French language Q&A Forum

I have noticed that all the phrases use the pronouns, "le or la". As in:

"La fille dont le frere travaillait avec moi..."

"Francois, dont j'ai rencontre la femme..."

Is there any problem with saying the following for example?:

"La fille, dont son frere travaillait avec moi, a gagne le prix"

"La femme, dont son fils j'ai rencontre la semaine derniere..."

"Amelie, dont ses enfants sont venus chez nous, sont bien eleves"

ce gars parle trop vite!

Surely it is le mien? Please explain

why is 'épargner' wrong for 'economiser' - does it not mean 'to save' (as in money)?

I’ve always thought that in a negation the preposition ‘de’ is used, so in « I don’t waste water » I wrote « je ne gaspille pas d’eau » but this was corrected to « je ne gaspille pas l’eau ». My thought pattern was supported in « when I can’t cycle » - « quand je ne peux pas faire de vélo » (given that : to cycle = faire du vélo). Can this be explained ?

avoir des doutes -- > avoir plein de doutes                                                                                              C'est pas comment ça? 

This is a new expression for me for "giving a gift to someone". I know the expression, "faire quelque chose a quelqu'un" can be used in other ways such as "faire un calin a". 

Are there many other similar expressions and is there a lesson on this subject? 

Thank you for your help, as always.

Both of the sentences above are translated as "J'ai du le faire".

BUT the two formulations in English have not-very-subtle differences in meaning.

"I had to..."  implies "I was obligated to.."  or "I was forced to..."  - very definite!

"I must have..."  implies "I may have forgotten to ..."  -- quite indefinite!

How are these different flavors of meaning expressed en francais?

So helpful to practice like this. 

The hardest part to understand for me was the first phrase "Marie aime aller"!  It sounded like "Marie et Amelie". Now it's obvious that it does not sound like that at all :)