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13,686 questions • 29,334 answers • 834,056 learners
Thinking...
Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers
13,686 questions • 29,334 answers • 834,056 learners
In the summary translation at the end of the exercise, you propose 'elle ne cachait plus sa bouche' as opposed to 'la' bouche previously in Kwizbot's answer. Is this difference sometimes a matter of personal preference?
Merci Aurelie.
Miam ! Everything looks so good. I can't decide what to have!
I learned a new use of the word: "choux", from your definition of Profiteroles: (re: choux filled with ice cream). I was a little confused at first knowing that "choux" means "cabbage" in French, but I had never heard the term used in American English.
However, according to Collin's English dictionary, it is a noun in Bristish English meaning:
"a very light pastry made with eggs, used for eclairs, etc"Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Word
"origin: partial translation of French pâte choux cabbage dough (from its round shape)"
Merci et Bon Apetit !
In this story, the writer is still waiting the response from the interviewers, thus I would assume he is still working. Hence shouldn't we use Je travaille tellement dur depuis quelques années ? I assume he is still working hard.... :)
It seems that while it's technically correct to use indicative with "apres que", most people in France use the subjunctive in daily practice, and actually find it weird if you use the indicative. The practice is so common that it is becoming a defacto standard (e.g see https://www.francaisavecpierre.com/apres-que-subjonctif-ou-indicatif/). As I know Lawless is a strict grammarian, I will use the indicative and correct French speakers when they use the subjunctive (I also guess that I will soon be thrown out of France by a horde of angry French people :-) )
"Il avait même fallu que les autorités démentissent le canular". According to a conjugation guide I use, this sentence appears to use "démentir" in the subjunctif imparfait, which I think is rarely used today in French. Would it be better as "que les autorités démentent" (present subjunctive)? Or maybe "aient démenti" if a subjunctive in the past tense is needed here?
Unfortunately, my attempts at working my way through this exercise meant that I was trying to walk before I could crawl. I wrote it out carefully, leaving spaces between the French lines, with the aim of filling these with what I thought would be a fairly accurate sound of what I was listening to; so at the beginning "Au cœur du Massif des Maures, c'est autour de ce monastère que les religieux ont planté les premiers châtaigniers au XIIe siècle" would have above each word " oh cur dew mahseef da mawrs, say ohtour da suh monahstair releezhee-eur awn plontay lay prermeeai chattenya see-ecla".
I hesitate to think of what the readers of the above may think, but after I read a sentence with my own idea of what I considered the fairly accurate sound of the written French, I erased my efforts, and found that my own attempts tended to stick to the sounds of the written words. That said, I have found that even by trying to understand the words I can see, they go past at a speed which just doesn't relate at all to any sense of those sounds. The unnamed lady who begins this story spoke at a speed which allowed me to understand, but monsieur Autric spoke so quickly that the words seem to leave not the slightest gap between them, and the words appeared to blend one another into seamless sentences - not a criticism from me, but with my untuned ears. Whatever the case the several hours I listened to while watching the French words before me just didn't work. An example of this comes later in the story, ",,,,,,puisque tout est récoltés sur quelques semaines et dans la foulée, ....." which my ears think sound like this: "suhsooteleecoltiersuhkeltismenudahnlahfleeair". (suh sounds like the a in "a book".) II would welcome any comments on the above, and meanwhile I think I'll keep to the AI listening practice exercises.
Clive M
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