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Thinking...
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
15,007 questions • 32,541 answers • 1,024,234 learners
I am a bit confused about how to translate certain uses of the present participle of an English verb. Sometimes the French use the construction, en + present participle, and and at other times they use à + infinitive. This story has two examples. The first: "...was dragging on the ground while making a horrible rattling noise." 'While making' is translated as 'en faisant', i.e. en + present participle. The second example: "Michel and his dad had spent whole weekends fixing..." This translation of the present participle 'fixing' (one could also think of while fixing to align with the first example) is 'à réparer', i.e. à + infinitive. Are these two constructions simply options, i.e. one could use either, or is there some guidance as to when to use one or the other? I hope my question is clear. Thanks in advance. BTW, I loved the theme for the workout as it has practical application since most of us drive. Also, I was impressed that a native French person would know Americain slang like 'beater'.
In the first examples, you have
Jacques a manqué son train.
and then,
Vite ! On va manquer le début du concert !
Why is manquer conjugated in the first example, but not the second. The sentence structure seems identical, except instead of have, it is go.?
Thanks.
I see that Jacques a manqué... is the passé composé, but I can't delete my question now.
What is the term for seats in coach?
For the sentence "je joue au beach volley avec Lydia et notre équipe gagne", why is "gagner" take the form of "gagne" instead of "gagnons"? I would think since it is "our team winning" it would be "notre équipe gagnons", but I think I am missing something here!
Nous ne nous sommes pas levés tôt. Ils ne se sont pas brossé les dents .
Are these sentences correct? Should the past participle still agree with the noun? Could you provide more examples please. Thanks in advance.
Your pronunciation of Saoul sounds to me like soo in English, with no "a" sound.
Hello, I still find myself struggling with the passe compose vs imparfait at times. I have copied part of your online test below. The two I got wrong are in red. My logic is that "The place that enchanted me" is an opinion/description, so should be imparfait. "We walked in the garden" has no clear beginning or end, so should be imparfait. Why are these two in fact passe compose?
L'endroit qui m'enchantait au-dessus de tout,c'était le château de l'impératrice Sissi.Nous nous promenions dans ses jardins merveilleuxdont les fleurs embaumaient l'air,et les fontaines dessinaient de superbes tableaux aquatiques…C'est simple, je ne voulais plus repartir !
Have you noticed how often your reading and listening passages include references to chocolate?
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