French language Q&A Forum

How do you know when to use égale vs égal?

Hello, I was doing the writing exercise, Catherine Ségurane: a local heroine, I came across this sentence: 

If you look behind me, on the ancient wall of the city,

I put ancien after mur but the correct answer is: 

Si vous regardez derrière moi, sur l'ancien mur de la cité

And no, there was no hint about that. I really don't understand why we use ancien before the noun in that case. 

why is:  You had your curtains changed, translated as "Tu as fait changer tes rideaux."

I understood that "had" uses the plus-que-parfait?

The English states "... neither head nor tail".  If one translates this to  "...ni tête ni queue", it is not accepted.  Instead "ni queue ni tête" is the only accepted translation, which seems to be an error.  Do you agree?

I understand that the partative article is used for uncountable amounts. e.g. 'je mange des pâtes'. It is clear that pasta is never going to be counted, so it makes sense it would be partative des.

However if i say 'je mange des carottes', I could mean a big plate of chopped up carrots which are uncountable, which would be partative des. 

Or I could mean I am eating 3 whole carrots which are definitely countable. So would this be indefinite des?

Is it the context that would define which article is used? 

Vous avez utilisé cinq points d'exclamation dans cette dictée!

Plural subject (nous), a single (non-paired) body part for each person: why the singular for the body parts (la tête) and not plural? "Nous nous grattons la tête"

Il y a un point derrière "Mme" ? Je pense que non. In your examples I believe you have it correct, but in the sample questions you have a period after "Mme".