French language Q&A Forum

Hi, in “les enfants sont bel et bien notre avenir” is “bel et bien” an invariable expression? And is that why we don’t have “les enfants sont beaux et bien” instead?

Hi 

I am looking for a lesson which explains how in reflexive verbs in passe compose the past participle does not agree in gender and number with the subject if the object is indirect. 

What is the difference between "il semble que" and "il paraît que" in terms of usage?

Why does visite sometimes have an acute accent on the end, other times it doesn't? 

The text begins with present tense, but then why is it l'imparfait, when they are discussing menu. I didn't understand the reason behind it. 

What's the origin of se recueillir as a verb for "to meditate"? It seems so different than the verb recueillir meaning "to note" or "to collect". If one wants to say one is practicing meditation should one use se recueillir or méditer ?

En avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil

Til April's dead, don't remove a thread (of your clothing)

In the exercise "The Town of Gruyères", the translation of "Before we even entered the picturesque village," is given as "Avant même que nous entrions dans le bourg/village pittoresque,". I think it should be 'nous sommes entrés dans ...'. What am I getting wrong there? Also, I'm aking my self, does an optional 'ne explétif' go before 'entrions'?