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24 février, 2011
Beware the French decade is much shorter!
Une decade in French is only 10 days... not 10 years. Une décennie is ten years.
le 17 octobre 2010
bâcler - to botch something up, do a rushed job
Bâcler is a common useful verb that refers to a rushed job that is a bit slapdash, botched up.
il a bâclé son ouvrage - he did his work quickly and to a pretty rough standard.
le 26 juillet 2010
tu and vous
Which French word for you to use when addressing someone.
The best strategy for foreigners is to start off using the vous form and let French people take the initiative in moving on to tu.
Learn all about tu and vous here.
le 14 juillet 2010
le quatorze juillet - la Fête Nationale
Le 14 juillet c'est la Fête Nationale, il célèbre la prise de la Bastille.
Il est conformément appelé La Fête Nationale et comunément le quatorze juillet.
La prise d'assaut de la forteresse de la bastille a été vu comme un symbole de révolte de la population moderne.
The 14 th July is a national day which celebrates the day that the Bastille in Paris was taken.
It was formally called "The National Celebration" and commonly called "The Fourteenth of July".
The storming of the Bastille fortress was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation.
(Wikipedia)
le 12 juillet 2010
la Coupe du Monde
En 2010 la Coupe du Monde se déroulait en Afrique du Sud du 12 juin au 11 juillet. La finale était entre l'Espagne et la Hollande. L'Espagne remporta 1-0.
The 2010 World Cup was held in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July. The final was between Spain and Holland. Spain won 1-0.
le 06 juillet 2010
le carnaval tropical
Chaque année à Paris début juillet a lieu le carnaval tropical.
Toutes les îles, colonies de la France sont présentes, tout le monde porte des costumes, des tenues traditionnelles, chante, danse, dans les rues de Paris.
Il ya aussi de bonnes dégustations pour les gourmands!
The Tropical Carnival (or Carnival of the Tropics) takes place every year in Paris at the beginning of July.
All the islands and colonies of France are there (represented), everyone wears costumes, traditional clothing, (they) sing and dance in the streets of Paris.
For food lovers there is also great food to taste.
le carnaval (v) = carnival
porter (v) = to wear; to carry; to bear; to have
la tenue (f) = clothes; (ie) dress
- la tenue de cérémonie (f) = ceremonial dress
- la tenue de travail (f) = working clothes
l'île (f) = island
la colonie = colony
la dégustation = tasting
gourmand (adj) = fond of food
le 24 juin 2010
bavarder = to chit-chat, to gossip
bavard / bavarde (adj) (m/f) = talkative, chatty
Il est bavard comme une pie. = Lit. He is talkative/chatty like a magpie. = He'll talk the hind legs off a donkey.
bavarder (v) = to chat, to chatter, to gossip, to blab.
Il bavard comme une fille. = He chats/gossips/blabs like a girl.
le bavardage (m) = chit-chat, gossip, tittle-tattle
le ragot (m) = piece of gossip, usually ill-natured
la commère (m/f) = gossip, busybody, crony
les bavardages de commères (m) = chit-chat, gossip, tittle-tattle
Je m'éprise les bavardages des commères or Je m'éprise les ragots des commères. = I hate the chit-chat of busybodies.
French Football - le foot - Words
Check out lots of French Football Words here.
En ce jour du 12 Juin - On this day the 12th of June
le 12 juin 2008 était la première édition du Festival du film de Dièppe, en Normandie, nord-ouest de la France.
Ce festival récompense les professionnels de films mais également les amateurs, c'est un festival ouvert à tous.
Il eût un grand succès et se tient chaque année en Juin.
The first "edition" of the Dieppe Film Festival was held on the 12th 2008, in Normandy, northwest France.
This festival rewards film professionals as well as amateurs, it's open to all people.
It was a great success and is now held every year in June.
Conversation entre des amis.
Conversation between friends.
Pierre:
J'aimerais tellement qu'on reçoive un prix pour notre film.
I would very much like that for we receive an award for our film.
Clara:
Moi je pense qu'on a tous notre chance mais si aujourdhui on ne gagne pas, ce n'est pas grave, on dois continuer d'avancer.
For me I think that everybody has a chance but if today we don't win, it's not a big deal, we have to keep going forward.
Pierre:
Je t'admire!
I admire you!
Carla:
Je sais! N'oublies pas, tu dois continuer d'avancer.
I know! Don't forget, you have to keep going forward.
(nf) une édition = edition
(nm) un festival = festival
(v) récompenser =to reward
(v) recevoir = to receive
(v) admirer = to admire
(expr) continuer d'avancer = keep going forward
(v) oublier = to forget
(v) savoir = to know
(nm) un prix = an award
(adj) grand = big/great
(v) avancer = to go/move forward
(v) admirer = to admire
En ce jour du 7 Juin
On this day the 7th of June
Le peintre impréssionniste Paul Gaugin est né à Paris en 1848.
Connu grâce à ses célèbres peintures : "Paysannes bretonnes", "M.Loulou", "Etude de Nu ou Suzanne cousant".
On this day in 1848 the French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin was born in Paris. He is known thanks to his famous paintings : "Paysannes bretonnes", "M.Loulou", "Etude de Nu ou Suzanne cousant".
(nm) un peintre = a painter (male)
(nf) une peintre = a painter (female)
(nf) une peinture = a painting
(v) peindre = to paint
(vr) se peindre = to paint a self portrait, to paint oneself.
(v) (se) peindre comme ... = to depict (oneself) as ...
grâce à = thanks to
Quick Grammar Lesson
Nouns ending in "s" are in most cases plural. It is not usually pronounced, just written.
