French language Q&A Forum

Thanks for helping

I am making a lot of incorrect punctuation choices.   It seems that there are significant differences in punctuation conventions between English and French.   Do you address these?   

Are "les gens" and "les personnes" interchangeable, or does "les gens" mean "people in general" and "les personnes" mean "people, considered as individuals"? (This is the fun, and puzzling, part of learning a language - understanding nuances.)

This is very confusing.  I have gotten it wrong in quizzes twice because I used a singular verb with the "plural" noun as in Mes vacances coûte.....please explain why I should use a plural verb? In the lesson all the examples show a plural noun (French style) with a singular verb. And, in the examples there are only singular verbs with the plural nouns.  

I'm still somehow confused on when to use des vs. les. For example, in the translation exercises,

"and boys can play with dolls" is translated to "et les garçons peuvent jouer avec des poupées".

But I thought it should be LES poupées because it's referring to dolls (in general). Is this a case of either one working?

We are asked to use the historic present for one small section and then revert to the past tenses. I’m not clear why there is that change. Whenever I have seen the historic present used at various sites, they maintain it all the way through.

Hello

Could you please explain why the pronoun 'en' is used in this phrase? I am having difficulty recognising when to use en and what it means in this context. Thanks.

....et en acceptèrent la langue

Translations:

Suggest translate the French expression with an English equivalent expression - eg 'first go' or 'first time' : "But, I managed first go/time" ? Using more formal English confuses the translation, especially when it is changed from the general 'first go' to the specific 'on my first attempt'.

I don't fish - but looking at Larousse and the Académie site, it seems 'les leurres' is more appropriate for "the lures, and "appat"  for bait. Les leurres gets a strikethrough currently, but is correct.

Is it possible to use à instead of 'en' when saying "Je suis à ville."?.....Thirza0