French language Q&A Forum

I am really struggling to understand the difference between these as they are both used when there is a choice as What/Which.   I have read the lessons on these over and over but still consistently getting answers wrong.  I was wondering if someone could explain as simply as possible please!

Many thanks

Amanda

soir vs soiree 

I don't know if there are any more. Thank you in advance! 

Is 'Je vais au travail à vélo' correct?

the given possible answer was

 'en vélo' or 'à bicyclette'

Does 'ces sont' exist in French or only 'ce sont'?

I have seen differing advice on this across the internet so I'm unsure

Thanks

The question was how would you write 78,005 in English.  It didn’t say how do you write this decimal number.  I wondered if it was but chose to go with thousands and not a decimal number because it was not specified.

"Les enfants demande à leur mère de leur raconter ce qu'ils doivent manger pour être forts. "

Can anyone tell me whether the expression is être fort or être forts?? Or if both are acceptable, then when should I use each form? 

I know this question has already been somewhat addressed earlier (I'll quote the comments here), but I didn't find the answer very clarifying. So I'll repeat the issue, quote the explanations that were given, and attempt to explain why I'm still confused.

In a test question, we are asked:

How would you say ''I haven't been in France for long.'' ?

The only tenable-seeming answers are: 

-Je ne suis pas arrivé en France depuis longtemps (marked correct)

-Je n'arrive pas en France depuis longtemps (marked incorrect)

In spite of the questionable use of the verb "arriver", I actually chose the latter option on the basis that, in the lesson, we are told: 

– Ne ... pas + Passé composé + depuis longtemps = not for a long time / not in ages -> It's over and done in the past

– Ne ... pas + Présent indicatif + depuis longtemps = not long / not for long -> It started a short while ago, and is still ongoing

Commenting on the issue, Cécile's gives this transition:

– I haven't been in France for long = Je ne suis pas en France depuis longtemps.

Like the instructions in the lesson, and the second answer in the quiz (which was marked incorrect), this translation conforms with the use of the Présent indicatif + depuis longtemps to describe something that "is still ongoing."

Chris, however, gives two translations:

Je ne suis pas en France depuis longtemps.

Je ne suis pas arrivé en France depuis longtemps.

He then explains "The former sentence talks about a period which started in the past and continues up until the present time. The second one focuses on the event of the arrival, which has no connection to the present."

For me personally, this explanation is too terse and opaque to clarify anything. It fails to explain what focusing on "the event of the arrival" changes in terms of grammar rules. Further, it doesn't acknowledge, in this instance at least, the fact that the lesson's instructions are seemingly contravened, or explain why this is so. 

Either there is a mistake in the quiz (which is doubtful), or another section needs to be added to the lesson to explain this exception.