French language Q&A Forum

If "J'ai failli rater mon examen" means I almost failed my exam, how would one say I almost missed my exam? Seems like there is some ambiguities in the word rater in this context. Thanks.

Thanks for your helpful and amazing website. I have a question, why would you use « langues de prestige » and not « langues de la prestige »? 

Just a couple of quick questions:

I wrote, " Ca se passait si souvent que..." and it was marked wrong. Can someone explain why this is not a correct use of "se passer" in this case? I understand the use of "arriver" and "se produire", but thought that "se passer" would work, too. Especially, as I am much more familiar with this expression.

I was going to write, "Ils m'ont toujours fait..." but instead tried using "rendre". Again, marked wrong, (but then I used the l'imparfait so maybe that was the reason?).  LaRousse gives as a definition for "rendre": "(suivi d'un adjectif) (faire devenir) = To make", with the example, "rendre quelqu'un fou". Again, an expression that I am familiar with; "rendre quelqu'un triste/content/heureuse, etc." 

Would "Ils m'ont toujours rendue sure est acceptee" be correct?  Or, do those adjectives need the use of "se sentir"?

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

Bonne Continuation !

The question I'm looking at says "Tu ne veux pas savoir ________ je pense de ton costume" and the correct answer indicated is "ce que." However, because it's "... _______ je pense DE" shouldn't it be "ce dont?" 

Similar examples would be:

"Tu sais ce dont je suis capable."

"C'est ce dont j'ai peur."

"Je ne sais pas à quoi tu penses." (This is 'penser à' instead of 'penser de')

What am I missing here?

This was the question: 

From a drop-down multiple choice, I answered that it meant "I have everything" but I wasn't sure that was correct because of the "les"

The correct answer was, "I have all of them," but couldn't that be written as, "J'en ai tous?" That's where I got confused.

For those interested (and who couldn't find the word "tramontagne" anywhere), here is a definition for a similarly spelled word that I found : "La tramontane est un vent violent, froid (en température ressentie) et sec en provenance du nord-ouest qui souffle contre les Pyrénées et au sud du Massif central, puis dans le Languedoc et le Roussillon. ... Le terme de « tramontane » vient du latin transmontanus qui signifie « au-delà des monts »". So it's similar to the Mistral wind (also mentioned in the same sentence in the exercise), with the Mistral being maybe a bit more localised and severe.

I have checked with 3 different dictionaries i.e. Le Robert de Poche, Harrap’s Shorter French and English dictionary and Wordreference online. Each one defines ski boot as “après-ski” as opposed to “botte de neige” . 

Which is the correct response?

I am perplexed with this particular example (repeatedly get it wrong on the tests). I believe I understand the concept, but in this instance could you explain why spelling of "ecrite"? Wouldn't the last "e" also have an accent aigu? For example (from the same lesson): J'ai rencontré les actrices que j'ai appréciées. Some examples have it, others do not. Though I've reviewed the lesson repeatedly, obviously something is going over my head!

Thank you. 

Valerie