French language Q&A Forum

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?

"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'. 

Bit of clarification please:-

- Isn't 'I pass by the new coffee shop' better translated by 'passe par' ? The exercise on Passer  gives -Passer par / devant ...   (to pass by / in front of...)

- does not 'J'aime' mean 'I love' and wouldn't 'J'aime bien 'I like' be better in this instance? (the excercise on Aimer says 'Note that when using aimer bien, it actually lessens its meaning from 'to love' to 'to like' [someone] / [something].'

This is a technical issue.  Listening to the full text playback for this exercise, often when I press pause the playback continues, or continues then stops randomly, or continues with an overlap delay.  I have the same problem with all of the full text writing exercise playbacks.  Am I doing something wrong?

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

Why "a bu dans ma gourde"?  Drank in my flask?  Why not "a bu de ma gourde"?

The text reads “Tant mieux, car je n'ai même pas encore commencé à râper le fromage”, but there’s no “même” spoken in the audio (Cécile has confirmed this to be the case in the Q&A). 

The text just needs a small correction.