French language Q&A Forum

Bonjour Madame Cécile !

The lesson states that when talking about “time”- ‘avant’ and ‘après’ are used.

Now, if a sentence is -> 

1.Mon chien court ______ le petit chat. 

I think here, the answer should be “après” (after) because in English too, we say- The cops ran after the thief. But, why is the answer “derrière” ?

2. Regarde le bel oiseau perché ________ cet arbre ! 

Why is “sur” correct ? I had opted for “dans”. How can we judge the difference between “dans/sur l’arbre” ?

3. On admire les grands palmiers ________ l’île.

Again, here the answer is “sur” ? The other options- “dans/à” are not acceptable. What is the grammatical concept behind this?

Je vous remercierais du fond de mon cœur.

Bonne journée!

I understand that « faire le ménage » is an expression, but cannot see why « faire du ménage » would be grammatically incorrect. Only « faire le ménage » is accepted in the exercise. Both are noted in wordreference.

Isn't this the same as both « faire les courses » and « faire des courses » being acceptable, depending on context ?

I agree with Carl. This was a challenging exercise. (I find the written exercises more difficult then the Dictees in general.)

My question: Why "Mes essuie-glaces arriere" and not "arrieres" ? Shouldn't arriere be plural?

Also: I wrote: "la pile de mon portable etait aussi vide", which I believe is an acceptable alternate translation. I am familiar with the use of "pile" for flashlight batteries or electric appliances, and the use of "etre vide" for a battery being dead.

I have never heard the expression, "le bas-cote". I wrote, "la cote de la route".

Thoughts anyone?

P.S. According to my husband, (who is a car buff) "a beater" is very common expression here in the U.S. As in, "my car is a real beater", ie. "my car is really beat up".