Archive for 'Grammar'
French Hard? Hakuna Matata! Learn French Through Disney Songs! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Oct 15, 2015
Have you ever been speaking a foreign language and you suddenly forget a simple word? It’s happened more times than I’d like to admit, but that’s part of foreign language experience. (Who am I kidding? Happens to me in English sometimes, too :-p ). Maybe I should start taking ginkgo biloba? Anyway, I’ll be speaking…
Super Scary…Superlatives! Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 12, 2015
For the remainder of October, we will be tackling difficult grammar in the “Super Scary” series. This week is “Super Scary…Superlatives!” Superlatives are adverbs or adjectives that signify the greatest degree or amount of the verb or noun used. In English this would be: “She wrote the best book on the subject.” Here, “best” is…
So Many Confusing Pairs! Encore vs. Toujours Posted by Josh Dougherty on Oct 1, 2015
Continuing this week with another post in the confusing pairs series, today we’re going to look at 2 little words that can have 10 English meanings. Their usage overlaps in some cases, so it’s very easy to mix the two up. Si vous n’avez pas encore deviné les 2 mots (If you haven’t already guessed the 2…
Drill This Dans Vos Têtes! Confusing Pairs: Dans vs. En Posted by Josh Dougherty on Sep 24, 2015
Last week, I discussed the confusing pair of c’est and il est; both mean the same thing in English, but their usage in French depends on what words you have around them. Today we’re going to look at another noninterchangeable pair that’s confusing for English speakers – and trust me, I would know. I confused…
French Pronominal Verbs Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Sep 21, 2015
Pronominal verbs are verbs that require an extra pronoun and are also known as reflexive verbs. These kind of verbs can be especially tricky for English speaks because they are utilized in many common phrases in French that would not be reflexive in English. Actually, pronominal verbs (or reflexive verbs) aren’t used all that often…
Il est facile? C’est facile? Confusing Pairs: C’est vs. Il Est Posted by Josh Dougherty on Sep 18, 2015
French has many confusing pairs for new learners. This mostly stems from the fact that these pairs only have 1 English equivalent that just doesn’t work in French. For example: Quelle est la différence entre an et année (What’s the difference between an and année)? In English, they both mean year, but the two words…
Past Participle Agreement with the Verb Avoir Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Sep 14, 2015
Today we are going to look at the verbs avoir and être — the most common verbs in French, which are used to form the simple past tense. As you know, different verbs in the past tense take either avoir or être. While most past participles take the verb avoir, there are some very common verbs that take être. You may have learned the…