French language Q&A Forum

According to Wordreference, they recommend the word, ombrelle, for the umbrellas found in cocktails.  Should this word be accepted?

This phrasing is not how a native English speaker would say this. I think “ Nantes was France’s best city for cycling” would be clearer. As is, it sounds like the city rides bikes.

What is the difference between devoir in Le Conditionnel Passé and L'imparfait?

For example: Where do these two questions differ?

1. Tu devais fermer la porte à clé.

2. Tu aurais dû fermer la porte à clé.

And please don't simply translate them into English. Paraphrase would be better for me to understand. S'il vous plaît !

Is this brand name white out?

Ne serait-il pas plus intéressant de se concentrer chaque semaine sur une région ou une ville française ? Cela inviterait également les apprenants à tirer le meilleur parti de leur expérience de voyage en France.

Sorry, it’s late and I’m trying to get my head around the sentence structure: does it mean -  "The cows, whose babies the farmers feed, rest etc?"

 Is it unusual for "dont" to refer to the distant object of the subordinate clause like this? (Apologies if this is a spoiler for the micro kwiz just above!)

In the lesson on the passé composé of vouloir it says:

Does the same apply to the Plus-que-Parfait?

In English I think I'd be more likely to vocalise 2+2 = 4 as "two plus two is four" than either "equals" or "makes".  Would saying "deux plus deux est quatre" sound odd in French?

Why do we use j'ai toujours eu for "I have always had"?  My understanding is the passe' compose' of avoir implies "I got" more than "I had".  If we want to say "I had" we should use j'avais.