French language Q&A Forum

If pendant is used to describe past durations with a clear beginning and end, and the imperfect is used to describe continuing actions or habits in the past, why is the example "J'étais là pendant quarante-cinq minutes" instead of "J'ai été là pendant quarante-cinq minutes" since the passé composé is used to describe actions with a clear beginning & end in the past. 

Is there a rule exception for using pendant and l'imparfait?

This isn't the first time in a dictation where a word appears in the text, but isn't in the spoken section. In this specific case, "que" is absent in the spoken portion of the phrase "on s'est vus jeudi avant que vous ne partiez." It (que) is used 8 times in this exercise, and clearly articulated 7 times, (minus the portion mentioned). Is this an error? Or a natural omission for advanced french speaker? Perhaps something to add in another lesson?

What is the difference between these three verbs? As far as I can understand, they all mean to dress.

I understand that de + les = des, but is it more natural to use 'des' here, even though the 'les' is part of the title "Les Misérables"? The alternative correct answer was given as 'la petite fille dans "Les Misérables", which seems to preserve the title of the book.

I recently read that someone (who is a native speaker and well-informed on grammar and usage) said that it is incorrect to say 'en arrivant à la maison' -- that is is 'en arrivant dans la maison'. While confirming that 'en arrivant au restaurant, ...au musée, ...au théâtre' etc. is correct, they claim that when saying 'arriving at home' the preposition 'dans' must be used. Can someone tell me if this is true, and if it is if it's just "because that's the way it is" or if there's some grammatical explanation? Thank you very much for your help!

Qu’en est-il de Julien et Sophie?

I don’t understand the structure of this question. I imagine there is an idiom I haven’t seen before. What is en replacing?  What is il referring to? 

Thanks.

What is the difference between navire and bateau?

Do non-reflexive verbs used in the past tense with a reflexive pronoun use être or avoir?

For example, if the above sentence "Les deux chiens se fixèrent avec méfiance" is put in the past tense, do we use être with the verb "fixer" (-->"Les deux chiens se sont fixées avec méfiance")?

Or, am I asking the wrong question? In other words, in French perhaps there is no such thing as verbs that are "non-reflexive." Instead, is it that case that any verb used with a reflexive pronoun automatically becomes a reflexive verb, which means the rule regarding use of être in forming the past tense applies?