French language Q&A Forum

The subject text was part of a recent pronouns exercise.

As I understand it the use of the imperative voice was being tested and I wrote "évitons-les" which was incorrect and the correct answer was "évitons-leur" .

I don't understand this because the verb éviter is transitive not intransitive?

I would like to understand why the correct answer is not évitons-les?

In that exercise there is one sentence whose English doesn't quite jibe with me:

-- The kids finished the ones we'd brought.

I don't think the use of past perfect tense here corresponds to what you would actually use in English. You'd be more likely to hear:

-- The kids finished the ones we brought.

But I realize that in French you would actually use le plus-que-parfait:

-- Les enfants ont finis celles que nous avions emportées.

As it stands, the English sounds a bit off but it gives a strong hint as to which tense to use in the French version. Still, I would use imperfect in English and, if necessary, provide a hint for the French.

What do the professionals think?