French language Q&A Forum

I am aware that this has been discussed before but it is clear to me that in certain cases “passer une année” can be used.

For example, on the web page https://acupoffrench.com/french-grammar/an-vs-annee-2/, which also explains when to use “an” or “année”, there is the following example with passer and année used to stress the duration:

“Elle a passé quatre années à chercher un travail.”

So I think it would not hurt to explicitly mention this possibility to use année instead of an to stress the duration. 

For the general case (not just related to passer), I think the rule from “Advanced French Grammar”/Monique L’Huillier section 5.2.1 an/année is clearer than the “time unit” vs “duration” distinction: “an usually follows cardinal numbers, whilst année follows ordinal numbers, or an indefinite or demonstrative adjective”.

This rule does not hold for jour/journée, soir/soirée and matin/matinée and these cases  are treated separately in the book.

This rule is then followed up in the book with “If the year is modified in any way, “année” should be used” with the following examples.

“J’ai vécu à Londres pendant cinq ans.”

”J’ai gardé un très bon souvenir de mes cinq années à Londres.”

Why une brosse a dents and not aux because dents is plural?

This doesn't come very naturally to me at all. How do I know which verbs should be followed by "à" and thus use lui in these affirmative commands?

In the sentence, "De plus, l'aspect défi de cette initiative permet de déstigmatiser la non-consommation d'alcool...", I don't understand 'l'aspect défi'.  In my dictionary, aspect and défi are both nouns, aspect and challenge respectively.  Can you first translate and then explain?  Thanks.

Can you please confirm the pronunciation of LE PLUS when it comes in the middle in case of Superlatives - 

W/ VERBS

- Je travaille le plus dans ma famille. (ploo) ?

W/ NOUNS

- J'ai le plus d'amis. [I have the most friends.] (ploo) OR (plooS)?

- J'ai ramassé le plus de feuilles. (ploo) OR (plooS)?

And if it was Comparitive with Noun, then,

- J'ai ramassé plus de feuilles que toi.  (plooS)?

I found this link below, but this only gives the scenario of Superlatives with Verbs & Adjectives but doesn't give the scenario of Superlatives with Nouns.

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/plus/

I know it is only correct to say Je vain manger à huit heures. However, in response to À quelle heure ?,  I've seen the phrase At nine o'clock written as both À neuf heures and A neuf heures. Are both A and À correct to use in this instance?

Is there a difference?

Im just a bit confused since before i could always say Le ....... But now, they are correcting me, just because of the ''le''. 

This never happended before, please explain to me, why this is happening?

How would one say ‘This week, I work from Tuesday to Thursday?’ (an exception). Would this be any different from how you would say that in general ‘I work from Tuesdays to Thursdays’? Thanks