French language Q&A Forum

Nous avons été très surpris en apprenant la nouvelle.

We were really surprised when we heard the news.

I would have used nous étions instead of nous avons été. Is that not correct?

In English nous avons été très surpris translates to - We have been very surprised which implies the surprise happened and is still ongoing or at least has a prolonged duration, whereas nous étions translates to - We were, which implies it happened but is no longer ongoing. The latter seems to be the correct answer to this question especially since being surprised is usually a point in time thing.

Les parents sont à la poste.

What is the difference?

  Je suis d'accord avec Michelle. C'etait tres interessant.

'que les gens me donnent' - was the answer for 'have been giving me'.   I thought that the French here meant (in your answer) -  'that the people 'are' giving me'.

On reading your post, and listening to this lesson, the 1st plus does have a soft "s" and the 2nd one is silent. After listening to Forvo and Reverso, I noted that they pronounced the "s" in the 1st plus with a Z sound.  Is this regional? Can you clarify please.

Can I say 'il tente de parler français' instead of 'il essaie de parler français'?

There is an extra word after 'et je m'ennuie' in the audio, I cannot figure out what it is. 

England doesn't have provinces! The way England is subdivided is frankly horrendously complex, however, it suffices to say that the examples given are of counties.

The word province, when it doesn't just cause confusion, is more likely to mean the "regions" because some of the original post-WW2 proposals for an official top level subdivision of England used this term.

Je suis désolé but I cannot make a complete sense out of the following sentence: que vous humecterez de vos lèvres avant de lui essuyer les joues. You make le mouchoir wet with your lips before wiping your cheeks? So, what’s she doing ?