French language Q&A Forum

in this text it said 'I explained to her', which I would have thought was 'Je lui ai expliqué' but no.

so, when to use (for example)

j'avais expliqué 

j'expliquais 

what is the meaning of  "s'acharner sur/contre" in English? will you please give me some examples?

Is it the same as in sports where if you do it in general its faire but if you're doing it in the moment it's jouer?

...the exercise gives the translation of this sentence as 'We are astonished at his good marks' ...however, I don't see how you can tell the gender of the person with the good marks from this sentence...so surely the translation should be 'We are astonished at his/her good marks' ...? Unless you can tell the person described by the verb 'étonnons' ...but then I am sure this has no connection to the person being referred to in the sentence...

Look forward to your answer...

Pour etre riche, ____ beaucoup d'argent.  I put "il faut avoir" and it was wrong, "il faut" being correct.  Do we not use the infinitive here?  It doesn't seem right in either language.

This exercise uses "la batterie à plat elle aussi."  I don't uderstand the need for "elle."  What purpose does it serve?

I think this was the most difficult writing challenge I have ever completed.  Both the vocabulary and the grammar were extremely difficult.

Both of the sentences above are translated as "J'ai du le faire".

BUT the two formulations in English have not-very-subtle differences in meaning.

"I had to..."  implies "I was obligated to.."  or "I was forced to..."  - very definite!

"I must have..."  implies "I may have forgotten to ..."  -- quite indefinite!

How are these different flavors of meaning expressed en francais?

I am unclear why in the test question - Chacun a  .... faute, the correct answer is "son". Faute is a feminine noun so why isn't "sa" correct?