French language Q&A Forum

The exercise gives " c'était la boulangerie de Madame Poitier." I tried "Il était...." because we're discussing a specific building. (The grammar lesson on c'est & il/elle est suggests using "il/elle" for specific things). Is there some wriggle room on this one or was I just plain wrong?

Are the words chosen in the text above the best way to express the thoughts? because they don't necessarily match the "best" response in the exercises.

This sentence is from a B1 reading exercise about French cooking. Here, propre is translated as " specific". So, is this an alternative meaning to 'clean'?

Why 'du' in 'la demeur du Capitaine Haddock' instead of 'de' as in fan de Tintin and Château de Cheverny?  In general, when I interpret something as possessive, for example Tintin's fan or Cheverny's castle, I use 'de'.  So, I am puzzled about the use of 'du' for Captain Haddock's house.  I get this wrong a lot, so if you can point me to a grammar lesson or give me some guidance, I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks, in advance.

In this phrase from the solution to "Un voyage de rêve", the word "nous" presumably refers to a father, mother and children. So why the final "e" in "envoûtées"? I'd use "envoûtés" here.

idioms  confound me ... "on the edge" of town is different than of a cliff ... what is the idiom for "on the edge of my seat" or almost being driven crazy  as saying "he's really on edge" ? maybe an "edgy" lesson?

Well i bounced the question of prof / professeur off my neighbour's kids who are at secondary / high school, and to a person they replied prof or professeur. They regard "instituteur / institutrice" as a primary school teacher, and " l'enseignant(e)" as a general word for those in the teaching profession, although if it's at university level "professeur" is the norm. They should know and i'm not going to argue with them. And anyway, the prompts were clear and specific just as Cécile said so i can't see what the issue is ??

Hi.  The lesson is correct but fails to really make the point that the construct "manque à" should not be used with indirect objects.  There are numerous online aides that will accept (or even suggest) "manque à lui", so trying to get clarity by searching the web does not help (in fact it hurts).  Please make the lesson clearer by including a negative example, such as "Note that ... manque à lui ... is not correct usage.  Indirect objects come before the verb.  Nouns may come after the verb using the construct "manque à".  I had to work way too hard to finally understand the rules.  The lesson is correct but does not explicitly exclude using the indirect object after the verb.

Why sometimes in passé composé the conjugated verbs in plural end with '' s '' and sometimes don't end with an '' s ''. 

Ex: '' Elles sont devenues méchantes à cause de toi.'' 

Ex: '' Ils ont vendu (vendre) des croissants dans la rue.'' 

When to put an '' s ''? 

Thanks in advance :)