French language Q&A Forum

Could you explain the difference between 'crayon', 'crayon à papier' and 'crayon gris'?  I do not draw, so I was unfamiliar with the latter two.  Are the latter two used primarily in the context of art?

Why was the Imperfect tense used in this exercise?  How do I recognise when it should be used?

Instead of using the following expression: Chacun(e) d'entre + Stress pronoun, can I use the following:

Chacun(e) de + Stress Pronoun ? Isn't this correct?

If the sentence  is "Elle finira en prison pour avoir tué son amant." ....why does the English translation say "She will end up in prison for killing her lover" and not 'She will end up in prison for having killed her lover"....?

Hello,

I am having trouble understanding why "Ils se sont parlé hier soir au téléphone." is the correct orthography.

Bescherelle explains that there are three cases (https://www.bescherelle.com/faq/comment-accorder-le-participe-passe-dun-verbe-pronominal/):

1. Lorsque le verbe est essentiellement pronominal (c’est-à-dire qu’il se construit toujours avec un pronom réfléchi), le participe passé s’accorde avec le sujet.

2. Lorsque le verbe est occasionnellement pronominal, le participe passé s’accorde avec le COD si celui-ci est placé avant le verbe.

3. Il ne s’accorde pas s’il n’y a pas de COD ou si celui-ci est placé après le verbe.

Obviously case 1 does not apply because parler normally takes a direct object. But everyone seems to put "Ils se sont parlé" into case three. How is "se" not the direct object? They're talking to each other. Why is it "Ils se sont brûlés." but "Ils se sont parlé."? These two seem like they should be in the same category to me. Is it just that "se parler" is a special case, or am I completely misunderstanding?

Sorry if this was already answered somewhere but I haven't found it in my searches if so.

Thank you for your help.

I am sorry to raise this, but I am afraid that I found the pronunciation of this phrase very difficult.

Even having seen the answer, I still could not reconcile the two.   "le temps" I managed to translate initially when hearing it as "longtemps", but seeing the correct answer and re-running the sound clip again and again, the closest I could get was "l'eau temps" and certainly not "le temps".

I recognize that there are many different ways of pronouncing things, but I do feel that in a dictation the diction should be clear.

I *think* I understand when to use “avoir besoin de” or “devoir”, but how/where does “falloir” work? (Note: I asked a similar question in the lesson on “falloir”)

How do I know which one to use?  If I want to say “he needs to go grocery shopping” (for example), are “il doit faire ses courses” and “il faut faire ses courses” equivalent or is there some nuance that doesn’t come through in English?

If these are indeed interchangeable, why doesn't this lesson just say that?  Please be clear, as in the tests it doesn't seem to be the case.