French language Q&A Forum

For a change of pace I decided to use seulement instead of ne...que for the following sentence:

"J'ai eu deux chats." . Write "I had only two cats.": ________ deux chats. My answer J'ai au seulement deux chats... was marked wrong! I understand Chris' response to another use that the focus of the exercise in ne que..but in many of the tests (choose ALL the correct answers) they had both the 'seulement' version and the 'ne que' version as GOOD answers.
Unless my answer has an error which I am overlooking  ,or there is a point of grammar why seulement is unacceptable here,  I would like to suggest a revision of the test marking to accept seulement.
There may be sound reason why learning to use seulement is beneficial, even if 'ne que' is considered better in formal writing. Based on further reading, I have found that SEULEMENT ALSO can VARY IN PLACEMENT  ..to differently focus the restriction. Rules for seulement: Cannot be placed BEFORE the conjugated auxiliary/ does not have to be placed (unlike many adverbs) IMMEDIEATELY after the conjugated verb/can be placed just like the 'que' before the 'target word '  being restricted.
So it seems : I had ONLY two cats= je n'ai eu que deux chats OR J'ai eu seulement deux chats.

I ONLY had two cats == Je n'ai qu'eu deux chats or J'ai seulement eu deux chats.
As usual I stand ready to be corrected!

Especially the Robert Desnos poem, it’s so memorable.

I've noticed that 71 above has no hyphens: soixante et onze. So is it just the numbers 21,31,41,51,61 that do have hyphens? Or does 71 have hyphens just when there are higher numbers, e.g. 171?

Merci d'avance!

This is an area that I have found to be a bit confusing for me: Why is it "une tarte aux pommes; une tarte aux peches" but "une tarte/sorbet au citron" etc...? 

It is "un cafe au lait" but is it "une glace au cafe" for a coffee ice cream, (one of my favorites) ?

I know that I , for one, would really appreciate a lesson on these terms. 

And, then there are all the food terms which use "de"; "du"; "de la" and "des" !

Help!  

Par exemple - pouquoi est-ce qu'on dit "un sandwich au jambon" mais "un verre de vin" ?

May I suggest a lesson which addresses adjectives for foods and "la cuisine" ? After all France is known for its excellent cuisine!

I think it would be very helpful !

Merci a tous !

Bonjour ! J'apprécie vraiment tous l'information sur ce site. Cependant, j'ai remarqué que le discours indirect manque parmi les leçons. Sera-t-il ajouté bientôt ?

The English sentence, "...know that nearly 150 nudist beaches are dotted along the French coastline." uses dotted.  The translation uses 'jalonner'.  I was wondering if 'parsemer' could be used in this context.

Asked to translate, “ In the evening before a test “, I wrote, “La veille d’une épreuve” which was considered incorrect. The answer given was, “Le soir avant un exam”. Why was my answer wrong especially as “exam” does not feature in Harrap’s Shorter French And English Dictionary or Le Robert de poche. Test is translated as épreuve and examination is translated as examen. In a school context tests and examinations are different the former being of less importance.

Why is d’après being used for after I the sentence d’après le célèbre écrivain…. Instead of après……

Après - After 

D’après- According to

 How does d’après fit here?