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14,783 questions • 32,037 answers • 982,323 learners
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
14,783 questions • 32,037 answers • 982,323 learners
Kwiziq smartly points out that I "should" have used an upper case Ç (pasted in here) although there is no way to actually type that character in the exercise. When I try holding the C key, it shows an upper case cedilla c, but does not allow me to enter it.
Duh........
I think the discussion here indicates that there needs to be more explanation regarding these 3 verbs in the lesson above. As far as I can work out their use depends as much on syntax as semantics. My notes eventually say Quitter is the only transitive verb and must have a direct object, Partir and Sortir are both intransitive, but Partir is more to get out (i.e. leave/escape) whereas Sortir is to go out and only means leave if it is used with de . Partir can be used without any object at all, I'm still not clear if Sortir requires an indirect object or can be used without.
(edit)... So I thought I had eventually cracked this, then 2 minutes after writing the above I get marked down my answer "Charles sort pour Londres" for How would you say "Charles is leaving for London." ? Apparently the answer is Partir, I am afraid the lesson fails make any clear distinction between Sortir and Partir.
When is the formula "finir + de" used? I noticed this in a few of the examples, where it was "conjugated form of finir + de + infinitive verb"
Firstly - thanks to the creators of this lesson!
Secondly - I am having trouble understanding the distinction between the usage of "Manquer de..." and the impersonal "Il manque...à..."
The lesson describes how the two structures are formed (and gives translations that seem to overlap - e.g. "to lack [something]" VS. [someone/something] is missing (i.e. lacking) something), but doesn't seem to describe how exactly they are used differently from each other.
Thus, I'm wondering if someone can explain in what scenarios "Manquer de" must be used and not "Il manque...à..." (and vice versa), and describe if there are any situations in which both can be used.
(For an example of what I mean, can one say both "Il manque un bouton à ta chemise" (given in the lesson) and "Ta chemise manque d'un bouton" ? Why or why not? Etc.)
Thanks in advance!
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