Archive by Author
Today’s Post is Brought to You by the Letter….H! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Mar 12, 2015
The letter H in French is, of course, only one letter, but it can cause a problem in speaking and spelling if you’re not familiar with the concepts of h aspiré (aspirated H) and h muet (silent H). Despite the name ‘silent H,’ both Hs are silent: you never pronounce an H in French*. Hurray…
Be CaReFuL! Final Consonant Pronunciation in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Mar 5, 2015
Behind French’s beautiful sounds is a very complicated pronunciation system. Unlike Spanish, for example, the words aren’t always pronounced as they’re spelled; c’est-à-dire que c’est n’est pas une langue phonétique (that is to say that isn’t not a phonetic language). Why are –er, –é, –ay, –ai, –ais, –ait, and –aient all pronounced the same? It’s…
15 Interesting Facts about the Pope’s Palace Posted by Josh Dougherty on Feb 26, 2015
No, we’re not talking about the Vatican. For about 70 years, 7 successive popes ruled from Provence in the south of France. The history is very long and interesting, and si vous voulez connaitre l’histoire à fond (if you want to learn about it in depth), I’ve included 2 YouTube documentaries at the bottom. This post is…
Tout sur Tout: Everything You Need to Know about Tout Posted by Josh Dougherty on Feb 20, 2015
Tout is a very versatile word in French — you’ll generally find it means “all,” but you’ll notice different meanings when you see all its forms. This little word can be used as an adjective, an adverb, a noun, and a pronoun, and all with varying forms. We’ll go over all of those separately. I…
Get Yourself A Valentine – Pick-up Lines in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Feb 10, 2015
Well, it’s that time of the year. You either have a Valentine, want one, or completely dislike the holiday. No matter your feelings, love is something that needs to be experienced, so if you’re single and ready to mingle and want to try meeting some new people, why not do it in French? After all…
How to French Kiss — But Not That Way! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Feb 6, 2015
We aren’t talking about THAT French kiss (that’s une pelle – literally, a shovel. The verb for to French kiss is rouler une pelle [to wrap/roll a shovel]- you can put that image together.), no, we’re going to talk about the art of la bise (kiss). When meeting someone in France, faire la bise is…
Sur le pont d’Avignon Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jan 29, 2015
♪ Sur le pont d’Avignon, on y danse, on y danse, sur le pont d’Avignon, on y danse tous en rond. ♪ Even before I started learning French in high school, I’d heard this song when I was younger because my mom would sing it to me and my sister. Just like Frère Jacques and Alouette, it’s…