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Maarten K.C1Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Surname - nom or nom de famille should both be accepted

Official French documents I have had to complete - eg long stay visa applications etc use < nom > for surname; it should be accepted on its own, not just as < nom de famille >. Knowing that when asked for < votre nom > in France, the correct response is your surname rather than first name, is one of the little differences encountered quite regularly. Although official documents do use < état civil >, both < situation familiale > and < situation de famille > are also used in general conversations and enquiries of marriage/domestic arrangements.

Asked 5 years ago

Amanda J.A2Kwiziq community member

I took a quiz that asked this question:

Les garçons ? Oui, elle les a ________ . The boys? Yes, she punished them.HINT: punir = to punish

I understand the lesson, the verb punir is to be conjugated to agree in number and gender with the direct object it's replacing. But the passe composé conjugation for punir is "puni," according to your conjugation page. (ex: je "puni" tu "puni" .... nous "puni" ... ils "puni.") So how is the correct answer "punis" ?

Asked 5 years ago

Chris B.A1Kwiziq community member

Comment on dit: Is it not so?

Asked 7 years ago

David C.C1Kwiziq community member

Does la pièce really mean each? How do you use it?

Asked 6 years ago

Ian G.C1Kwiziq community member

Conjugation of 'luire' in the passé simpleI have checked the rule and your answer does not follow the rule. Therefore I checked conjugation tables for luire which support the notion that your answer is incorrect, and that the correct answer was not present. According to these conjugation tables Luire in the passé simple has these conjugations: je luisis tu luisis il luisit "Now the city would fall into the 3rd category 3rd person singular and so the correct answer is surely luisit - Ian

Asked 8 years ago

Kari F.B2Kwiziq community member

How would you simply say "I have my BA?"In English I would say "I received my BA in 1995" when referring to a specific point in time but in general conversation with someone I would simply say "I have my BA" to indicate that I had that degree so how would I make the distinction in French or do you simply not have that meaning in French?

Asked 8 years ago

D. L.B1Kwiziq community member

La difficulté.....La difficulté est les mots "l'histoire" = story or the stories" et "l'histoire = history or the history". de plus, nous ne disons pas "The maths" plural as it relates to mathematics in English. The two test questions were thus very confusing. Can you please explain... Thank you.

Asked 8 years ago

T. T.C1Kwiziq community member

city names with a definite article

How can I know whether the city contains a definite article or not? Is there some rule?

Asked 5 years ago

Bruce C.A1Kwiziq community member

La Saint-Valentin VideoBonjour! I just watched the St. Valentine's video posted on the web site. Very funny! In the transcript below the video it says "elle cligne des yeux" and "je cligne des yeux". Shouldn't the article "les" be used instead? Listening to the video, I'm not sure if he says des or les. Merci!

Asked 8 years ago

M. M.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I thought we weren't supposed to use ma, mon, mes for one's own body parts in French? Wasn't there a lesson on that?

Asked 6 years ago

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