French language Q&A Forum

As they basically mean the same thing in this context.

In the sentence, encountered in a novel:

Il ouvrait un petit bar, y prenait une bouteille et deux verres.

Why "y"?  This seems to be a perfect example of "de plus location", as he is taking the bottle from a place.

Can someone elucidate, please"

Much obliged!

I have just run across this sentence in my reading, and I don't understand how/why the adverbial pronoun is used:

The introductory sentence is part of a conversation: 

-Vous ignorez qu'il est le propriétaire des parfums et des produits de beauté Mylène?

This is followed by the following sentence, which is the author's omnipotent observation about how little Maigret knew about perfumes:  

Il s'y connaissait si peu en produits de beauté! 

I understand what is being communicated, but I don't understand the grammar!

Please explain why the "s'y" construction is in this sentence.  

Merci!

Is effrayer no approproiate in place of faire peur

Although this was an exercise about using "devoir", I didn't understand how it expressed "to be late," which was son train a eu du retard Shouldn't it be "de retard" not "du retard?"

I believe the je form of the conditional of préférer is je préférerais, not je préfèrerais as in the text. Am I correct ?

To "Je suis partie ________ jours."

I answered "...pour une quinzième de..."

Is it incorrect to say "partie pour une quinzième de.."  ?

In the video there is no definite article in front of Israel. Why? Are there other countries that do not have a definite article beforehand?

‘Comme j’ai toujours eu du mal avec les maths...’  ‘As I’ve always had a struggle with math...’

I think that ‘always’ indicates a continued and repetitive sense so why is the verb not in the imparfait?

Thank.