French language Q&A Forum

Hello,

I came across this quiz: "Je regarde de belles collines." which confuses me a lot when choosing the answer. Because if taken out of the context of this specific lesson, I personally can't tell whether it's:

1. "I'm looking at some (des) beautiful hills"

2. "I'm looking from (de) these (les) beautiful hills " which I think also makes sense.

The answers available are: 

a) "I'm looking at beautiful hills." (correct answer)

b) "I'm watching from beautiful hills."

Can I ask why a) is correct and b) is not? Is it because "regarder de" doesn't mean "watching from"? If this is the case, what happens if it's another verb + de (in french) that means verb + from (in english)? Better yet, how can I actually say option b) in french?

I hope my question makes sense.

For the line “Chaque seconde, un hectare de forêt vierge mondiale est détruit” one lesson listed is passive voice. Is this really passive voice, or is “détruit” just an adjective in this case? I would be able to see more clearly the passive voice nature of, for example, “Every second, one hectare of forest was destroyed by foresters” or even “Every second, one hectare of forest was destroyed” (with an implied subject enacting the verb). However, I’m not getting the passive voice in the original line, perhaps because “is” rather than “was” is being used. Explanation welcome, as I do struggle with passive voice topics.

Passive voice

In the answers to "and equality also means freedom", it seems as if "l'égalité" and "la liberté" can be used in place of "égalité" and "liberté".

Does this mean that if you use "l'égailté" that you should also use "la liberté", or if you use "égalité" you should use "liberté"? Or is there some subtlety with the verb chosen that would require the use of an article?

S'est occupée is passé composé.  This is a single action completed in the past.  But the text describes an action over the years.  Why not s'occupait?

“À la maison blanche” refers to the White House, right ?

Pour "How I wished things were different" les réponses étaient "Comme j'aurais aimé que les choses soient différentes !" et "Qu'est-ce que j'aurais aimé qu'il en soit autrement !"   Je ne comprends pas qu'est-ce que dans ce contexte.  Pouvez-vous me donner d'autres exemples?   Merci.

I've read all the comments here and in the related links, several times.

It seems the rule be stated as, there's NO gender/number agreement of the participle when there is a direct object following the verb.

Ça vous dit ?

I find that in many of the lessons, the synonyms are often not taken as an alternative. For example "des fois" was not taken as correct for "sometimes". Another example, "cueillir" was marked wrong for "picking", and an alternative "ramasser" was suggested as a correct answer. I'd suggest to expand the choices of synonyms. 

Is there a spelling error in the following?

Après s'être rasé la tête, Carl se sentit mieux.

Carl se sentAIT mieux

John M

In my dictionary, the verb, sail, is translated as "naviguer" or "faire de la voile".   The latter, which I used in the first sentence, was accepted.  I believe that "faire de la voile" was not accepted in the second sentence nor in the last sentence of this exercise.  Is there a distinction that I am missing or is it just a question of the use of variation in this paragraph?