French language Q&A Forum

- Can I use "se composait" instead of "regroupait"?

- why use "en eut assez d'attendre (passé simple) while this place is supposed to describe the speaker's feeling, therefore can I use avait (imparfait) in this context.

"We listened to the water".

I would have considered that a past imperfect ie, "Nous ecoutions les bruits de l'eau" because you can't listen to water at a specific moment in time - it's a continuous action in the past. "Nous avons ecoute les bruits de l'eau" isn't appropriate. 

We got splashed with water would be passe compose but not a continuous event of listening to the water?

Suggestions please....

Oh, c'était sympa and not Oh, c'étaient sympas? 

Since the question references vacances that's always plural, I thought the answer should the equivalent of 'they were', not 'it was'. 

Aren't we using indirect object with "refuser?" Why do we use "nous" here in the second sentence? Merci! 

Is it as simple as J'ai honte d'avoir peur des chats?

Why not aller à pied instead of marcher? The problem contrast one means of transport with another. I missed the bus so I had to walk--aller à pied.

Hello, I am wondering why to use "c´est" instead of "elle est" to translate "she is an angel". Doesn't "c´est" mean "it is", used to describe an object? Can you use "c´est" about a person and why is it better than simply saying "elle est"?

Why is the definite article not excluded from:

J'ai peur des araignées.  just as it is excluded from the verbal phrase:

J'ai besoin de farine.  or even : J'ai besoin d'araignées

It seems inconsistent.  Is it?

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. 

The fill in the blanks exercise was about people arriving in a new town, to find the streets empty of people. "Tous les magasins de la ville étaient fermés." This was followed by a sentence in the past tense (walking on empty streets from 3pm till 5pm) Then came the sentence being queried (post below).   Thanks so very much to all who responded earlier.