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Joyeux Anniversaire To You – French Birthdays Posted by John Bauer on Jun 17, 2015
Many people in ma famille celebrate their anniversaire (birthday) in juin (June), including me! Aujourd’hui (today) we’re going to take a look at how to wish someone a Happy Birthday. There are a two ways to say Happy Birthday in French: Joyeux anniversaire ! Bon anniversaire ! Très souvent (very often) a short phrase is…
Where Does The French Muffin Man Live? Posted by John Bauer on Jun 10, 2015
Il habite Chemin de Drury. I incorrectly said where I lived many times when I was learning French. The most important thing to remember is that it is not habiter à. En fait (in fact), the most common way to say where you live, when talking about a particular street, is to not use a…
Confusing French Stories Posted by John Bauer on Jun 3, 2015
There are some differences between the US and France that I took for granted. The first time I ordered a coffee, I was surprised by the size of the drink, and the first time I had a meeting in France I showed up at the right address, but on the wrong floor of the building!…
More Mistakes: Thinking in English Posted by John Bauer on May 27, 2015
Learning from des fautes (mistakes) is always useful. Les Français make many fautes when using French that can make learning the language faster and easier! En même temps (at the same time), there are many fautes that language learners make when their langue maternelle (native language) interferes. I wrote about des fautes French speakers make…
Sorry For Le Temps: Lessons From Mistakes Posted by John Bauer on May 20, 2015
There are many fautes (mistakes) that francophones make in French that are useful. The complicated conjugations also hide how easy things are. Cependant (however), there’s another easy French lesson that is often overlooked! When francophones speak English, they make fautes that show how they are thinking in French and directly translating their thoughts into English…
Spoken French: What Conjugations? Posted by John Bauer on May 13, 2015
Speaking French is easy! Sure, there’s a ton of conjugaisons, but they don’t always matter when you speak. I’ve touched on des fautes (mistakes) francophones make when writing French and how ces fautes can be useful in learning how to speak like un vrai français (a real French person). This time we’re not going to…
I Invoke The Right of Parley Posted by John Bauer on May 6, 2015
Do some fautes (mistakes) people make in English annoy you? Mixing up then and than or effect and affect? Des fautes that make no sense grammatically, but still happen all the time. Ces fautes might be annoying, but they provide a lot of insight into how people really parlent (speak). La semaine dernière (Last week)…