I decided I needed to move on to the stage where I string some of the vocabulary and grammar learned in Duolingo and Assimil together to make it stick. I have set my MacBook up to receive dictation in French. I have also discovered what appears to be a very useful tool - Bon Patron. This identifies spelling and grammar errors. Has anyone on here made use of this?
A question on French.
I’m revisiting something that came up previously. I’m non the wiser now.
If I asked the question - Tu passes beaucoup de temps ensemble? is this correct?
Duo tells me I must use -’ Vous passez beaucoup de temps ensemble’ , but this seems strange to me if there is only myself and one other present or (say) on the phone.
Obviously addressing a couple or a group of friends I understand the need for the vous form.
I’m a novice, and an old man, but I was taught that the vous form is more formal or polite when addressing strangers (except children).
I use the vous form when speaking to the young woman or man at the caisse in the supermarché because it feels presumptuous and disrespectful to tutoyer them when we’re doing business together, however mundane.
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And not just strangers. We’ve known our neighbouring farmer for 12 years. I wouldn’t dream of using “tu”. I used “vous” for many years with my French teacher and it’s only when we became really close friends and she and her husband asked us to use “tu” that I changed over.
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If you ask the question ‘vous passez beaucoup de temps ensemble?’ You are asking if your interlocutor and one or more people not present with you spend a lot of time together - they are plural.
You cannot say ‘tu passes beaucoup de temps ensemble’ because the ‘ensemble’ means it HAS to be plural, your interlocutor is not alone and the verb has to reflect that. It is a bit confusing because obviously when you hear ‘Ils passent beaucoup de temps ensemble’ you don’t hear that it is plural, but a French-speaker knows it has to be.
If you ask if your interlocutor spends a lot of time eg in a place, you could say ‘tu passes beaucoup de temps en France?’ And that would be correct. ‘Vous passez beaucoup de temps en France?’ would also be correct, but then you can’t tell if you mean one person you vouvoie, or more people.
I hope this makes it a bit clearer to you!
I’m also intrigued as to what you want to say and what you think ‘tu passes beaucoup de temps ensemble’ actually means. 
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I know a few Germans who would rival for that title…
I’m sorry I haven’t a clue 
what you are on about.
I suspect that the confusion has arisen (I would share it) because the question is directed at an individual (that you know well enough to tutoyer, obviously) with whom one is having a one-to-one conversation on the phone so addressing them as a group seems … odd.
Sounding like machine guns 
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Our dog club always says that using German for commands with a dog works much better…
Exactly this
Because the commands are monosyllabic, like some in English. Sitz, Platz, etc are nice and clear in a way that assis, couché, etc aren’t 
Véronique - you write ‘your interlocutor is not alone’. So just to clarify - I am on the phone to my son. I ask him if he and his girlfriend (not present) spend a lot of time together. I use the ‘vous’ form to ask this question.
Is that correct? It seems odd.
It’s also easier to get the right authoritarian tone with the guttural consonant sounds. I just would find it odd for an english person to be standing in a french forest shouting fuß…
Yes of course, you are asking about two people spending time together, so they are plural.
Your son alone = singular
Your son + his girlfriend = plural
You are talking TO one person, but CONCERNING 2.
If speaking to both, you said ‘tu…’ then only the person directly addressed is concerned, otherwise use vous.
eg I am about to go shopping taking my small children. I happen to know one of them last went to the loo ages ago - I say ‘va faire pipi’ so it refers just to that specific one. If I want more than one, or all of them to go to the loo I will say ‘allez faire pipi’. (Tu vas…/ vous allez)
The problem is in English you say vous to everyone, thee and thou were dropped at the latest by the early 20th century, so it may seem strange to modern-day English speakers.
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Thank you for the clarification Véronique. I know 'thee and thou’can still be heard in Yorkshire !
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Hahaha AU PIEEEEEEED my dog didn’t answer to that, I said ICI if she was far away and viens là if she was closer. Then sit - what a good, polyglot dog 
Once ours is off he responds best to a very loud “PICNIC”… greedy tyke. It’s funny all the praise & encouragement words we use english, but orders are all in French (he is of course French).
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That is a sign on age - needing more than one pipi !