h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

coucou tout le monde
merci de me proposer de devenir chef du département pour le truc fançais mais je ne pense pas non plus avoir assez de temps à consacrer à hootoo
par contre, je veux bien donner des leçons, mais je ne sais pas trop par où commencer, je ne connais pas du tout votre niveau ni ce que vous voulez apprendre (grammaire ...?), peut être avez vous des questions?
pour les accents ne vous en faîtes pas, quand j'écris à la main je ne les mets pas souvent non plus
@+
chupito
hi everybody
thanks for offering me to be HoC for the french thing but I don't think i've got enough time to give to hootoo either
But I'd be glad to give lessons, but i don't really know where to begin, I don't know your level nor what you want to learn (grammar ...?)maybe you have some questions?
don't worry about the accents, when i'm hand writing, I don't use them either
bye
Chupito

to say, "i prefer cherries to plums", i generally use:

"je préfère les cerises aux prunes."

yesterday,my son said, "je préfère les cerises que les prunes."

my wife insists this is correct. i feel you can say "je préfère manger des cerises plutôt que des prunes" or à la limite, "je préfère les cerises plutôt que les prunes " but not simply "préférer X que Y".

what is your opinion?

I would tend to use "je préfère manger des cerises plutôt que des prunes", but then I don't know if that's how you should say it, or if there's a better way.

I think that "je préfère les cerises que les prunes" is wrong but I'd say that's rather common for a kid to make that mistake
I think all the others ways to say it are correct

is there anybody left on this thread or have you all go out?

Je suis toujours là de temps en temps, mais pas assez souvent pour corrèger vos lettres ou bien pour enseigner la langue...

I'm still here from time to time, but not often enough to correct your posts or to teach the language...

I'm here! But I'm so busy with my studies right now that I had to give up on learning French. I hope I can go on learning French in summer!

je regarde tous les nouveaux posts, mais je fais ceci au travail (mouais) donc mes contributions ne peuvent être que ponctuelles...

i look at all new posts, but i do this at work (yes, yes...)so my contributions can only be occasional.

Okay, just remembered I'm meant to be teaching, though might have to wait til exams are over, just introducing myself

Hi to everyone, I'm MArinamer and I have a French test that will test the passe compose, which is really difficult for me.

I haven't been to class often because I'm finishing a term at the university so I'm really lost.

Could somebody here help me practice it. On the test I'm gonna probably have to read a passage, do fill in the blank and write a paragraph using the passe compose (THIS IS THE HARDEST PART).

iF someone can help, please.

Thanks!

and I'm already registered to this club.

well, the PC is actually pretty easy if you can conjugate être and avoir in the present. if you can't do that you really have no chance... or excuse.

the regular participle is the infinitive, with _er changed to _é. those of the most common verbs are indeed irregular, but not too difficult, memorize a dozen or so off a table and you should do alright.

next step: memorize this list of verbs that take être. it helps to remember that they all concern movement or change. http://vclass.mtsac.edu:910/french2/evenements/pcetre.htm

also all reflexive verbs (verbes pronominaux) take être.

last trick is that the participle of verbs taking être needs to agree in person and/or number with the subject or object.

http://vclass.mtsac.edu:910/french2/evenements/avoiretre.htm

that's 90% of what you need to do to do well, and with any gumption at all you can get it in in an hour. allez, au travail!

thank you very much, the info you sent was very helpful and simplified

My test is tommorow!

Thanks.-

So, how did the test go, Marinamer?