French language Q&A Forum

I understand that, as a general rule, in French, we add definite articles before a country’s name. E.g.: J’aime la France. However, I also understand that if the country’s name comes after “de”, and the country is feminine, then, we omit the definite article. E.g.: Je viens de France. However, I am terribly confused by the phrase “Au service de la France” - why is there a definite article after “de” in this phrase? 

Okay, so I've just climbed up from A2 but this:

Je suis jalouse des nouvelles bottes que tu as achetées.

looks wrong to me.  Why do I have achetées with bottes with avoir?  

Hello - 

For "We are leaving at 4", I chose, "Nous quittons à quatre heures" instead of "Nous partons à quatre heures", because the lesson says partir must be followed by de or pour when it is not used on its own. Why is "Nous partons à quatre heures" correct? And why is "Nous quittons à quatre heures" wrong?

I incorrectly did that with the following sentence

Mais quand ma meilleure amie Miriam a décidé de le faire

Can you explain why not using “ dans l prison “ in the exercise ?

What is the exact difference between il est and c'est?