French language Q&A Forum

Why not faire...

I teach Spanish and French.  In the preterit Spanish, SABER (their equivalent of savoir) carries the idea of someone finding out a fact or knowing it for a short time.  Is this true in French in the passé composé?

In other words, does "j'ai su son nom" carry the idea "I found out his name"?  Or even "I knew his name; but forgot it"?

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?

Hi, 

The lesson says "[f]or pronunciation reasons, you will use en with masculine countries starting with a vowel". I was wondering if it is also written out in this way or if it is only pronounced this way and the au preposition is maintained for singular masculine countries in writing.

Also, does this rule apply to countries with aux as their preposition? For example, would the aux of États-Unis become en? 

Thanks!