French language Q&A Forum

Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers

14,981 questions • 32,492 answers • 1,021,079 learners

Find your French level for FREE

And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it

Helen H.B1Kwiziq community member

Avoir raisonI've always heard "avoir raison" translated as/used more like "to have a point" than "to be right", and to that end have always thought of it as fairly informal. Seeing it translated as "to be right" leads me to wonder whether it's a little more versatile in terms of tone than I'd thought?

Asked 4 years ago

Like0Answer2

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Connaître vs. SavoirJe connais Paul Bocuse mais je sais qui est Paul Bocuse. Vraiment ?

Asked 4 years ago

Like0Answer3

Anita P.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Le chalet

Le chalet : It is one of those words - does the ‘a’ have a roof over it or not ? According to my Oxford English-French dictionary no, which is why i’m going with that spelling, but the American English - French dictionary could well say otherwise. Google translate is without too

Asked 6 years ago

Like0Answer1

Aniruddha P.B1Kwiziq community member

Confusion about usage of imparfait

If I am recalling something from the past, do I need to use PC or imparfait?

For eg: I got down from the train that day.

Je me suis descendu du train ca jour

Je descendais du train ca jour?

Which one is correct?

Asked 7 years ago

Like0Answer1

Anthony F.C1Kwiziq community member

remerciement à Aurélie

Je veux simplement remercier Aurélie pour vos lessons superbes et commenter que ma mère, Marcelle Eudes a quitté Le Havre en 1936 pour étudier l'anglais à l'université de Southampton et elle aussi a resté en Angleterre (à part les années de la guerre où elle est retournée au Havre jusqu'à la fin du bombardement) pendent toute sa vie jusqu'à 93 ans. Elle aurait eu 100 ans cette année. C'était toujours vers maman que nous avons dirigé nos questions concernant la grammaire soit en français soit en anglais! Merci à vous brillantes enseignantes! Anthony Ford-Jones (Canada)

Asked 7 years ago

Like2Answer1

Alan R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I used the 2nd person plural and was marked as only partially correct as the correct response was in the 2nd person plural.

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer1

Dyrce M.A2Kwiziq community member

I did not understand the phrase: nous t'avons rendu visite il and a une semaine. Can you help me please? Thanks.

Asked 7 years ago

Like0Answer1

Scott N.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

En with y in a sentence

I can say, "I am bringing two bottles of wine there" I believe like this:
J'y apporte deux bouteilles de vin.

Can I say, "I am bringing two of them there" like this?
J'y en apporte deux.

Or would it be:
J'en y apporte deux.

Or would you use a completely different construction?

thanks, Scott

Asked 7 years ago

Like0Answer1

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

This relates to Critique Gastronomique writing challenge. Why isn't the imparfait used instead of p.c. for we wanted to avoid "les terrasses touristiqAnd why les rather than des?

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer1

Craig B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Passé Composé instead of Imparfait

Why is the first sentence, "I've always loved school." translated in the Passé Composé instead of Imparfait: "J'ai toujours adoré l'école" ? This seems to fit the pattern of giving a description (of me in my past), and since it's "always", it doesn't seem to have a clear beginning and end in the past.

Asked 4 years ago

Like2Answer2

Find your French level for FREE

And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it

Find your French level