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July 14, 2016 Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 19, 2016
France is once again in the news. Over the past year and a half, I have had to write several posts dedicated to the victims of terrorist attacks that targeted France: The Charlie Hebdo and related attacks in January 2015, the November 2015 attacks across Paris, and now the horrible events of last Thursday on…
French Grammar: Bon vs. Bien Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 11, 2016
“Are you feeling good?” “Are you feeling well?” Which of these questions is grammatically correct in English? Most likely, if you recite these questions aloud, the first option (“Are you feeling good?”) sounds a bit off, even if you don’t know exactly why. And you would be right if you picked the second option (“Are you feeling…
Les comptines Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jul 4, 2016
In my house, we sing lots of comptines, or French nursery rhymes. I’m partial myself to Au clair de la lune, which coincidentally, is the song featured on one of the earliest recordings ever made in 1860. (You can listen to it here, although it is somewhat difficult to hear.) However, there is a simpler (and newer)…
L’argent: Expressions and Slang Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 27, 2016
Money has been in the news a lot lately, especially with the recent historical Brexit referendum. Since the British voted to exit the EU, stocks around the world have plummeted…and are still plummeting. And other large European countries, like France and Germany, are determining how this possible exit will leave their own economies. Given this interest…
French Grammar: The Past Conditional Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 20, 2016
The French past conditional, also called the conditional perfect, is used to express what could or would have happened in the past if things had happened differently. As described in my post on si clauses, the past conditional often can follow the past tense in si clauses. For example, “si j’avais su que le magasin…
French Baguettes Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 13, 2016
If I were to ask you what basic food the French are known for, what would you say? Many of you would respond that the French are famous for their cheese, which is true. A famous saying in French states that there are 365 different French cheeses–one for each day (il existe un fromage différent…
Irregular French Verbs in the Imperative Mood Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 6, 2016
We went over the imperative mood last week. Easy, right? Well, if you’ve studied French for any length of time, you know that there are many exceptions to main grammatical rules. And the imperative mood is no exception (like my calembour?) There are four common verbs that are irregular in the imperative mood. You should…