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Back to the Basics: French Articles Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on May 15, 2017
Today we will be going back to the basics of French grammar. The very building blocks of the French language require articles. What are they? Well, in English, they would be words like the or a. In any language, articles are used to show whether a noun is specific or unspecific. For example, in English, you could say “After the…
Problematic Prepositions: De (Part Trois) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on May 8, 2017
Last week on the blog, we went over the rules regarding de when used as an expression of quantity. This is typically very confusing for French learners, as it can be difficult to pick out what exactly an expression of quantity is. We’ll delve a bit more into the grammatical nitty-gritty of what constitutes an expression of…
Problematic Prepositions: De (Part Deux) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on May 1, 2017
Last week we explored some of the most common usages of the French preposition de. In addition to a preposition that can express possession, relation, and direction, or to link verbs, de can be used to express quantity, either alone or as part of an expression of quantity. Once again, the rules governing how de changes depends on its usage—and this can…
Problematic Prepositions: De Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 24, 2017
The French preposition de is notorious for giving French learners difficulty at all levels. Why? Because this simple preposition, which generally means “of, from, or about,” can change greatly depending on the word it precedes. De can also be used in many different ways, which also changes the rules regarding its use. Let’s take a look. De is the…
French Expressions: Pregnancy and Childbirth Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 17, 2017
I’m due soon with my second son and so have had pregnancy and birth on my mind a lot lately. I’ve always loved the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s use of birth and pregnancy in his writings to denote giving birth to ideas in philosophy. In one famous example, Nietzsche wrote, “What saved me then [from madness]? Nothing…
More Faux Amis Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 10, 2017
We’ve gone over faux amis, or false cognates, on the Transparent Language blog before (here and here). But faux amis are one of the most likely vocabulary issues to trip up new French learners…so it is always worth going over again! For a quick recap, les faux amis are words that seem to be the same in…
Analyzing French Expressions: De Souche Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 6, 2017
There’s an expression that you might come across in your French studies: français de souche. What does this mean? Let’s take a look at the term souche and all the different expressions in which it can be used. In French, souche literally means “stump,” as in the stump of a tree. But it also means “origins,” as in one’s…