ayez and avez

[yong leong]

 

    Ayez vous été en france auparavant?

    Avez vous été en france auparavant?

   Is the above the same meaning for Avez and Ayez

   And also 'auparavant' use in this sentence is correct?  Have you been in france before?

[lauris]

'ayez' is the subjonctive or the imperative of the verb 'avoir'. It can't be used in this context. You can use it for instance in :

"il faut que vous ayez de bonnes notes pour être récompensé" (you need to get good grades to be rewarded), or

"Ayez de bonnes notes, et vous serez récompensé" (get some good grades and you will be rewarded)

 

Here, you need to say "avez vous été en france auparavant?". You need to use the indicative mode.

 

Also, the use of "auparavant" in this context is perfect

[yong leong]

 

        énorme de merci Lauris pour toujours m'aider, comme ça je peux parler francais bien bientôt , non?

[Ed la mouette]

Well, learning French is hard. :D

 

Merci beaucoup pour ton aide. A ce rythme, je vais bientôt savoir parler français correctement, non ?

 

You (the English people) do a common mistake while translating "I can" into French. You say "I can dance" in two case : when you are allowed to dance, and where you know how to dance. In French, we don't use the same word for both : we say "je peux danser" (on me l'a permis) et "je sais danser" (j'ai pris des cours de danse)

For the usage of "bien", it is almost always put before the verb : je sais bien parler français, j'ai bien mangé...

When a baby begins to utter words, we will say "il parle bien, pour son âge".

[yong leong]

Merci  Ed la mouette,  it is so easy to make mistakes in french,  well, I guess I keep correcting my mistakes for another 20 years I think by then my french would be almost perfect, but there is one problem, I would be in my twilight years almost going to meet the maker up there.

         So I wouldn't be using much of my french, that's a pity after perfecting it I find I don't have much opportunity to use it. Do they speak french in heaven?  Or may be in Hell theydo :-))

        By all mathematical calculation I need 20 years to perfect my french at the rate I am going. But still I am not giving up. Why? Because I love the french language.

[lauris]

You probably won't need 20 years to perfect your french. I made huge progress in english in just one year.

It's easier for the english, because we are surrounded by english words, but I really think that is you practice carrefully, with native speakers, you improve your level even more!!