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Tout ce que tu veux voir (All You Want to See) Posted by on Nov 6, 2012

Vesoul, a little French town in eastern France, is also the title of a 1968 song by the prominent singer Jacques Brel, in which he delivers a super fast-paced valse (waltz.) Also in “Vesoul“, Brel famously screamed his “Chauffe, Marcel, chauffe!” (“Heat up, Marcel, heat up!“): Marcel is in fact Brel’s accordionist, Marcel Azzola, who…

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“BOUM!” The French Song in the New 007 Movie “SKYFALL” Posted by on Nov 2, 2012

The French song you are about to hear is called “Boum!!” (Yes, that’s the French spelling of the English “Boom“), which was prominently featured in a rather dramatic scene of the brand new 007 movie “Skyfall.” But unlike dynamite, C-4, nitroglycerin, or Semtex-based explosions of which James Bond is such a “bloody expert” (actually more of the…

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How to Easily Understand the French “Passé Composé” Posted by on Nov 1, 2012

We’ll try in today’s post to shed some light on the different uses of a special French grammatical tense called “le passé composé” —That way, you won’t be feeling too “tense” about it anymore! Actually, linguists nowadays prefer to speak of a “tiroir verbal” (literally “verbal drawer”) instead of un temps grammatical. And what was called for…

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Crossing the River Seine in Paris, France—On a HUGE Trampoline! Posted by on Oct 19, 2012

One of the most charming spectacles that Paris has to offer is walking by the Seine river, either while listening to an old Frenchman playing a beautiful tune on an accordéon, or simply enjoying the view of a bateau-mouche passing by near you. But imagine if you decided one day to increase the fun factor one notch…

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The Music School of Notre-Dame de Paris Posted by on Oct 8, 2012

In most recent times, Notre Dame de Paris tended to be exclusively linked with the art of Gothic architecture. But how about musical art? Other than the “big hit” musical “Notre de Dame de Paris“, based on Victor Hugo‘s works, not much else can be thought of in the mind of the general public by associating…

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French Grammar vs. English Grammar: Passive Voice Exceptions Posted by on Oct 4, 2012

It is an undeniable fact: English grammar is way more flexible (and in a way more “relaxed”) than its French counterpart. But that, of course, is not necessarily a French disadvantage: It is no pure coincidence that French has always been celebrated as “the language of clarity and precision”, and was for many centuries the…

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La Semaine Prochaine (Next Week) Posted by on Oct 1, 2012

There is something that you need to know about setting up appointments in French: When for example someone tells you “on se voit jeudi prochain“, although it may translate literally as the English “we meet up *next* Thursday”, i.e. not this upcoming Thursday but the Thursday of the following week, in reality it means the…

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