French language Q&A Forum

 I love the question and its  hint "How would you say ''I haven't been in France for long.'' ?(literally: I haven't long arrived to France.)

The answer: Je ne suis pas arrivé en France depuis longtemps.

Je ne me sens pas intelligent et j'ai l'air stupide comme ça depuis longtemps !!! I think i get it! I know I got it! OOOPS me no get it!!

The hint imposes a thought process on the reader which would not be there otherwise. Clever... it reinforces the understanding of the verb 'arriver' as a sort of process.... and shakes up the marbles in the old nuggin.

However!!!  My question. I arrived in France 'yesterday' and I am telling someone today that "I haven't been in France for long". I am thinking it calls for the Present indicative and depuis. Since i was in France as of yesterday(the past) and am still here today (the present).

Je ne suis pas en France depuis longtemps!!!

Without the hint and its imposition of the verb 'arriver' then doesn't this question change dramatically.

Help!!!!!!!

Is there anything wrong with «il commençait à lister tous les poissons» for translation of 'he started listing all the fish' or 'he started to list all the fish'? It seems a more direct translation and grammatically correct, (I think). 

I have seen that the verb retourner is used with "Y

Nous y retournons demain.

 We go back there tomorrow

"Il n'a pas pu retourner de la guerre.

He couldn't return from the war.

 Can I say

 il n'en a pas pu retourner 

He couldn't return from there

Does it work like that?

Laura Lawless' translation of this Anglo-Norman maxim ("Honi soit qui mal y pense") from about.com, cited on the relevant Wikipedia page, is, "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it" or, more usually, "Shame on anyone who thinks evil of it". 

How might one say in Anglo-Norman, "Shame on anyone who thinks no evil of it"? Add "ne" after "mal", perhaps?  

For the line « Il n'aime pas le vert » one of the reference lessons is to the use of colours as adjectives with changes in gender/number. However, in this sentence « vert » is a noun, and a more relevant reference would be to the use of (definite) articles with ne ... pas as linked here:

Du/de la/de l'/des all become de/d' in negative sentences (French Partitive Articles)

Are any of these alternative answers possible?

1. Je me souviens toujours de la première fois ... (In place of encore - I often have trouble with encore and toujours in this context of still, but in some cases I believe they can both be equally correct?)

2. Elle a passé la plupart de sa carrière ... (in place of la majorité or l’essentiel)

3. ... dont elle a souffert pendant toute sa vie (in place of ... don’t elle a souffert tout au long de sa vie)

Thanks

Did you recently overhaul the search functions? I think so, but maybe have just not been paying attention. Much better now anyway, especially for tracking down previous discussion on QandA forum.

The text uses the infinitive for "je passerai la soiree a parler ..." and the gerund for "Geraldine s'ennuiera en ecoutant ..." Why is the infinitive used in the first part of the sentence and the gerund used in the second part?

In the passage, "... où vous profiterez de paysages naturels magnifiques", how does one know if we are referring to one paysage or multiple paysages?  If I am in a castle, I think I would be looking at one paysage around the castle.