miketuan

[copper slate]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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[finite whale]

wdym?
«  Que se passe-t-il ? » is correct

[onyx kettle]

"il se passe quoi" is even shorter

[finite whale]

"shorter"
it's only 4 syllables regardless

[onyx kettle]

you can approximate "il se" to "isse" [is]

=> 3 syllables

[finite whale]

hmmmmmmm, while I agree you can make it just three syllables in casual speech, the se would attach to "passe" not to il

il s'passe quoi

[mossy jay]

I did not know the sentence was correct. I just thought of an example where my textbook says it is not right. i.e. In French, there is no short form for asking about things as subject of the question. What does that mean?
Interrogatives Chapter

[onyx kettle]

i'd actually attach it to both

you're also right the s goes more towards the passe, but the l can be silent to they can all 3 merge

[finite whale]

I mean, in any utterance in any language things basically come out as one constant stream
but generally in French, because of rules of enchaînement, it's perceived as attaching to the following syllable

[modest nexus]

Il y a (eu) quoi -> Y a (eu) quoi -> Ya (eu) quoi ?
Deux ou trois syllabes.

[finite whale]

You could take a picture of the article in question, but this doesn't really mean anything to me

[mossy jay]

the one highlighted with lead

[modest nexus]

🤔

Qui est-ce qui arrive ? -> Qui arrive ?

[finite whale]

I think it's talking about "things" vs. "people"

using "qui"

[modest nexus]

Ah.

[finite whale]

qui mange ? -> who eats?

if you want to ask "what eats?" you indeed have to change it

qu'est-ce qui mange ?

[modest nexus]

I wouldn't translate 'Qui est-ce qui arrive ?' using 'What' though.

Always 'who'. Just sounds wrong to me.

[finite whale]

I didn't say that?

[modest nexus]

I know; that's how the article translates it.

Nevermind, I can't read.

[finite whale]

[modest nexus]

Nothing to see here.

[mossy jay]

Could you elaborate?

[finite whale]

I already did lol

[finite whale]

here

[mossy jay]

sorry, so it means "que mange" is not proper?

[modest nexus]

Correct, it is not.

[mossy jay]

Is there a reason for this? Or it is just how it is?

[mossy jay]

Wait really? If you mean the first entry, then there is a sentence translating "Qui est-ce qui arrive?" as "Who's arriving?"

[modest nexus]

Yeah, I realised my mistake, sorry.

[mossy jay]

no problem, I always hope that the authors dont make mistakes in my books

[strange jasper]

"Qu'est-ce qui est vert, qui monte et qui descend ?" has no "short" form

Other examples here like se passer and arriver aren't too accurate because their subject can be replaced by an object + dummy subject il (des choses se passent > il se passe des choses) and this is what happens in the short forms associated with them. However some sentences like my example above do not allow for this.