French language Q&A Forum

Bonjour forum et les experts

Au sujet de la phrase, 'c'était un Paris pittoresque, certes, mais il était difficile d'y circuler' et son alternative, 'c'était un Paris pittoresque, certes, mais il était difficile de s'y déplacer'. 

Aurais-je raison de penser que le verbe, circuler dans la première phrase est un verbe transitif alors que le verbe, se déplacer dans le deuxième phrase est un verbe intransitif?

Si j'ai raison, je me demande si c'est également correct de re-écrire la deuxième phrase sans la y , ''cétait un Paris pittoresque, certes, mais il était difficile de se déplacer',  car les verbes intransitifs n'ont pas besoin d'un objet direct ou indirect?

Votre aide serait apprécié beaucoup.

I encountered this question in a quiz and got it wrong:

"Manon aime une autre personne." means:

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, or the translation isn't quite literal in English, but the correct answer "Manon loves another person" seems to imply something different.  I read this as "Manon loves [a different] person."  To say that Manon loves another person implies to me that she may love more than one person.  For example, if I said "J'ai une autre voiture," am I saying I have 2 cars now, or that I have a different/new car?

J'ai sorti la poubelle.  In this case there is No agreement, and avoir is used with a verb that usually uses etre.  Could you please explain what grammar is applied in such cases, and/or  direct me to a lesson on this subject? Thanks

Bonjour madame et mademoiselle! Je m'appelle Hang. Je viens de Danang, Vietnam.

Hello, 

Does kwiziq by chance have a list of verbs that typically go with à? I would find this really helpful. Thanks!

Amber

"Note that the latter structure sounds very formal in French! In everyday language, you would usually use one of the alternatives listed below."

How would the structure look like for alternative form look like?

During the lesson it is explained to use lui/leur when you have the "à" before the object and to use la/le/les when there is a possessive pronoun before, for example:

"Il va appeler ses parents" --> "Il va les appeler"

So why using lui in this case?

In the case where demeurer is used to mean to physically remain in a location, does it take avoir or être? This usage doesn't seem to be a verbe d'état, because a location isn't really a state or an attribute... or is it?

Larousse uses the example « La voiture est demurée au garage ». In this case, is au garage a state? Is demeurer being used as a verb of state?

Grevisse (§814 b 4°) makes it even more fun, with « [...] en France, où j'ai demeuré quelque temps » and then « je n'étais pas [...] demeuré à Paris ». Why use avoir with the first, but être with the second?

Thanks for taking the time to shed some light on this!

Salut -

In the kwiziq glossary entry for Verbes aux deux auxiliares, it mentions that demeurer follows "the reverse pattern" to the transitive/intransitive rule.

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/glossary/verb-conjugation-group/verbs-that-can-take-avoir-or-etre-as-auxiliary

I have used that as my rule of thumb for a while now, and it was always confusing to me (as a verbe d'état, it is intransitive, yet takes auxiliary « être », so that note didn't feel right).

I just found the comments and explanations here on this page, and all is now clear - thank you Aurélie and other contributors for the information you have shared here!

It might be worth correcting that glossary page entry, too, in case others stumble across it in the future.

Cécile

I think Charmond's (and now my) question arises because of ambiguity about the section headed (Un) peu de, where it is stated that «un peu de 'used with uncountable quantities'»  etc. The impression given/gained is that this is in contrast to quelque(s) which is noted to be for countable quantities, and applies to the full section. However, on reflection, I think it means only that 'un peu de' is for uncountables, but that 'peu de' is/can be used for countables with a slight difference in meaning/translation when used instead of quelques. Please clarify - and maybe clarify in the lesson too! Thanks