French language Q&A Forum

1. Can I use "empirer" instead of exacerber or aggraver in the sentence "ce qui ne faisant qu'exacerber les problèmes ..."? 

2. Why do we use faire ... instead of the word itself? 

Contrary to previous comments below in response to Dragana and Danica - this line can indeed translate as I am looking forward to the 31st (ie New Year's Eve in this case), which fits exactly the context of this story. It is not the expression "d'étre sur son 31" which would translate as  '(to be) dressed up to the nines'

Sometimes the English translation is not even close to what the French should be. Could you possibly give us the basic expression and then we can make the necessary changes? It is very frustrating and disheartening to spend so much time looking up vocabulary and invariably choosing the wrong word/expression. For example in this exercise," Do you ever hear  from Tatiana?" Looks pretty easy! If you could give the basic "ça + pronoun+arrive de+ infinitive", we might have a much better chance of getting it right and actually using it again. I have a pretty good understanding of French grammar but I am having a hard time with these writing exercises because I don't know the idiom or the expression. It would be more useful if you could list the most important vocab in French in the writing exercise ! Many times the explanations that accompany the exercise don't apply because the problem was not the grammar but the idiom or the expression used. Just a suggestion! I have really improved so much using this site. I do appreciate all your hard work. It is the best site on the Internet.

I used énorme for huge and it got the redline with only 'immense' indicated as correct: a response here from Cécile some time ago stated she used 'énorme' when running through the exercise also. 

I frequently come across responses where it would seem either ensuite or puis can be used, but mostly only one is accepted, and I always seem to choose the "unaccepted" word ! (That is why my gambling is limited) Again, a previous response from Cécile in another exercise indicated they are essentially interchangeable, as Larousse also indicates.  

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/questions/view/what-is-the-difference-between-ensuite-and-puis

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/puis/65014

Can both énorme and ensuite be added ?

Bonjour ! One of the A2 level exercises asks which would be the correct beginning for the phrase « [X] a changé entre nous ? » and I'm having a hard time figuring out why the only acceptable answer here is the one with the full « qui ». I thought in front of the vowels we were supposed to make an elision in order to ease the pronunciation. Could you please help? Merci !

Hello,

So what I'm getting here is use only Est- ce que when you have a yes or no question instead of inverted form?

Thanks

Nicole

 Il désire retourner A LYON.  ….a)  Il y désire retourner OR  b) Il désire y retourner.         Generally the pronoun precedes the infinitive, but at the same time we are told it should precede the verb it modifies. Could you please explain whether a) or b) is correct and why?

Dear Aurelie,

In the sentence: Ma mere me    .....ce que  je m'endorme. 

Why is it not "que je me suis endormi " here?

Thanks

While I understand that the phrase: “Où mets-je mes chaussures d'habitude ?” is technically correct for the exersise,   I am having a hard time mentally processing when I would ever use first-person inversion.  To me, it sounds incredibly snooty and stuck up and something I would never want to suggest that I am. 

Is there a situation I would be inclined to use the first person inversion for asking a question, and why?

In the exercise, I completed the sentence "How come you speak French? with "Comment ça se fait que tu parles français?" The answer was marked incorrect - your corrected answer being "Comment se fait que tu parles français?" I didn't see "Comment se fait que" as a choice in the notebook explanation of How come? - although "Comment se fait-il que" was also an option when How come? is followed by a conjugated verb. Please explain. Merci!