French language Q&A Forum

Hi, what specifically triggered the subjunctive in “ Depuis, impossible de trouver une position qui puisse soulager la douleur.”?

Over time I’ve built a list of “subjunctive triggers” and all of them are of the format “[something] que”, but there’s no “que” in this case. 

I am trying to understand the word, cachet, which I found in another exercise where it meant tablet.  I thought it had an additional meaning as a kind of wax seal.  Is it not appropriate in this passage as a synonym for sceau ?

Not a question - just a comment. I wasn’t sure if the correct spelling should be “jeux vidéo” or “jeux vidéos” with an additional s. This exercise accepts both options, and so I researched and found that even the French have discussions about this point. Apparently in “le bon usage” the adjective “vidéo” is invariable - but “jeux vidéos” is often also found in common usage (and in Quebec the official French language office has even added this form in their spelling rectifications of 1990, making both spellings legitimate, at least in Canada)

Shouldn't "mon coeur" be "mon cœur?"

As per Danilo's comment previously, (~11 months ago) it would be helpful with the examples for parler/finir/faire/prendre to have both the translation for the present tense form (as currently is included) and also for the imparfait form associated. I had to do a double take on this too - the lesson is on imparfait, and I expected consolidation of the meaning of those conjugations in the section. Relatively minor but useful, I think.

The above sentence was part of a quiz.  Does sur not take a modifier?  Shouldn't it be sur l'internet?

First issue:

Interaction p 23 : Tu as de l'argent pour faire les courses? Non, j'ai besoin d'argent.

It explains "avoir besoin de uses de alone when followed by a noun used in the partitive sense" which must be the rationale for the response above.  

1.  Why isn't the question also partitive sense? Please help me make the distinction.

Second issue:

On p340, it says that avoir besoin de is one of a small number of verbs (it also includes s'agir de, parler de, se souvenir de) that require "de" before a noun object and gives the example

"J'ai besoin d'argent pour voyager" (no article before "argent") 

and also gives "Nous parlons du Canada en cours" (has the article); Il s'agit d'un voyage au Canada; On se souvient du passé là-bas.

2.  For all those examples on p340 except avoir besoin de, there is an article and I don't know why they differ.

I am becoming confused. Can someone help please?

The correct response gives is ‘ est-ce-que cela t’arrive d’avoir des nouvelles de’ but would it be equally correct to say ‘est-ce -que tu a recu aucune nouvelles de’