French language Q&A Forum

For this Kwiziq question I put: Katie appelle Sonia au cas où elle aurait du retard

It was marked wrong, but I think that should also be accepted? avoir du retard = to be late

Nick

p.s. is it less common to use avoir du retard than être en retard?

Hi can you please explain the usage difference between the two? A challenge in sports vs intellectual. Someone likes a challenge …. To challenger yourself not necessarily physically. Are these verbs interchangeable as synonyms? Is one more common than the other? 

Two questions: 1) Why Elle aime écouter DE la musique, but J’adore regarder la télé (no de)? My French textbook, Les verbes et leurs prépositions, does not seem to make this distinction, but does not give an identical example. I also found a source that states that  Écouter la télé and Regarder la télé can be used interchangeably, suggesting the verb isn’t the issue, but to me the nouns are similarly indefinite. 2) In the negative, would it be Elle n’aime pas écouter de musique? Thanks in advance.

Selon Reverso, les textes français utilisent les deux. Mais est-ce que tous les deux sont corrects ?

In the explanation of this lesson page, there is a N/B: 

ATTENTION: you cannot use preposition + quoi, either for living or non-living things. Only the options above are correct in French. 

However, I have found a sentence «C'est ce à quoi je pensais» - is this not an example of 'preposition + quoi' ?

Is this correct for a female white horse: Le cheval blanc?

I have listened to this portion perhaps ten times and it seems he is saying "il vit faut qu'on".  Is there some emphasis that my ear is not used to?

How would you rank the above-mentioned 5 alternatives in order to ask someone politely to do something?

For example:

1. Veuillez laisser un message.

2. Laissez un message.

3. Laisser/ez un message, s'il vous plaît.

4. Merci de laisser un message.

5. Nous vous invitons à laisser un message.

I feel that this is an ambiguous statement and could be passé composé (as the act of transition) or l'imparfait (as a state of being).  As in "My mother was Oriental, but my father came from Europe" vs. "They came from Europe to go to the funeral".  Compare: "Once upon a time, a king lived in his castle."

  Sarah ne faisait pas confiance à Thomas.

Sarah didn't use to trust Thomas.       In French can you really express the idea of “used to” (do something) just by using the past imperfect tense (as here)? Or does it need “avoir l’habitude de …” ? Is there a difference in meaning in French? Merci