French language Q&A Forum

In what circumstances is AI pronounced as é and not è?

Note also that you use qu'est-ce que if it appears at the start but quoi at the end.  

:: This sentence is a little confusing, do you think this is more clear 

Note;

you start a question with "qu'est-ce que"; in order words, "qu'est-ce que" only appears at the start of a question. However, you end a question with "quoi"; in order words, "quoi" only appears at appears at the end of a question.   

Example

Qu'est-ce que tu fais?
Notice how the sentence starts with "qu'est-ce que"

Tu fais quoi?

Notice how the sentence ends with "quoi"

I really enjoyed this one - thank you!

this is beautiful, but where is the  bilingual reader, where you can click any French phrase for the English translation and related grammar

Why is it that the 'nous' form of the verb "finir" is conjugated as "finissons" but the 'nous' form of the verb "regrossir" is conjugated as"regrossissons"?

Hello, I am a total beginner at French, and I hope someone can please guide me. I am having trouble recognising the different tenses when reading a sentence in French. In English we would say : "He READS a book" as an answer to a question like "what does he do whilst taking the tube?". 

If the question was "what is he doing?", In English we would say "He is READING/ a/ this/that". How do I tell whether the person is DOING something or DOES something in French? Example : 

"Elle lit un livre" She reads a book. 

"Elle lit un livre" she's reading a book. 

Initially, I thought you'd have to read the rest of the sentence to work it out, but I can't imagine this is how it works all the time. In English there is a distinctive difference : "I go to the .../I AM going to the..."

"He has a.../He HAD a..."

"I watch .../ I AM watching". 

Have I missed something in the lessons? 

Apologies for the long winded question and capitalisation. I like to believe I am fluent in English (it's the only language I know) however I find articulating in my own language difficult at the best of times !! 

Thanks 

How to choose properly, whether should i use disjunctive pronouns or COI. Je telephone a elle or Je lui telephone? A real conundrum to me!