QUERIES ON FRENCH GRAMMAR/VOCAB

[Yan Fang]

I would like to ask:

1. Shouldn't it be "c'est le film de François Truffaut" instead of "c'est un film de François Truffaut"? (since the use of 'le' always suggest that it is specific)

 

2. Should it be "Je parle anglais" or "Je parle l'anglais"? ( is 'anglais' in this cause a noun? so we have to put the l' infront of anglais?)

 

3. Can it be "Julie doit vient-elle" instead of " Julie doit-elle venir"?

 

4. For the verb [faire] we always have to use [faire] with [de la/de l'/du] right? However, why is it that we don't need to follow the rule when it's a negative sentence?  Example, "Patrick, lui aussi, ne fait pas de ski?"

 

5. For the question " Qui vient avec lui?" , can another way of phrasing the question be " vien-lui avec qui?"

 

Thank you for your help!!

[Erwan]

(1) both are correct but don't exactly mean the same. It's the same difference between "a" and "the" in English.

le indicates a specific movie.

(2) both are correct too. If you have several languages in your phrase, you're obliged to use the same construction:

Je parle anglais et allemand or Je parle l'anglais et l'allemand but not  Je parle l'anglais et allemand.

(3) Julie doit-elle venir is the only good construction. You can't have (with the exception of avoir and être) 2 following conjugate verbs.

(4) You can say "Patrick ne fait pas de la magie". But the article is often missing in the negative sentence.

Usually, faire is followed by de la/de l'/du but you can find some construction without those words. Il fait fuire les animaux. Il fait la pluie et le beau temps. Il fait pâle figure.

(5) The only good sentence is Qui vient avec lui?

[Neil Coffey]

I think terms "indefinite" and "definite" are confusing you (maybe your first language is one that doesn't have articles?):

 

- "definite" means something like "has been previously identified"

- "indefinite" means something like "has not been previously identified, but could in principle be identified/counted etc".

 

There are actually other possibilities, notably "indeterminate" (e.g. if I say "Children were playing in the street" in English, this implies that I don't have a specific number/names for the children, as opposed to "Some children were playing..."; French tends not to make a difference between the two cases).