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Heat-Related Vocabulary in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jul 2, 2015
For the past couple of days, anyone in France who’s stepped foot outside or even opened a window has certainly noticed that Mother Nature a allumé le chauffage à fond (has turned the heat up on high)! It’s actually the result of hot winds making their way up from Africa. France isn’t the only one experiencing…
French Adverb Spelling Tips! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jun 25, 2015
Adverbs are a fun little part of a language – they’re used to modify adjectives, prepositions, verbs, and even other adverbs. La bonne nouvelle (the good news)? They’re invariable! No need to worry about all those tricky agreement rules. La mauvaise nouvelle (the bad news)? They sometimes follow pretty specific placement rules. Ok, the rules…
Cat Got Your Tongue? Cat-Related Expressions in French! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jun 18, 2015
Ah, June. The latin name is Junius. Roman déesse (goddess) Juno, the protector of and special counselor of the state, says the month was named after her. It’s also the month that starts summer. Warm temperatures and White Nights in the northern countries. At the beginning of the month, the sun rises in la constellation…
Love Locks on the Pont des Arts Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jun 11, 2015
Have you ever seen padlocks with initials on them attached to a bridge? It’s become a common practice for tourists and locals alike, but these locks are the source of headaches for city workers! Un « cadena d’amour » est un cadena qu’un couple accroche sur un pont pour symboliser publiquement leur amour (A “love…
Using “de” with French Verbs Posted by Josh Dougherty on May 29, 2015
One of my biggest problems when I started learning French was prepositions (quoi?? a preposition is a word showing relation to another word in the clause. Par exemple: I always color outside the lines.). They can be very tricky because new learners will always want to translate their native language into French, and it just…
France’s 2015 Eurovision Submission! Posted by Josh Dougherty on May 21, 2015
On Saturday night, most of Europe will be tuning in to the finale of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. If you’re not familiar with this contest, it’s an annual song competition with countries in the European Broadcasting Union participating. This year, for its 60th anniversary, the contest is taking place in Vienna, Austria, because last year’s…
Faire le Pont! – May Holidays in France Posted by Josh Dougherty on May 14, 2015
France, just like every other country, has many holidays throughout the year. With the creation of new holidays every year (such as National Doughnut Day — faites une croix dans vos calendriers [mark your calendars]! It’s June 5 this year!), it seems that there’s something to celebrate every day. Whether you believe in celebrating doughnuts…