French language Q&A Forum

I know this question has already been somewhat addressed earlier (I'll quote the comments here), but I didn't find the answer very clarifying. So I'll repeat the issue, quote the explanations that were given, and attempt to explain why I'm still confused.

In a test question, we are asked:

How would you say ''I haven't been in France for long.'' ?

The only tenable-seeming answers are: 

-Je ne suis pas arrivé en France depuis longtemps (marked correct)

-Je n'arrive pas en France depuis longtemps (marked incorrect)

In spite of the questionable use of the verb "arriver", I actually chose the latter option on the basis that, in the lesson, we are told: 

– Ne ... pas + Passé composé + depuis longtemps = not for a long time / not in ages -> It's over and done in the past

– Ne ... pas + Présent indicatif + depuis longtemps = not long / not for long -> It started a short while ago, and is still ongoing

Commenting on the issue, Cécile's gives this transition:

– I haven't been in France for long = Je ne suis pas en France depuis longtemps.

Like the instructions in the lesson, and the second answer in the quiz (which was marked incorrect), this translation conforms with the use of the Présent indicatif + depuis longtemps to describe something that "is still ongoing."

Chris, however, gives two translations:

Je ne suis pas en France depuis longtemps.

Je ne suis pas arrivé en France depuis longtemps.

He then explains "The former sentence talks about a period which started in the past and continues up until the present time. The second one focuses on the event of the arrival, which has no connection to the present."

For me personally, this explanation is too terse and opaque to clarify anything. It fails to explain what focusing on "the event of the arrival" changes in terms of grammar rules. Further, it doesn't acknowledge, in this instance at least, the fact that the lesson's instructions are seemingly contravened, or explain why this is so. 

Either there is a mistake in the quiz (which is doubtful), or another section needs to be added to the lesson to explain this exception. 

Richard noted the adjective ‘violet’ changes with gender and number, despite being named after a real thing.  Cécile answered the question.  It took me a while to comprehend the answer, so if you don't mind I will add some comments to help myself and anyone else who might have the same difficulty.  I think what Cécile is saying is the name of the flower is "violette", not violet; and because the original name of the colour is "violet", not violette, the two are not the same.  They look close, but they are not identical.  If the name of the flower en français was "violet", the story would be different.

I ai utilisé "se réunir" au lieu de "se retrouver" ou "se rejoindre" mais ce choix n'était pas accepté ? Pourquoi ?

"l'hombre de grands arbres"  was my answer and it was wrong because I had omitted the "s" from des.  Can anyone explain why in this case one should keept the "s" on des?

I'm trying to work out what to do when the two subjects are a person and something inanimate. Basically I want to say "I miss you and Paris" - and can only come up with "Toi et Paris me manquent" which doesn't seem right, or "Toi et Paris me manquez" -which definitely seems wrong! Maybe this is something you just can't say in French?

HI,

I was wondering there was a sentence above ma petite amie est canadienne how come you use petite amie for girlfriend and not ma copaine?

Thanks

Nicole

I wrote ´nous nous sommes brossés les cheveux’, which was marked as only partially correct. It should have been ´brossé’. I don’t understand why the ´s’ shouldn’t be there. Agreement with ‘nous’. 

Can anyone help, please?

Qu'est-ce que sont les mots pour "winery" et "winemaker"?

J'habite en Californie et ma banque est à Tahiti. Donc, je dois faire les opérations bancaire enligne. C'est difficile parce que je ne comprends pas le vocabulaire bancaire de base en français. Où puis-je trouver le vocabulaire bancaire en français ?