French language Q&A Forum

Really? No native English speaker would ever say this. One might say "After I did my homework, I went for a walk" but that doesn't mean what I think the question writer is after.

Having had to do something is a state of being, not something after which one takes a walk. Consider a work around to what is said: "After being in a position where I was required to do my homework, I took a walk." Weird, awkward, unidiomatic, and just strange. If this question was written by a native English speaker, it was surely in pursuit of teaching the plupurfect of devoir, which I never hear in conversation. It is something taught but in my experience never used and really never needed. Apparently, whatever exists on the conjugation chart has to be worked into a question....

When I took French in 60s, the pluperfect of devoir was translated as "must have", but I only hear the passe compose in cases where the pluperfect might have worked. Again, I never hear this said and rarely written.

Anyway you look at it, devoir in the past is a condition - not something that happens before something else happens.  So no more is needed than the passe compose IMO.....

If talking about an electric car (fem) why wouldn't I say : c'est moins bruyantE? Correction says bruyant.

I have encountered this acronym a few times in the Q&A Forums, for example: 'Only if the COD appears before the past participle ...'  I have also searched the wonderful KWIZIQ site without success.  Can someone tell me what COD means?

 "X loves his mum". aime is right and aime beaucoup isn't. Why? Your explanation doesn't make a distinction. How the hell is aime beaucoup wrong?"

Bonjour,

I was working  on the partitive  articles and was wondering  if these sentences that I did myself are correct?

Je  veux  du  lait

J'ai  des  bijoux 

Thanks

Nicole

Salut,

For the sentence "et les jeudi et vendredi, j'avais mes cours de danse moderne," my "et" is being red-lined and replaced with the English "and" in blue. Not sure if others are experiencing the same problem. Kinda threw me for a loop. Haha. 

Aaron

I have just answered the question below incorrectly. My understanding was that the second part of the statement was conditional present but your answer below shows (I think) the imparfait of venir? What am I not getting? 

Vous pourrez également explorer la diversité culturelle des pays francophones en assistant notamment à nos rencontres littéraires, et en discuter les enjeux lors de nos conférences et débats d'idées. 

In this sentence, I'm thinking that in English, there would be parallel construction between "en assistant" and "en discuter." We would say "in attending" and "discussing," but I'm noticing that in French, "discuter" is the infinitive form of the verb rather than the gerund (as in "assistant"). Are the verb forms that were chosen in French optional? And in French, is the lack of parallel construction perfectly acceptable? Could this sentence have also used:

 both "en assistant" and "en discutant"  as the verb forms

OR both "en assister" and "en discuter?"

Thanks for your thoughts on this!

Elsewhere on the site, there is an example sentence: Ils sucent encore leur pouce. They're still sucking their thumbs.  Why doesn't leur pouce become le/la/les pouce(s)?

Hi, could you say a few words about “qui que ce soit”. Is this a special construction of some kind?