French language Q&A Forum

An old castle is still an old castle.  If it was an old castle, that implies it is something else now but formerly it was an old castle.  It was an old castle that we just saw OR what we are looking at not was an old castle but no longer is'

Serious ambiguity in the question. Either answer could be correct depending on context

Will there ever be lessons about the seldom used tenses and what they are actually meant to do? Like the subjunctive imperfect, past anterior etc. I know that you don't use them in every day speech and rarely if ever in writing, but I'd like to see them in the future...maybe even in a new C2 section. 

Could you explain the word “inspira” in “du naufrage qui inspira ce tableau”, which you translate as “of the shipwreck which inspired this painting“. 

Should this instead be the adjective “inspiré” in the passive voice, as this is the past participle of “inspirer”?

Can you guys make an update so we could move the line thx.

Why does the phrase take this form and not 'une lecture analytique d'œuvres' ?

Hi,

I thought esperer did not take the subjonctif unlike souhaiter.  

Thanks

Bonjour,

Can I use des longtemps as the duration with pendant, ie, je vais vivre en france pendant des longtemps? Or is longtemps not considered a specific time frame?

Merci :)

With the above examples the final 's' in 'je suis a' is silent. But when saying 'Je suis aller..' I have heard the s pronounced? Is there a rule for when the final 's' is silent or not?

Hi, I'm a beginner in French and I always get confused in using Je suis and J'ai. In my head (which thinks in English), sentences like 'I am 20 years old' is not 'Je suis vingt ans' but 'J'ai vingt ans' which literally means 'I have 20 years old'. Is there are hard rule when to use Je suis or J'ai in a sentence?