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Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,995 questions • 32,510 answers • 1,023,515 learners
Elles ont tu la raison ... where is the word about in this sentence? Thanks for your help.
To emphasise that a (recurring) action in the past has now stopped happening with depuis, you can also use Présent indicatif with ne ... plus (not any more) instead of ne ... pas. Here ne...plus focuses on the change between the past situation and the new current one, which it highlights, hence Le Présent.
Tu ne bois plus d'alcool depuis cinq ans.You haven't drunk alcohol for five years.Je ne fume plus depuis 1998.I haven't smoked since 1998.I am confused about these examples. I understand the structure and they seem to be more or less interchangeable, but I want to understand the difference. The qualifier makes sense, to indicate that the action has now stopped, but the examples don't seem to illustrate that.
How do those English sentences indicate that an action has now stopped occurring? "I haven't drunk alcohol for five years" -- termination began five years ago when I stopped drinking. Does it mean that the term of the five years has just completed?
But then, if so, with "je ne fume plus depuis 1998," we don't even have a defined term, it's that year to the assumed present and the stopping smoking happened in 1998.
I really want to understand so thanks in advance for any clarification!
Why is it l'an prochain and not l'année prochaine?
I presume there is some simple reason but it would seem that nouveau would normally go first?
I found Chris' post very helpful. Merci! What remains unclear is the use of de qui. Couple of specific questions 1) Can I say both "La fille dont je parle" or "la fille de qui je parle"? Or does the verbal clause (parler de) require dont even if it's a person? 2) Do I use de qui with a prep phrase in stead of duquel (and its derivatives)? For example, "La fille près de qui je me suis assise" Would "'de laquelle" be equally acceptable in that sentence?
In the writing challenge "My mother's favourite singer"
1. The phrase "since then" is translated as "depuis lors" or "depuis" or "depuis cette époque" but shouldn't my answer of "depuis ce moment-là" also be accepted?
2. The verb "has been collecting" is used and is translated as "collectionne" but without knowing how the sentence is going to end aren't we also wondering whether to use some other verb, as an alternative to "collectionne"?
hi.can I use " dans" to say" J' habite dans Layon"
Instead of "à"
I said "donc on est allé voir un film". Would that be OK too?
Could someone please explain how to negate this expression? Thanks in advance.
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