French language Q&A Forum

The English text 'she lay daydreaming for hours' is translated 'elle restait allongée à rêvasser pendant des heures'.

Does this use of an 'à + infinitive' construction imply some element of purpose (she lay down to daydream) or can it really be used simply to imply simultaneous activity? For example, could you say 'je fait le repassage à écouter la radio...'?

is the correct answer. What is wrong with 'Sont-elles cassees, mes lunettes?' C'est la meme chose, non?

ive obviously missed something, but why do we need les here when tous means all (ofthem)?

Personally, I think "quelques chevaux" is perfectly alright to say, whereas  "un couple de chevaux" might be a little closer to "a pair of horses"?

But certainly, "quelques chevaux" is not wrong?  Maybe using "couple" here is English creeping into the language? or even French Canadian? 

Also "clôture" could be used instead of "barrière".  I hear people saying "J'ai hâte de (faire ceci et cela)" all the time, in the sense "I am excited" (to do something),  but  I think one has be to be really careful and really sure of oneself before attempting "je suis excitée". And sure, maybe you could say a child or a dog is "surexcité" but would you say the L'homme est surexcité? Haha, not so sure about that! 

I have found a number of diving sites that use < plongée libre >, as well as < plongée en apnée >. Decathlon uses both in its advertising, and Collins also translates 'free-diving' to < plongée libre >.

And for snorkelling - Larousse gives < faire de la plongée avec un tuba >, which seems to be about the only expression that gets the red line. (A mask is not essential equipment for snorkelling)

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/anglais-francais/snorkelling/612936

Bonjour!

When to use être à vs the possessive pronouns? Spoken vs written or are they just interchangeable?

Merci :) 

I just knew the word défi. And I would imagine the word comes from défiance. Is there any difference between these two words? Thank you.

My understanding was that "Du" is a contraction of "de le". Why do we use "du" but not the equivalent "de la"?

Thanks!