French language Q&A Forum

Checking whether these words are interchangeable, or whether there are nuances we should know about:

Parfois vs quelquefois 

mare vs. étang vs bassin 

morceaux de tomate vs pièces de tomate

Thanks!

I am still unclear when to put a de in front of an infinitive verb.  I understand when the de is part of a preceding expression but consistently get it wrong. Can you give me some definitive way to determine if the infinitive verb should be preceded by de (or not)?

Hi, I would like to know which one is correct.

"il parle le français de mieux en mieux."

"il parle de mieux en mieux le français."

I thought that la peau would be an acceptable response rather than ma peau because it’s clear Marc is referring to his skin so there’s no need to use the personal pronoun?

Hi there, what does "la cuisinière" refer to? I'm familiar with rice cookers, pressure cookers and slow cookers; is the word used for any specific appliance in particular? Thanks!

I was wondering why "j'irai finir" is used instead of "je vais finir." Is there a subtle difference in meaning between them? Thanks!

Is it feminine because of 'assistance' (despite the subject being 'un peu'...)?

In the question "I went back to see her." I replied J'ai retourné la voir. Wrong.

Whenever I check on some verb sites for the passé composé for Retourner it gives me Avoir as the auxiliary. How do I determine when this type of verb uses  être or when it uses avoir?