French language Q&A Forum

The given translation of « Mes sœurs ne font guère les magasins » is "My sisters hardly go shopping". This is not idiomatic in English; you would say "My sisters hardly ever go shopping". In English, we would use "hardly" on its own to imply some limitation in the action; for example, "He can hardly write (because he is only 4 years old)". But if the limitation is to do with time, then the correct expression is "hardly ever"; for example, "He hardly ever writes (because he's busy doing other things)".

I think in the article on ne ... guère, this distinction should be made. As it stands, "hardly ever" isn't mentioned at all.

How would this distinction be made in French?

Can 'les gosses' be used here instead of 'les enfants' for 'the kids' ?

''Je crois que le modèle que nous imaginions, où les gens travaillaient de chez eux, s'est concrétisé.''

For example, in the sentence above, 'où' does not mean 'when' or 'where'; rather, it is used to describe the 'modèle', which is not a time or place. Why is the use of 'où' still correct?

Thank you.

I’ve seen things like:

Je veux qu’elle vienne

Je ne veux pas qu’elle vienne

But I haven’t (yet) seen:

Je veux qu’elle ne vienne pas 

Does this occur in French? Can the “ne pas” wrap around the subjunctive verb?