French language Q&A Forum

Why the 'le'?

Hi Chris,

WOW! I never knew there was an option when using vous. Figured since the vous (subject pronoun) imposed the plural second person it would ALSO impose the plural past participle. Is it grammatically wrong to use 'retournes' in this case... even though you are only using the vous form for politeness. In other words wouldn't you be allowed a pass based on grammar.

My apologies for having multiple questions on this lesson. It is not that the lesson is unclear. It is that the two test questions that test the understanding of the lesson are awkward if not downright counter productive to reinforcing the lesson.

For example: the lesson states that when  'avoir + descendu'  is used with an animated being as the object then it means to kill/shoot that being. Unless the test question really means that Jack took the giant's dead body(and hence no longer animated (LOL) ) downstairs then it is misleading and confusing. In English "to take someone downstairs" simply means to usher them to your basement.

Why is the answer not: Georges cherche pour son neuf stylo? 

There is no suggestion that the new pen has been used before. If it had, it would be (masc/sing) nouveau - the answer given as correct.

Can you please explain why the answer is nouveau.

Hi, I was doing a writing exercise translating "So that all was ready on time." The correct answer was "Pour que tout soit prêt à temps,"' and not "'Pour que tout soit prêt à l'heure." Why is it better to use à temps in this sentence?

The third to last sentence reads: "Tu nous a bien eus !"  Without the object or adverb, I think it would read, "Tu as eu."  So why "a" instead of "as" ?

Are "l’autre soir" and "l’autre nuit" synonymous? Or different?

It would be helpful to point out the use of could as well as would.  Yes, there is one example using could, but for me at least, this didn't sink in until just now, and I have a high score on this lesson.  More examples, plus pointing this out in the body of the lesson would be very useful.  

The one example:

S'ils économisaient plus, ils pourraient se permettre des vacances.

If they saved more, they could afford holidays.

What are the differences between translating "the end" by "à la fin" or "au fin" or "finalement"?