French language Q&A Forum

I thought with occupations there was no article prior to the occupation. Je suis médecin, not je suis un medecin. Is this an exception?

Could you explain why «coquille» is not accepted for "shell"? In LaRousse, «coquillage» appears to primarily mean the group of animals, and can refer to only the soft living part inside the shell. Indeed the first definition of «coquillage» is «Mollusque revêtu d'une coquille».

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/coquillage/19198

The use of partitive vs definite articles continues to be confusing to me, such as in this phrase in the second to last paragraph, "Un lien d'avenir, grâce à l'engagement ".  It is translated as, "A link to the future, thanks to the commitment," . Why is d'avenir used and not à l'avenir?  And why à l'engagement and not d'engagement?

The sunglasses are not yours.... What is the difference between Ces lunettes de soleil ne sont pas les vôtres? and Ces lunettes de soleil ne sont pas les tiennes? Both are listed as possessive pronouns for "yours".

For example: Je nettoie la vitre de la voiture - J'en nettoie la vitre

What is the exact difference between il est and c'est?

I see this is the subject of a question and answer but I don’t think the response is adequate. The text of the lesson states that the meaning depends on the context. Surely the context means that ‘Bien sûr qu’on se déteste’ means ‘of course we hate each other’ as the correct response - because I want sort of context would tow people say to another we hates ourselves? I think this needs fixing or the lesson should at least be clear that both translations are possible. 

For example if you were to say 'I like carrots', can't you say j'aime des carottes as well as j'aime les carottes ?

Or do they mean different things?

For the very first sentence, I used "formidable" instead of "excellent" and this was not accepted as correct. Is this word out of fashion? Or just used in certain contexts? Thanks for your help!