French language Q&A Forum

Bonjour Madame Aurélie,

While doing a test named “Conte de fées” I landed up at a mysterious sentence -

Le père était àgé et sortirait rarement de son lit, alors sa fille devait s’occuper du jardin et des animaux.

Here I would like to ask you why a dû was marked incorrect although the English translation specifies ‘so his daughter had to take care of the garden .....’ . I read your lesson which states that one uses Passé Composé for an obligation that was very well met. And here too is the same case.

The link to the test -

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/my-languages/french/tests/take/2581800

Please help me to figure out the correct option as I am not very clear with this concept.

Merci d’avance ! 

Bonne journée!

In the example, for actions already done, using the infinitive Passé:  "C'était très difficile, merci de m'avoir aidée."  It appears the usage demands an agreement (if the speaker in the case was female.)  Would it always be the case that agreement should be made?  

Hi Chris, But the English translation above says: These doctors see patients from eight to five.

That does not sound like they are seeing specific patients to me. It sounds like this is the timeframe in which they see any patients. What am I missing?

I am bring this up because I am desperately trying to find a site where I can check my written French.  One I recently discovered https://bonpatron.com/  seemed promising at first.  

In a quiz question here on the lesson topic above, multiple choice, my answer was marked wrong:

#1 Nous sommes entrés sans que vous ne nous entendez. (wrong, and I now see why)

The correct answer was:

#2 Nous sommes entrés sans que vous nous entendiez.

I can understand why my answer is wrong, based on the lesson.  

I checked out all four sentences at Bon Patron including the last two

#3  Nous sommes entrés sans vous nous entendre.

#4 Nous sommes entrés sans vous nous entendiez.

For all four sentences, I was given a grammar score of 100% on Bon Patron.  

So I am thinking that Bon Patron is not at all helpful, unless there is some really obscure reason that the three wrong answers here might be acceptable under some obscure circumstance, which I doubt.

Writing in French (to express my own thoughts) is a real challenge for me.  At some point I have to go beyond set quizzes (and in no way is this meant as a criticism of Kwiziq) and use what I've learned here, so, for example, I can write correct French to French friend in France.

Anyone have any helpful ideas for me? 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, if you do !

Why “Il ne faut pas confondre” as opposed to “Il faut ne pas confondre”?

"mais leur magie demeure avec le spectateur"

--> why cant the verb "rester" be used?

Like everyone else, I find this lesson very confusing, and I think it is because it's using a very poor example of when to use articles. I believe the translation is incorrect. 

Je n'aime ni le fromage ni le lait.
I like neither cheese nor milk.

If this example is talking about specific cheese and specific milk, then the English translation should be, "I like neither the cheese nor the milk." But that is not what you have here. The translation you give is general, not specific. It really makes the whole lesson contradictory and confusing.