French language Q&A Forum

not d'autre but une autre ville.

Please explain

Could you help me find a reference to understanding the use of prepositions before infinitives (I understand prepositions after).

Also, I read the question as 'after months of wearing', but can à be used for the preposition 'of'?

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. 

The lesson says quelques can translate as "some" and I’d be interested to know the situation in which you’d use it rather than "des"?  Does it emphasise the quantity more? 

As I read this lesson, I see two directives: 1) with trouver one always needs "que" and 2) with trouver, sometimes you don't need "que". Please explain a deeper difference between the two usages presented.

Is there any difference between "il a fait exprès de casser ma poupée" and "il a cassé ma poupée exprès"?

I've only ever encountered the latter before, and it seems more straightforward to not have the extra verb floating around, but perhaps there's a subtle difference that I'm missing?

Quelle est la différence d'utilisation entre les magasins, les commerces et les boutiques ? Est-ce une question de taille, de spécialisation, etc. ?

I get that "magasin" is generally a retail outlet & "commerce" is more for small business, but I've seen them used interchangeably. In the States "boutique" is usually for high-end or very niche-oriented items, but that doesn't always seem to track en français.

When referring to a single person of unknown gender, is it correct to use le/la leur, or is that a situation where theirs should be translated as le sien/la sienne?

E.g Would "Someone has forgotten their wallet.  Don't take it!  It's theirs." translate to "Quelqu'un a oublié leur portefeuille.  Ne le prends pas!  C'est le leur."  ou "Quelqu'un a oublié son portefeuille.  Ne le prends pas!  C'est le sien." 

I would think that this would follow the rule of feminine place names getting en, but I keep hearing people say « dans la Nouvelle-Écosse » instead of « en Nouvelle-Écosse » like I would expect