns? I read the lesson c'est versus il est/elle est and thought you use c'est with nouns while il/elle est is used with adjectives. 

But I have encountered situations where the writer/speaker uses il/elle est with a noun.

For example, if you are referring to (or pointing at) "une lettre", can you say "Elle est une lettre"? Or can you only say "C'est une lettre."?

Or, if you are referring to "une conversation", can you say "Elle va bien" or can you only say "Ça va bien."? 

Thank you for any clarification. 

Why is this phrase not ""Tu as les billets ? Oui, je les en ai tous."