Recognizing the different tensesHello, I am a total beginner at French, and I hope someone can please guide me. I am having trouble recognising the different tenses when reading a sentence in French. In English we would say : "He READS a book" as an answer to a question like "what does he do whilst taking the tube?".
If the question was "what is he doing?", In English we would say "He is READING/ a/ this/that". How do I tell whether the person is DOING something or DOES something in French? Example :
"Elle lit un livre" She reads a book.
"Elle lit un livre" she's reading a book.
Initially, I thought you'd have to read the rest of the sentence to work it out, but I can't imagine this is how it works all the time. In English there is a distinctive difference : "I go to the .../I AM going to the..."
"He has a.../He HAD a..."
"I watch .../ I AM watching".
Have I missed something in the lessons?
Apologies for the long winded question and capitalisation. I like to believe I am fluent in English (it's the only language I know) however I find articulating in my own language difficult at the best of times !!
Thanks
Why is it "Bien qu'il soit actuellement l'astronaute français le plus célèbre...", and not "Bien que ce soit actuellement l'astronaute français le plus célèbre..." ? I thought that you have to use "c'est" (and not "il est") with a noun that has an article and an adjective.
Hi, why does “the que before the penser” (b) & (c) become “a quoi after the penser” (a)?
(a) “Et vous, vous pensez QUOI des selfies ?”
(b) “Et vous, QUE pensez-vous des selfies ?”
(c) “Et vous, QU'est-ce que vous pensez des selfies ?”
Do "living things" include animals?
I am searching for some pattern in the placement of an adjective when it modifies a noun also modified by a prepositional phrase. Our paragraph has two examples where the adjective, traditional, modifies such a noun. The first concerns "dinde rôtie aux marrons". There were a number of possibilities given for the position of traditionnelle including directly in front of dinde. The second usage is in the last sentence where traditionel modifies plats de Noël. Following the example from the first usage, I placed traditionnels in front of plats thinking that plats de Noël should be kept together. This was marked as incorrect and I see that traditionnels is placed in the customary position after the noun and in front of de Noël. Is there rule that one can apply to the placement of adjectives when they modify a noun also modified by some sort of prepositional phrase such as plats de Noël or dinde rôtie aux marrons ?
Hello there.
In this question: Les champions sont…… heureux.
I think that tous(adj) and tout(adv) are both correct.
Les champions sont tous heureux.
=The champions are all happy.
Les champions sont tout heureux.
=The champions are very happy.
If I'm wrong, pleas tell me which indéfini is true
Hello, I am a total beginner at French, and I hope someone can please guide me. I am having trouble recognising the different tenses when reading a sentence in French. In English we would say : "He READS a book" as an answer to a question like "what does he do whilst taking the tube?".
If the question was "what is he doing?", In English we would say "He is READING/ a/ this/that". How do I tell whether the person is DOING something or DOES something in French? Example :
"Elle lit un livre" She reads a book.
"Elle lit un livre" she's reading a book.
Initially, I thought you'd have to read the rest of the sentence to work it out, but I can't imagine this is how it works all the time. In English there is a distinctive difference : "I go to the .../I AM going to the..."
"He has a.../He HAD a..."
"I watch .../ I AM watching".
Have I missed something in the lessons?
Apologies for the long winded question and capitalisation. I like to believe I am fluent in English (it's the only language I know) however I find articulating in my own language difficult at the best of times !!
Thanks
hi,
I was wondering for the mini quiz I took the question was Tom a achete une _______ maison I had put neuf but it was wrong. Wouldn't nouvelle and or neuf be used here since it doesn't specify?
thanks
nicole
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