French language Q&A Forum

Can I say 'il tente de parler français' instead of 'il essaie de parler français'?

Why "ça a été le coup de foudre" and not "c'était le coup de foudre"

'As you can see, we only ever use the vous form.'

Does that mean you use the vous form even if speaking to a friend with whom you'd normally use 'tu', or does it mean you wouldn't use vouloir imperative at all with such a person (in which case, what would you say?)

I've found this lesson quite difficult! The first set of examples ("Look at ..."), and most of the rest, sound very odd in English, and it's only Gruff's answer from five years ago that makes it clear that the phrase or sentence would not normally stand alone. Could more (or all) of the examples be made to make this clear? Also, in the first couple of examples (where there is an introductory sentence), the English translation is "... must have ..." and everywhere else it's "... will have ...". I think that the 'must' is wrong, but it's at least confusing! Hoping to help ...

PS

I now see that a similar discussion about contextual examples has taken place and been acted upon in the companion lesson (on irregular participles).

Bonsoir,

I'd like to know if the lack of the "ne explétif" is considered a grammar mistake or if it is optional in writing in the cases where it's supposed to be used when the verb is in the negative form.

Thanks in advance.