French language Q&A Forum

I don't understand

Why isn't it "Les parents n'avaient pas cessé de râler et de se disputer"?

I wouldn't think that this is necessarily reflexive, not without context.

If we are talking about her teeth, for example, then yes it is reflexive; but what if she were brushing horses, for example, or perhaps her children's teeth? Would not "Elles les brosse." then be correct?

Surely there are contexts where the answer - 'Jeanne is eating from the ice-cream' - can be correct. For example - Jeanne mange les pistaches de la glace. Elle picore. Elle est vraiment dedans! C'est toujours la même chose - elle mange de la glace les morceaux qu'elle prefere.

I’m wondering if there’s a logic for having a singular beetroot in this phrase? Usually you’d make it with more than one, as with "tarte aux pommes"

In the first sentence of this exercise, "the thief" has been translated as "le criminel" when I think "le voleur" would be a more accurate translation. Also in that first line, the punctuation in French is different from the original English (but that is probably less important)

"Je ne manque de rien." is given as the correct translation for "I lack nothing". Why the "ne"? Why not just "Je manque de rien"? It has been about three years since I paid attention to French, and I am really rusty.

Please help me understand why the response in the following example  isn't "J'en pense la plus grande bien!" Is "plus grand bien" a colloquial and unmodifiable phrase? Merci !

Comment traduirait-on " j'ai pris du retard"?

Hi. In a Kwiz this was the question:

Avant que je n'________ le bruit, je dormais à poings fermés.

The answer was aie entendu.

Can someone please explain the n' that's in there?