French language Q&A Forum

Hi all,

Why would one say "il me reste des croissants" when "croissants" is a plural word and "il me reste" is a singular phrase? Is this just an expression?

Is le passé simple used in daily newspapers and popular magazines or is it strictly reserved for use in literature? Merci!

is Comment tu t’appelles a subject or a verb

Can you tell me whether rire takes à or de interchangeably?  Today I had "Il rit à ses propres blagues".  Yesterday "Il rit de ses canulars téléphoniques".  I cannot see why there is a difference.  Thank you!

There were two cases in this exercise where I felt that my word should be acceptable but it was not given as an option:

1.Your answer: Janine était professeur de français avant; whereas mine was : Autrefois, Janine était....... Why would autrefois not be acceptable?

2. For such a short word, 'so' can be confusing. The English phrase was "so that wasn't too complicated!". Would ainsi be correct? I can imagine the english word 'thus' in this context.

I found this very difficult and frustrating.  Some of the words I thought I needed were not in my dictionary or were very different from what I expected:  Silicon was translated to be silicium (!); liposuction was nowhere to be found.  I don't recall having see the expression "couter les yeux et la tete" before (although there is some faint recollection of it).  Poser, used I think in its possible form,  is to install, but not a term I would have associated with breast implants.  I think I need MUCH more information and education in current terminology to feel any success with this translations.  How do I get this?????  Help, please!!

I've come across this sentence:

J'ai fini de déjeuner.

It seems correct to me when "déjeuner" is a verb.

But I wonder if "déjeuner" here is a noun and is being used along with "de". 

If yes, would there be any difference from "J'ai fini le déjeuner"?

Thank you

I seem to recall that when using the subjunctive in English we would use "may." I don't see "may" used in any of the English translations. Is my understanding of the use of "may" out of date or just plain wrong? Thanks!

"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" (what is that?) is one of the first things a beginner in French learns. Now that I am moving from A2 to B1, I learned that "Qu'est-ce que..." is the question form to use when the "what" is the object of the sentence. I think the verb "to be" is throwing me off. Could someone explain to me how "what" is the object of the sentence in question like "what is that?" 

The translation of "In case you've never had to..." in the exercise is "Juste au cas où vous n'auriez jamais eu..." But surely "have had to" in this context is the future perfect of "must", and should be translated in French using the verb "devoir": "Juste au cas où vous n'auriez jamais dû..."?