French language Q&A Forum

I would like to say "we would like some cream but it's very expensive". Can I say like "Nous voudrions de la crème, mais il est très chère"?  

I have a point to make about the English.  It involves a very common mistake.  When using a gerund it should be modified by an adjective.  From the examples above:  It has been a day without him eating is not correct, it should be; It has been a day without his eating.  He came without your knowing.  I won`t leave without your kissing me goodbye. etc.

why not use "exiger" for require, demand.  ça demand = ça exige ?

I find the use of the "X" here somewhat confusing. Is it standing in for "any consonant"? Or rather, any consonant except for "t" and "l"? If so, why does the first example show "compléter" as an example of a "eXer" verb? There seem to be two other ways of expressing this "any consonant" stand in on this site. I find "(-)" is used in some lessons, and "*" is used in others. None of the three are explained anywhere that I could find.

This seems needlessly confusing to me.

I just discovered this site and am very impressed otherwise.

So a sentence like "My friends came and they were all happy," can be translated in two different ways?

Mes amis sont venus et tous étaient contents.

Mes amis sont venus et ils étaient tous contents.

Is this then just a stylistic difference, or do these differ semantically as well?