French language Q&A Forum

Hi,

Thanks!

Ryan

During the lesson it is explained to use lui/leur when you have the "à" before the object and to use la/le/les when there is a possessive pronoun before, for example:

"Il va appeler ses parents" --> "Il va les appeler"

So why using lui in this case?

I've read through the questions and answers below, but still don't understand the following example.

Test question: "I haven't been in France for long?" (ie, I recently arrived and I'm still here; ongoing).

From the lesson it seems the best construction would be: Ne...pas + Présent Indicatif + depuis longtemps (started a short while ago and is still ongoing).

But Kwiziq says the best answer is: Ne...pas + Passé Composé + depuis longtemps (not for a long time / not in ages).

If someone could explain it more clearly, thanks.

Il y a quelques jours j’ai écouté un podcast sur lequel la présentatrice a parlé de ‘faire les courses’. 

Elle a décrit un  panier avec deux petites roues qu’on utilise pour apporter les achats chez lui. (Surtout utilisés par les grand-mères!). Je pense elle a dit que ce panier s’appelle « un chariot », et the trolley on utilise au supermarché s’appelle « un caddie » C’est correcte ou pas?

This is a question of the usage of French definite article “le”. I have encountered following two French sentences:

(1)  Il faut que vous puissiez parler français avant d’aller en France.

(2)  Pour apprandre le français, il faut que vous regardiez des films français.

As can be seen from these two sentences, you can notice that the phrase “ …parler français…”in the sentence (1) appears without the French definite article of “le”, but that the phrase “…apprandre le français…” in the sentence (2) appears with the French definite article of “le”.

Why doesn’t the definite article of “le” need in the sentence (1)?  And why does the definite article of “le” need in the sentence (2)?