French language Q&A Forum

I can't find a lesson that explains why, for instance, there is no need for a preposition following the conjugated verb espérer in a sentence such as: "J'espère ne pas faire d'erreurs," whereas a sentence such as "il m'a appris à ne pas avoir faire" requires the "à" after the conjugated verb apprendre, just as "le professeur dit de ne pas parler" requries the "de" after dire. 

I feel stuck with this problem and would appreciate someone's help.

Thanks so much! Kalpana 

Hi, one of the text options is “La ville ne sera seulement à quelque pas de la plage”. Should the “ne” be there, or has it been inserted incorrectly?

Helle team

Could I use c'est quand instead of c'est la que to mean "that is when" ?   Sincerely Una

Presumably ‘soi-même’ can also be used for ‘itself’ ?

Je adore LE Chocolat, but Je mange DU pain.  You are generalizing in both sentences.  I see no difference.  Why is it DU pain?

The translation -' you went back to your childhood house' is not something we would say in english english. We would either say 'childhood home' or ' the house I lived in in my childhood'.  I'm trying to work out why this is and it has something to do with the word childhood as an abstract noun. Childhood is never an adjective.  ' Childhood home' is a kind of double noun, an inversion of 'home of my childhood' . I'm afraid I'm not a linguist so dont have the grammar to describe this. I just know it sounds very odd, and feels wrong.