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Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
15,010 questions • 32,542 answers • 1,024,462 learners
Could you explain why «coquille» is not accepted for "shell"? In LaRousse, «coquillage» appears to primarily mean the group of animals, and can refer to only the soft living part inside the shell. Indeed the first definition of «coquillage» is «Mollusque revêtu d'une coquille».
https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/coquillage/19198
I can find no reference with a definition for 'sûre' ?! Is this a colloquialism?
We are asked to translate ‘Sprinkle with salt and pepper’.
The two possible answers that are given are:
1, Saupoudrez avec du sel et du poivre
2. Saupoudrez de sel et de poivre
I understand why du is correct as as it is used with ‘uncountable’ nouns which in this case are sel and poivre.
Could you please explain why de sel and de poivre are also correct.
If tu is informal and vous a more formal approach, wouldn't you use Comment vous vous appellez? when asking someone you don't know what their name is? In what situation would you use Comment tu t'appelle? Merci.
It isn't pleasant
I find it confusing that a more literal translation, like “this doesn’t please me” wasn’t offered as an option? If it’s simply equivalent to “je ne l’aime pas” (or however one constructs the idea of dislike using ne aimer pas), why bother using a verb (plaire) whose meaning is subtly different from the answer’s translation (aimer)? In English, there is a difference between being “pleased by your selection” and “liking your selection” with the former implying an enjoyment of the selector’s taste, perhaps a hint of expectation exceeded, whereas the latter simply means that the chosen thing is one I like. Does this nuance not exist in French?
I don't understand why "chacune annee" can't be used. Isn't "annee" feminine, which means the modifying adjective should also be feminine? A little confused.
For example: "Marie achète du café"
Le café is a location and a drink.
Couldn't this sentence means both "Marie buys a coffee" and "Marie buys from the cafe"?
How do we know when "de" refers to "from" and when it refers to "some"?
Thank you!
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