French language Q&A Forum

In one question, referring to the fur of l'hermine, brune was marked wrong with marron being correct.  Quoting from the lesson on colors:   brun will mostly be used to describe hair, skin (as in tanned skin), or fur.

Can I say, "Vas-tu a ta chambre? Cache-t'y!" as y refers to a ta chambre? All grammar books seem to indicate that y replaces a + noun (except persons).

Many thanks for your explanation Maarten. Very useful

Si triste, mais si vraie.  En mort, apres les combats, les combattants, autrefois ennemis, ont plus en commun que leurs frères en la vie.   

Why is this translated as 'C'est une vraie... ' and not 'Elle est une vraie...' as we are talking about her specifically and not just the concept?

The adverbial pronoun lesson says y can replace a group introduced by the preposition à + [thing(s)/object(s)/location(s)]. In this exercise the preceeding sentence has "J'ai donné tout ce qu'il me restait à mes collègues..." But the following " j'ai substitué " I believe is referring to "tout ce qu'il me restait" not to "mes collègues". Why not " je l'ai substitué" ?

I’ve just dropped a point for omitting the -là in the general statement "La vie était plus dur à cette époque-là".  Could someone clarify the distinction between à cette époque and à cette époque-là, as both seem to be found online, as well as in Céline’s answer two posts down. Thanks!

J'aime le fait que certains des Européens peuvent se moquer de ce problème.

I haven’t come across "une terrasse touristique" - is it a pavement café?  

Also, it seems to me that there’s an extraneous consonant in the fourth sentence, between du and lieu: qui émane du … lieu lui-même

(Not sure how to flag technical issues in the listening exercises)