French language Q&A Forum

Why is there a "DE" here? Is the expression "fait de qch"?

Can anyone explain what the difference between the passe compose and past perfect forms of devoir are? google translate shows them as being the same thing:

J'ai dû faire quelque chose     -> I had to do something

J'avais dû faire quelque chose  -> I had to do something

Similarly what is the difference between the future and conditional forms:

j'aurai dû faire quelque chose  -> I should have done something

j'aurais dû faire quelque chose -> I should have done something

Thanks!

Regarding the expression "sont servis", used in "Les plats froids sont servis avec une salade":

I don't understand this conjugation. Is this a reflexive form of the verb servir? Or is it just how menus are written?

Hello everyone. I was taking a quiz in which I respond like this "nous nous sommes brossés les chevaux" but the site says that it is nearly correct and this version is correct " nous nous sommes brossé les chevaux". And it made me curious because the subject is plural and there is a  reflexive verb!!!! Anyone could explain this contradiction?

Thanks 

I kept getting corrected for using a capital letter after the "-" at the start of a line of dialogue. But it was frustratingly inconsistent—later I would get corrected for not using one. And the final text is displayed with capital letters in all cases. What's going on/what's the rule?

Could I chose freely which one to use or there are some circumstance need to be consider? 

Why is ‘en avance’ preferred over ‘à l’avance’ in the sentence ‘Heureusement qu'on n'avait pas acheté les places en avance !´ I am thinking of the exercise about the catacombs visit where ´Cédric had even called them beforehand´ is translated ´Cédric les a même appelés à l’avance - which is surely the same idea?

Please Kwiziq do not be like Duolingo and be inflexible with the words allowed/considered correct. Faire de la soupe et préparer de la soupe are synonymous and both should be correct.