Archive for April, 2009
French Grammar – The Partitive Article Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 29, 2009
The partitive article in French is the English equivalent of ‘some’ and ‘any’. So, it is very often used and thus, very important to learn. First, let’s talk about the form: Before a masculine noun – du Before a feminine noun – de la Before a masculine or feminine plural noun – des Before a…
French Vocabulary – Face Riddles Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 27, 2009
I was working on some vocabulary with my daughters and I came up with an idea for a blog article that I thought might be fun. First of all, let’s go over some face vocabulary: la bouche mouth la joue / les joues one cheek / cheeks le front forehead le menton chin le nez…
Le Jour de la Terre Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 22, 2009
It’s Le Jour de la Terre (Earth Day) so, I thought I would celebrate it with a list of environment-related French vocabulary. des aliments écologiques ecological food développement durable sustainable development écologie ecology l’énergie solaire solar power l’environnement the environment l’érosion erosion la couche d’ozone the ozone layer la déforestation deforestation la diversité biologique biodiversity…
French Vocabulary – Word Building Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 19, 2009
Building funny French phrases is a way to learn more vocabulary and even improve your grammar. The challenge lies in finding a root word and then expressing the same word as a noun, adverb, verb and adjective all in the same sentence. Here are some examples: La commode commode a été accommodée commodément. Le commentateur…
French Music – Jean Jacques Goldman Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 15, 2009
Okay, so I’ve written many posts on my favorite French musicians and singers and repeatedly mentioned how much I believe music is one of the best and most interesting ways to learn a foreign language. When I was finally able to understand the lyrics written by Jean Jacques Goldman, I really felt like all the…
French Language – Body Slang Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 9, 2009
As I’ve written before, understanding and then being able to use expressions and slang in another language is a huge step forward in the language learning process. So, I’ll let you in on some more French slang. These expressions sound like they have something to do with the body, but in fact, do not. Be…
French Food – Entrecôte Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 6, 2009
I just finished eating a juicy entrecôte (rib steak) and am feeling thankful to the French for this delicious cut of meat…but, then again…is it really French? And come to think of it, the French fries…I don’t think they are really very French either. According to Wikipedia, ‘entrecôte‘ is a piece of meat (beef) cut…