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Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,715 questions • 31,885 answers • 971,183 learners
The title of the Samuel Beckett play "En Attendant Godot" is usually translated as "Waiting for Godot". Would it be closer to the French original if the title were to be translated as "While Waiting for Godot", or even "Whilst Waiting for Godot"?
(I note that in the examples, you never use the word "whilst", always using "while" instead. )
‘Ce n’est que au petit matin’ : pourquoi pas ‘ce n’était que au petit matin’?
Is it okay to not add anything after "sans" in this sentence: "je ne sais pas ce qu'on aurait fait sans"? I translated it as "sans elle" (elle = la piscine).
In the final sentence, I used "refroidir" instead of "rafraîchir." Is there a difference between the two?
Also for the final sentence, just wondering why "les prochains jours" isn't accepted?
If the expression was write your name here, an action for signing an agreement, could you use ecrivez in place of incrivez which means register.
(Histoire de ma vie) I have the desire to write a novel or I have no more the desire to write a novel. What means : se passer qchose?
Correct answer given is with ‘nulle part’ at the end. No problem with that but what is wrong with ‘n’importe où’? I’ve looked at the discussions and can’t find a definitive explanation for appropriate use of one over the other. Doesn’t ‘nulle part’ mean nowhere rather than anywhere? Merci as ever for guidance.
Is this tense more commonly used in French than in English? I hardly ever speak like this in English and I find it to be a strange tense to learn since it doesn't seem likely that we learners will be reminiscing in French. That seems to be it's only use.
To second what Syliva said three years ago, statements like "La vie, c'est dure" should be counted as correct on a quiz, not just "La vie est dure."
In this sentence - 'Ce n'est pas tant qu'elle n'aime pas ça, mais plutôt qu'elle aime trop ça ' - why is ça preferred over le? Does 'Ce n'est pas tant qu'elle ne l'aime pas, mais plutôt qu'elle l'aime trop' sound wrong to French ears?
I think I've finally gotten the "ce qui" vs "ce que" vs. "qui/e" down, but I'm utterly confused about when "quoi" is used. When I see "what is," I invariably think "quoi," but I'm usually wrong. The best rule I've determined is to use "quoi" with an infinitive, "je ne sais pas quoi faire," but is that really it for "quoi"? Thanks!
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