French language Q&A Forum

Just fyi, the translation of “N’oublie pas de remuer” reads “N’oublie pas de remuer” instead of “Don’t forget to stir”.

A couple of minor points 1. In the 'best answer' «le kilo» was suggested to be changed to «le kg». I would expect to find the latter on the grocer's sign but not used when the grocer clearly says 'le kilo'. 2. «Coûtent» is being indicated as preferred spelling instead of «coutent». At the least, both are equally acceptable. Académie-française and Le Robert both list «couter» as acceptable, with the latter showing all conjugations used with this form. I understand that most affected words have now been changed so just flagging as one that has not. 

I completed this B1 dictée without a mistake--the first time I've been able to do this on any dictée at this level!  I think it really helps to have the vocabulary listed in French at the beginning--it can be difficult to choose among different options on the translation sites.  Also, the reader has a nice, clear voice.  Thanks for all you do to make learning French so satisfying!

Hi, I'm having trouble understanding the way "tout" acts in sentences when being used as a pronoun. In another lesson it says that "tout" can be used as a pronoun, however in passé composé the structure is usually: "subject + object pronoun + auxillary verb + past participle", for example "Je l'ai mangé". 

My understanding is that the correct sentence would be "J'ai tout mangé", and not "Je tout ai mangé". Could someone please help me understand, is there a rule for as to why tout behaves differently than others?

I might be wrong, but I hear everywhere that "excité" has a sexual connotation in French, unlike in English. If it's right, I think it would be better to change the adjective here.

The narrator is recalling events that happened on only one occasion and instantaneously. Why does she use the imperfect?

D'abord, ils ont pris des feuilles de papier rouge, orange et jaune,

I'm struggling to see why rouge and jaune are singular. 

I know it is correct, for example : des feuilles de papier blanc = white sheets of paper.

Can anyone explain with a simple rule?

I think basically the point is the colours agree with the material, (papier= unaccountable, singular noun in this context), not with the "sheets".

Is there a general rule I can apply , perhaps about en/de + a material ?

I'm guessing it's something like this:

When describing what an object is made of, it is always treated as a singular noun ?

Thanks, Paul.

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

Is this transcript of the audio correct? It sounds like he says 'je ne pense pas que ce soit possible' - and surely that is what is called for?