French language Q&A Forum

Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers

14,123 questions • 30,597 answers • 894,348 learners

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

D. L.B1Kwiziq community member

Seems odd....Nous venons juste d'apprendre la nouvelle. We've just heard the news..... I find it rather disconcerting and only slightly confusing, but often for me the structure and specific wording in french is left somewhat "open ended". This sentence is a perfect example. We have learned that Entendre is to hear and Apprendre is to learn, and yet here you see them used almost in error. If we are saying we have just learned of the news, we should state that and if we have just heard it then why not say that? Why use the word learned and say heard? Seems odd. Further, why include "just" in a sentence that already implies this meaning with the passé récent of Nous venons d'.... if we translate this sentence Without the word "just" as shown above.... what do we have? Nous venons d'apprendre la nouvelle... ? And we are going to use Heard in the translation, why not, Nous venons d'entendre la nouvelle? Lastly, why do we not use Les nouvelles for the news, i think technically La Nouvelle is the new?!? It seems we say a lot things we don't mean.... and mean a lot of things we don't say..... perhaps it's the same in English.... can someone offer me some sound logic in this regard? Nous venons d'entendre les nouvelles... We just heard the news....Thank you so much....

Asked 7 years ago

Like1Answer5

Catherine B.B2Kwiziq community member

Re glacials/glaciaux and finals/finaux Hi, Just to confirm that glacials/glaciaux and finals/finaux can be interchanged, with no rule as to when to use each one? Thanks, Catherine

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer6

harriet t.A1Kwiziq community member

Le Passé Composé + depuis longtemps= not long / not for longMaybe I've not understood this bit of the lesson, but shouldn't this say '= not in a long time' instead of '= not for long'?

Asked 7 years ago

Like0Answer4

sue c.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

brainmapmy brain map shows a white /gray triangle at the top of A2, But when I zoom in this shape is missing. How do I find out what it is and how do I read its content. thanks Sue

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer1

Kazuko S.C1Kwiziq community member

J'ai une question: A-t-elle joué avec son frère?

Shouldn't "joué" be "jouée," as the subject is elle?

Asked 8 years ago

Like0Answer5

steven l.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Alternative NumbersJust a fun fact for those who might not know - A lot of Swiss and Belgians will use septante (70), huitante (80) and nonante (90) to replace soixante-dix, quatre-vingts and quatre-vingt-dix

Asked 7 years ago

Like1Answer2

Mark S.C1Kwiziq community member

Le vase versus la vase

Why not include the meanings of "vase" as they change according to gender? La vase is mud, whereas le vase is a vase.

Asked 5 years ago

Like0Answer2

Johnny L.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

J'ai passéI'm so confused. Why is it "J'ai passé un an en Espagne" but "J'ai passé la journée avec Martin"? Why is one talking about the duration while the other is not?

Asked 8 years ago

Like2Answer4

H. H.A1Kwiziq community member

Why isn’t Brazil masculine, it’s a country, ends in a letter other than e, not mentioned as an exception....

Asked 6 years ago

Like0Answer1

Atul K.A2Kwiziq community member

pourquoi il n'est pas: Je viens d'Hong Kong?

Je viens d'Omaha.

mais

Je viens de Hong Kong.

pourquoi il n'est pas

Je viens d'Hong Kong?

Asked 6 years ago

Like0Answer6

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level