French language Q&A Forum

Anyway, I want to ask about the following:

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Paula ne pense pas grand-chose de l'environnement

Paula doesn't think much of the environment

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". . . doesn't think much of the environment" seems neither correct nor natural. Normally, when one contemplates a matter (or chooses not to), one "thinks about X." 

If instead one wishes to indicate his/her opinion of X, and specifically wishes to suggest a negative opinion, one might say he/she "does not think much about X," where X could be a book, a movie, a teacher etc. In other words, X is things subject to subjective opinions.

Thus, in the example above, X as a subjective matter does not normally include the environment, which simply just is (i.e., we don't have subjective opinions about water, air or the sun, which just are, like the environment).

So, in the example, what is Paul really trying to say? Does she perhaps not think much the environment, as in not thinking much about environmental issues like pollution, climate change etc? 

If instead the example was:

Paula ne pense pas grand-chose des activistes environnementaux = Paula doesn't think much of environmental activists, 

that would make sense.

One of my 'test recommended' questions was: Il prend toujours l’avion. - Non, il ________ l'avion

The answer given was: 'ne prend jamais' and my answer 'ne prend jamais de' was marked incorrect.

Why is there no 'de' in this case when the 'vous mangez de la viande' example on this page shows there is?

trying to make sense of these rules.. it seems to go like this:

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ne le lui donnez pas?
ne me la donnez pas?

why indirect object's place are different in that negatif imperatifs.
İn the first one "lui" is used  after "le" 

But second one  "me" is used after the "ne"
ı wish your helps thanks :) 

In the grammar lesson, it explains that you can use either "en" or "de" in "un sac .... cuir". So to avoid confusion,  would it not be better to show that both "en" and "de" are also both acceptable answers in "Je possède un blouson _____ cuir". Or are they?

Hi there, can anyone suggest a rule that works for making a liason between words pronounced...? Not as simple as before a vowel as I have found in the above examples:

"Nous sommes allées..." (liason pronounced between sommes-allées...)

"Pauline a dit Je suis allée en France..." (no liason pronounced between suis-allée...)

"Ils etaient meilleurs amis..." (liason pronounced between meilleurs-amis...)

Grateful for any tips on a rule that works...

Michael 

The lesson states "some adverbs are placed between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. These include 'encore'. 

The Larousse online dictionary gives the following examples of 'encore' [3. dans des phrases négatives] which follow this rule using ne...pas ne...rien  ne...jamais. 

 je n'avais encore jamais vu ça !    I'd never seen anything like it before !

My question is, why is 'encore' placed after 'pas' but before rien and before jamais?

Thank You