French language Q&A Forum

If tu is informal and vous a more formal approach, wouldn't you use Comment vous vous appellez? when asking someone you don't know what their name is? In what situation would you use Comment tu t'appelle? Merci.

Hi, Ive just done the question 'What does Je lui parle mean? to which I answered I am speaking to him, and I am speaking to her (I ticked both boxes.) My answer was marked  nearly right but my understanding is that lui can refer to both him or her. Can you explain why it was marked this way please.

I agree with Carl. This was a challenging exercise. (I find the written exercises more difficult then the Dictees in general.)

My question: Why "Mes essuie-glaces arriere" and not "arrieres" ? Shouldn't arriere be plural?

Also: I wrote: "la pile de mon portable etait aussi vide", which I believe is an acceptable alternate translation. I am familiar with the use of "pile" for flashlight batteries or electric appliances, and the use of "etre vide" for a battery being dead.

I have never heard the expression, "le bas-cote". I wrote, "la cote de la route".

Thoughts anyone?

P.S. According to my husband, (who is a car buff) "a beater" is very common expression here in the U.S. As in, "my car is a real beater", ie. "my car is really beat up".

Wonderful cultural material.  Does "du coup" always mean "as a result" or "therefore"?  Does the expression have other meanings?  

Could a native speaker weigh in on the following dictionary examples that use "en" for people?

- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/en

>> Combien d’élèves y a-t-il dans ta classe ? – Il y en a trente. — How many pupils are there in your class? – There are 30.

- https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/en/28919

>> Tous les invités ne sont pas arrivés, il en manque deux. — All the guests haven't arrived yet, two are missing.