Faire a + infinitive"Ce soir, je fais à dîner." When I first read this example, I read the word, "diner" as a noun, (As in "Ce soir je fais le diner").
But after reading through the questions and seeing the example, "Je fais a manger", I suspect that it is really the infinitve form of the verb, "diner" = "to eat dinner".
This is a new expression for me. Am I understanding correctly that one can say, for example:
"Je fais a coudre" = I am sewing.
"Il fait a dessiner" = He is drawing.
"Nous faisons a dejeuner" = We are making lunch.
"Les enfants font a nettoyer leur chambre" = The children are cleaning up their room"
-?
And, I suspect that this expression would only be used when there is a concrete or tangible result of the action, ie."Vous faites a nager" might not work.
Thanks in advance for any explanation.
Is there a lesson on this? If not, it might be helpful to add one.
I do understand the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs, but for this English speaker there seems to a real difference between "tu as descendu le cadeau" or "j’ai descendu les boîtes" versus "j’ai descendu les escaliers". You don’t "do" anything (like carrying it down or getting it down) to the staircase/ladder/beanstalk! I’m not sure if the French view the two situations identically or whether it’s just idiomatic to descend something with steps or rungs using the transitive form ?
My petit quiz question was Nous mettrons la table ... which was translated as "We'll lay the table ..." In the US, we use "set" not "lay," the latter having an uncomfortable connotation!
"Ce soir, je fais à dîner." When I first read this example, I read the word, "diner" as a noun, (As in "Ce soir je fais le diner").
But after reading through the questions and seeing the example, "Je fais a manger", I suspect that it is really the infinitve form of the verb, "diner" = "to eat dinner".
This is a new expression for me. Am I understanding correctly that one can say, for example:
"Je fais a coudre" = I am sewing.
"Il fait a dessiner" = He is drawing.
"Nous faisons a dejeuner" = We are making lunch.
"Les enfants font a nettoyer leur chambre" = The children are cleaning up their room"
-?
And, I suspect that this expression would only be used when there is a concrete or tangible result of the action, ie."Vous faites a nager" might not work.
Thanks in advance for any explanation.
Is there a lesson on this? If not, it might be helpful to add one.
Can you also ask this "Tu t'es levé à cinq heures ?"
In two places in this exercise the adjective precedes the noun. I don't understand why. Can someone explain? The situations were "L'imposant animal" and "riches plantations." Thanks.
The model text uses "ont fait transféré"—should that not be "ont fait transférer"? (As another thing, I don't think "saisi" should be translated into English as "seized" in this context: more like "informed" or "apprised".)
In the short video, the examples of a "le haricot" as an aspirated "H" and "l'hotel" as a silent "H" are given. I really cannot hear a difference. It seems to me that "Haricot" is pronounced as "aricot" without an unaspirated "H". The same for "La hache". At least, they are not pronounced as we pronounce an "H" in the English "Help" for example. So, that's what I am asking for, some "Help".
The first 2 answers in the multiple choice list are the same so I chose both and got one wrong. What happened?
In The sentence " la père de Caroline ne travaille pas dans une banque". Why doesn't 'UNE' in this sentence change to 'de' and stay as Une in -ve form
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