French language Q&A Forum

if present tense is used for historical events, why use ‘La Fontaine est né’ and not ‘La Fontaine naît’?

The sentence tout le monde éclata de rire quand ils ont vu uses first the passé simple and then the passé composé. Why is the same form of the passé not used for both ? I read in the Lawless French article on the passé simple that it's not used in conjunction with the passé composé (https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/passe-simple/).

It seems a bit harsh to be marked wrong for merely omitting an apostrophe. I wrote quelle fasse and not qu'elle fasse which I thought was almost correct.

Please let me now what does SE SONT RAPPORTE' means in this context

I still can't wrap my head around when you use the subjonctif passé instead of the subjonctif présent. Can someone please give me a couple more examples?

Merci :)

How is it that Juliette says " je passe mes vacances” but then asks “ comment se passent tes vacances?” why is one reflexive and one not please?

Hi,

I have a question regarding "lequel"...

I still dont get when to use "que" and "lequel".....

There is one sentence i found from online news article and the use of "lequel" in it confuses me..

Le racisme, c'est l'idée selon laquelle l'espèce humaine serait composée de plusieurs races différentes.

It is literally the first sentence of the article and so nothing has been mentioned before that sentence. Regardless the "laquelle" has been used along with "selon", preposition. Also, when I translate it based on a dictionary, it means "according to which". It sounds so weird if i apply it onto the whole sentence. 

So, my questions are.......

1. is it necessary to use "selon laquelle or can I simply use "que" instead? (Like "c'est l'idée QUE l'espèce humaine serait....")

2. And just like "dans lequel" which can simply translate as "where(=où)", does "selon lequel" also mean something simple other than its dictionary meaning, "according to which"? 

I would appreciate for any reply!

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 Is my understanding of the use of "may" out of date or just plain wrong?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!

It's more obvious when we're talking about a positive sentence like:

But when it is negative:

ni l'un ni l'autre = pas l'un et pas l'autre => so it can be plural no? 

Multiple sources suggest both singular and plural verb forms are possible for ni l'un ni l'autre:

http://bdl.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?id=1490#:~:text=Lorsque%20le%20sujet%20est%20ni,deux%20noms%20coordonn%C3%A9s%2C%20est%20pluriel.

https://www.gymglish.com/fr/frantastique-orthographe/regles-orthographe/ni-lun-ni-lautre-nanont-raison

https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/clefsfp/index-fra.html?lang=fra&lettr=indx_catlog_n&page=9WmCJCDuX_J0.html