Top answers

When should I choose to use the tenses of the "imparfait" or the "passé simple"?

These two tenses both express actions and states in the past. However, the imparfait should be used in cases of repetitive situations, a description or an action without a limited time frame. For instance, &...
EF
Answered by Eliot F. • French tutor
2450 Views

How can you tell whether a word is feminine or masculine?

There is no simple answer for this! In short, the gender of nouns in French must be learnt, rehearsed and repeated until you can't hear the word any other way. Although there are some shortcuts for this, for...
YG
Answered by Yemi G. • French tutor
3867 Views

What is the Preceding Direct Object (PDO) rule?

It's easy to worry about rules with complicated names like this one, but they're normally simpler than they sound. This rule only applies with 'passé composé' and pluperfect phrases. When the direct object (...
FK
Answered by Freddie K. • French tutor
3672 Views

How do you know whether to use a or à in a sentence?

If can replace a with 'avait' for instance they you do not need an a with apostrophe. i.e je vais à la cantine. (the sentence would not make sense if you were to replace à with avait hence you need 'à' and c...
DO
Answered by Dominique O. • French tutor
2427 Views

Lire le text, est ce qu'il est a) a baker, b) a postman ou c) a sailor?

Je me lève tôt le matin. Je suis toujours en bonne forme car, pour mon travail, je fais au moins douze kilomètres de marche chaque jour. Le seul inconvénient, c’est les chiens méchants ! Je finis mon travail...
AH
Answered by Ashleigh H. • French tutor
2650 Views