Accents like the grave - "è" - change the oral pronounciation of a word.
For example après = after. (Without an accent here -es would not be pronounced at all.)
Oct 5, 2009
Some words that sound like FOOL might FOOL you ... fouleé
Here are a few words that can get confused. La fouleé means STRIDE.
Imagine the STRIDE of a female FOOL AYE!
Dans la foulée de means literally 'in the stride of' and translates more like 'on the heels of' in English.
Dans la foulée de son succés beaucoup d'offres sont arrivées.
Following (on the heels of) his/her success lots of offers came in.
But don't confuse the word with fouler... pronounced the same way... and is related to la fouleé
FOULER: Don't let a FOOL TRAMPLE you or TREAD on you.
The verb fouler means to TRAMPLE, TREAD, and also to SPRAIN.
An idiom with fouler is:
ne pas se fouler - he won't strain himself (to get something done).
Michel ne s'est pas foulé pour finir le projet.
Michel did not strain himself to finish the project.
Sept 29, 2009
Calling a Spade a Spade
The French idiom for this is more direct: Il apppelle les choses par leur nom ... , literally he calls things by their name.
Voilá ce que j'appelle pleuvoir! means 'That's what I call rain!' or 'Now that is what I call raining with a vengeance!
Check out more French Proverbs
Sept 20
Imagine a MESH of candle WICKS
La mèche in French has a few meanings, and forms the basis of some nice little idiomatic expressions.
La mèche means:
- wick, as in candle wick,
- fuse, as in the fuse for a bomb, firecracker etc, explosive
- lock of hair, or a tinted steak in hair
- drill bit
To remember the word la mèche as a wick, imagine actress MICHELLE Pfeiffer lights a candle WICK which is shaped like a wire MESH ...
You can also imagine her lighting a FUSE which is a MESH.
People using the 200 Words a Day! courses know that we use Michelle, as a Gender Trigger, reminding us that in French, la mèche is feminine. MICH-elle even sounds a bit like MESH...
Because she is a famous person this makes recall of the word easier. Famous people are used extensively in our courses to help with such recall of vocab.
To remember the word la mèche as a lock of hair, or streak of hair, we can imagine actress MICHELLE Pfeiffer's locks of hair is like a wire MESH, with streaks in it.
Some expressions using la mèche
Vendre la mèche (literally, to sell the wick) or
brûler la mèche, (literally, to burn the wick)...
...means to reveal a secret...
...BUT...
Brûler la mèche de deux côtés.
To burn the candle at both ends.
Literally the French say, to burn the wick at both sides.
Daniel aimait brûler la mèche de deux côtés.
Daniel liked to party a lot, liked to burn the candle at both ends.
Être de mèche avec quelqu'un...
...means to be cahoots with someone.
Caroline est de mèche avec Françoise.
Caroline is in cahoots with Françoise.
28 August
The useful word, autant
Autant generally means 'as much', 'as - - as'.
There are lots of idiomatic expressions using autant.
Autant vaut être mordu d'un chien que d'une chienne.
One evil is as bad as the other. Literally this means - It's the same being bitten by a male dog as a by a female dog.
Cela est fini ou autant vaut.
It is as good as finished. It's as good as done.
Il n'a jamais autant plu.
It has never rained as much.
Ne perds pas ta salive. Autant parler á un sourd.
Don't waste your breathe (literally your saliva). You might as well be talking to a deaf person.
Cela m'agace autant que vous!
This annoys me as much as it annoys you.
28 July
Silence means consent...
Here's a useful little idiom...
Qui ne dit mot, consent.
Literally this means (He) who does not say a word, consents. In other words, if you keep your mouth shut you are giving consent...
8 July
Experimenting for EXPERIENCE - watch these ones for a subtle shift in meaning...
The French verb expérimenter means the same as it does in English... to try out, to test, to experiment...
...and the word for an experience is also the same - une expérience.
and, for example, she can have a lot of experience...
elle a de l'expérience
...or not a lot of experience
elle n'a pas de l'expérience
However, here is one to watch...
someone who is experienced is
expérimenté
... so remember this just remember that, in French, an experienced person is someone who has done LOTS of EXPERIMENTS. So just imagine a wizened old scientist, who has spent a lifetime doing experiments, as an experienced sea captain.
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See the Verb of the Day Fully Conjugated
To see the verb of the day above, with all its conjugations, just click on the picture, and a new window will open. Recite all the conjugations:
- by row - one tense at a time for each pronoun (I, you, he, she, we, they ...)
- by column- one pronoun at a tense by tense
This should take a bit over a minute per row or column.
Do one full table a day and pretty soon you will have nailed all the different verb endings for all the different major tenses of modern spoken French.
You see, we have clustered all loads of verbs with the same patterns of major ENDINGS. So there are several months worth of ER verbs, which are the most common of the French verbs. So if you just do one full verb table a day, you will soon have conquered the patterns. The more times per day that you do the table, the quicker you will progress.
So for those that are serious, here are some ways to speed up the process:
- Think of the times that you have some blocks of THREE-MINUTES.
- PRINT the table off, and do them throughout the day when you get a spare 3 minutes
- Can you think of some ... while on a train, bus, plane, any bits of waiting time, or down time, sitting on the throne is a great one ... when you get up in the morning, before bed, before falling asleep etc, etc.
- Go through the full verb table, aloud, with the printed sheet, and as you improve....
- without your printed sheet.
- Don't forget to review previously learned verb tables, after a day, a week, a month, three months etc as these spaced review opportunities are great, and imperative for memory boosting.
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