French language Q&A Forum

I've noticed a few examples of this in previous reading exercises where the present tense is used to describe the past. Ex "En France c'est Napoléon..." rather than, "En France, c'etait Napoléon...", even in the translation when you click on it translates that phrase in the present as 'In France it was Napoleon'. I can see that the following phrase uses the passé composé so I'm just not quite clear why those two phrases don't have to agree in their tenses? 

Thanks :)

If these both mean I am, when do you use each one?

Is this an exception case that we omit the "à", do you have other similar example? 

Thank you.

How do we choose correctly between Être à ou Être de, like in the sentence above?

I know this has been asked before, but I'm having trouble determining when to use definite articles when talking about things in general. The two examples in the lesson seem to contradict each other:

Je n'aime ni le fromage ni le lait.

Il ne veut ni vin ni eau.

Why is is "le fromage/le lait" in the first example, and simply "vin/eau" in the second one? According to the English translations for each, both sentences seem to refer to the items in general.

Thanks!

Greetings!

I don’t get why “her” is sometimes elle and sometimes lui. Can someone explain.

Christer 

why magnifique come

after noun in « endroits magnifiques »

but before noun in « magnifiques gâteaux »