French language Q&A Forum

Why is it not leurs médailles when there is more than one medal?

Nous mangeons du riz in negative

I find the questions which ask things like "If I say "Tu es français.", who am I speaking to: Lucie or Hugo?" quite frustrating, because the gendering of names isn't fixed.  According to https://madame.lefigaro.fr/prenoms/prenom/garcon/lucie, Lucie, whilst predominantely feminine, has been a mixed name for over a century. 

I notice nearly all the subjects in these examples are proper nouns (with one qui?). When using a subject pronoun instead, would it become ce /c’ to avoid the il/elle + determiner construction ?

For example:  

 Elle est intelligente —> c’est la fille la plus intelligente de la classe 

Why does the text switch from imparfait to passé composé here:

Nous étions vraiment désolés. Nous nous sommes excusés

Can you please explain why we us de le together.  I have always been told you must never use de le together. You can use du, de l' or de la.  This is a first for me.

Hi. I understand that one could say "Je donne les requins à Anne" (i.e. "I am giving the sharks to Anne...imagine that Anne is a marine biologist) or "Je les donne à Anne" (i.e. I am giving them to Anne) or Je les lui donne" (i.e. I am giving them to her). However, how would one say "I am giving Anne to the sharks" (imagine that Anne has upset the local mafia) using a double pronoun (i.e. "I am giving her to them"? Presumably, one cannot say "Je lui les donne" (because it would violate the rules on the order of pronouns)? What about "Je y lui donne"? Any help gratefully received.

Why is it "Mes fils ont toujours adoré cette tradition" ? If the tradition is ongoing with no start and finish should not the 'imparfait' be used here?

I wrote "Oui, on a papoté pendant une heure." instead of "Oui, on a discuté/bavardé pendant une heure." It marked it as incorrect. I think bavardé is closer than discuté for 'chatted', but I feel like 'papoté' suits well for the context. Am I wrong?

How do you know whether to use "depuis" or "il y a" to express a period of time. These lessons have had "J'habite à Paris depuis cinq ans" and also "J'ai mangé il y a un heure"