French language Q&A Forum

I don't understand this particular line:

The context in which you could use sortir de [ville] to express to leave [city] is very specific in French (note that it doesn't apply to countries,states,regions etc). It would only refer to an action in progress

Does this mean you can't use sortir de [ville] in future/past tense (Je sortirai de Paris), but you CAN use it in other tenses with countries, states, regions, etc?

Or does this mean you cannot use it with countries, states, regions...and you can only use it with cities if it's an action in progress?

Hi, according to lawlessfrench, partitive articles are used with uncountable nouns. 

But you say "Note that when the adjective is placed BEFORE a plural noun, the partitive article des (some) becomes de (or d' in front of a vowel or mute h) " 

Also your example "J'achète de beaux draps." (I think that drap is a countable noun) 

If it is used with uncountable nouns, why do you use partitive article with countable noun "drap"?

Thank you.

Look at the example below:

Ce métier requiert un vrai sens de l'empathie.

This translates into 'This job requires a true sense of empathy'. Here the adjective comes before the noun phrase. Why does this mean 'true sens if...' ?

Can anyone explain me this?

ma cousine est venue pour le fetes de noel _______ elles est arrives en retard a cousin du train.

Is it correct to say —la vue depuis mon balcon (the view from my balcony) 

Please how do I access the lesson links listed, because each time I tap on it, it Alway bring's out system error.

New site user here, hi. I’ve been reading “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” in Jules Verne’s original French (“20,000 Lieux sous les Mers”) for my first time, having never read a translation (many translations of his works tend to have the reputation of poor quality). The first few chapters were a little challenging, as I had to look up quite a few vocabulary words relating to maritime matters. Two particular words which still cause me curiosity are “scaphandre” and “loch”.

(1) “Scaphandre” — I understand this means a diving suit, and given “20,000 Lieux” was written 150 years ago, obviously Verne meant the old-fashioned style with a large brass helmet. However, I would think modern French would use something like “costume / tenue de plongée”, while, insofar as I’m aware, English has always referred to diving suits, both old and modern, as simply “diving suits”. Therefore, is “scaphandre” a conspicuously old word in French, and is it still ever used ?

(2) “Loch” — This seems to translate either as a Scottish lake (and what I always call a lake, being Scottish myself, yet that is obviously not what Verne meant), or as a ship’s “log” (I assume closer to his meaning). However, for me a ship’s log, in English, tends to be a book or journal, albeit perhaps nowadays kept in digital format. Nonetheless, in “20,000 Lieux” it seems to be some kind of equipment, and I think Verne even refers to it at least once as “loch électronique”. What is it ?

(3) Finally, it was only upon actually reading the book that I realised the error I had made for my entire prior life regarding what its title means — the “20,000 Lieux” refers to the submarine’s lateral travel around the world, and not to its depth. My erstwhile foolish misinterpretation was as much to do with my poor command of English as my bad French, since, in this context, both “lieu” and “league” mean the same, i.e. about 3½ miles, or 5½km. That said, I would suggest the English translation of the title might be more clearly rendered as “20,000 Leagues around the Sea Above”. There might be some nuance between “sous” and “au dessous de” in French, which English doesn’t really articulate (“under”, “underneath”, and “beneath” all mean pretty much the same, I think).  

the grade yourself is rediculous. Waste of time. The exersize itself would be useful if I didn't have to click like 4 times on stuff every five words.

How are we to guess at correct punctuation?  Unless you can remember the entire speech, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether a section should end with a comma, a period or an exclamation point.  (And, actually, the sentence beginning "Paul va prendre sa voiture..." is a declarative sentence and not a question.) I have not been counting myself off where such punctuation is concerned because there seems to be no definite way to determine what the correct punctuation should be.