Par Habitude

Question

I always learn so much with these Weekend Workouts; thanks for providing a way to practice as we learn.

Is it possible to provide the translations or at least a common source to look up the words and phrases suggested ahead of the Writing Challenges? I have often chosen different words and phrases than are used in the later given context.

Also, more specifically to this exercise, aren't we to use Le Présent when stating situations that are habitual? Here the Passé Composé is chosen for "Nous avons joué aux cartes, comme d'habitude ...," so I misunderstood something.

Merci !
Isabelle

Accepted Answer

Hi Isabelle, 
Thank you very much for your kind comment about our exercises and we are glad you are finding them useful.
I have been discussing with Aurélie the possibility of having a final translation at the end of 'dictées' which students have said would be useful but it is no mean task as there are about 200 'dictées' in the system!
In the case of 'writing exercises', we do try to include all the major French possibilities for the English given but of course, it would be impossible to have them all. Please feel free to ask if yours is acceptable. 
On your grammar point, this story is in the past so we have to use the passé composé -
but if you said -
Quand je rends visite à mon grand-père on joue aux cartes ensemble, d'habitude = When I visit my grand-father, we normally play cards together
That would be a case when the present tense would be used.
Bonne Continuation!

Answer

@Cécile: I think Isabelle is asking about giving the required French vocabulary ahead of the exercise. It would be a nice touch, since quite a few students are put off having chosen the wrong word from some dictionary. You do provide the English list to be looked up by the student in advance. Why not give the translation used in the exercise along with it?