French language Q&A Forum

 Hi Dear kwiziqians,

The below English texts have below them their translations, which have two "fonts" : Italic and Bold.

Would you mind telling me which translations are correct between the italic and bold translations?

Why You Feel So Stressed Out After a Vacation

La raison pour laquelle vous vous sentez si stressé après des vacances or Pourquoi vous vous sentez si stressé après des vacances ( I don't think that this is normal because "pourquoi" is used only for only questions, not affirmative sentences)

It’s normal to experience some degree of stress or disorientation when you’re coming down from the high of vacation.

Il est normal de vivre un certain degré de stress ou de désorientation lorsque vous descendez or revenez du sommet des vacances.

Is "sommet des vacances" =  the high of vacation?

But the problem isn’t taking vacation in the first place — it’s your approach to it.

Mais le problème n’est pas de prendre des vacances en premier lieu or d'abord : c’est votre conception des vacances.

For this one, there is an external intervention. The "and" which is within brackets is not in the original speech. Can I do that in French?

"The return to the faster pace of life, the work that has piled up, the responsibilities, and the backlog of ‘to-dos’ often creates a sense of anxiety, dread, [and] even sadness that can cancel out the very benefits of the vacation a person has just taken," he said.

« Le retour à un rythme de vie plus rapide, le travail qui s’est accumulé, les responsabilités et l’arriéré de « tâches à faire » créent souvent un sentiment d’anxiété, de crainte [et] même de tristesse qui peut annuler les avantages mêmes des vacances qu’une personne vient de prendre », a-t-il dit.

In this lesson one of the questions was "Marie a manqué l'école ". I would have answered this with "Marie (has) missed school." Of course this answer wasn't available and the right answer was "Marie didn't go to school." Wouldn't this be easier to understand if written like " Marie n'est pas alleé à école ?" or are all similar events ( not going/doing somewhere/something) expressed by  "Manquer de ?" Thanks,  Heather.

Pourquoi les mots "jeudi et vendredi" sont-ils pluriels alors que les autres jours sont singuliers (le lundi, le mardi, le mercredi)?  All of the activities seems to be habitual ones that occur on that day of the week -- even the ones on Thursdays and Friday

What role does the '-t-' play here?

"You would go there" is translated as "Tu irais la-bas..." above. Could it also be: "Tu y irais?

what does this have to do with the way you pronounce the words in french? wouldn't you just say them the way you would in English

Une maison  à vendre.  

des travaux à faire,

There seems to be a bit of discrepancy in the lessons, the exercises, and a response to a question in the discussions.

a)First the response in the discussion... where  Ainsi que  starts the sentence, it seems to make the verb straight forward.

Ainsi que l'italien et l'espagnol, le Français dérive du latin. Very unambiguous that the 'the french'  is the singular subject of the verb dériver.

b)The answers to the 'test recommended' provided me.

 Les Etats-Unis, ainsi que  l'Angleterre, sont un pays anglophone. Here the verb is 'plural BECAUSE  the subject is  The United States, but the associate nouns and adjectives are singular because it is ONE  COUNTRY.  Ok so far I think.

c) But in the discussion.

Le français ainsi que l'italien dérivent du latin ( French and Italian) hence a plural verb.

vs

"L'Angleterre, ainsi que la France, a combattu l'Allemagne en 1914." in the lesson.

 Shouldn't the verb be 'ont combattu' . And if so maybe a short comment re the  gender and plurality of the verb be added to the lesson.