Archive for 'Grammar'
French Grammar – Tell me why Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 28, 2020
Recently we looked les pronoms démonstratifs. You remember, those words that help answer the question “Which ______?” This week we’ll look at how to respond to the question “Pourquoi?” using a few useful conjunctions. Parce que Anyone with little children is used to hearing them ask “Pourquoi?” (“Why?”). It’s a question that follows us throughout our lives…
French Language – Demonstrative Pronouns Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 14, 2020
Pronouns are handy – they can save us from repeating the same nouns over and over again – and important – as you get deeper into language learning, knowing your pronouns will help you understand more … and sound more like a native! But pronouns can also be tricky. An especially tricky category of pronouns is…
French Language – Gender Neutrality Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 15, 2019
One of the trickier aspects of learning to speak French, for the average English speaker at least, is dealing with the rules of gender. Not just remembering which nouns are masculin and which féminin, but also l’accord des adjectifs, keeping professions straight, and understanding why one man in a group of 99 women takes precedence…
Here and Now – More useful French expressions Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 12, 2019
Last June I wrote a post with common terms for describing où et quand (where and when) things happen. This week we’ll explore some more useful time and place terms (and enjoy a new song from the French musician/group Yelle). Ici ou ailleurs Français English ici here là there (or here, depending on the context)…
La Newsletter – Mixing Up Les Genres In French Posted by John Bauer on Jan 16, 2019
One of the hardest parts of learning French is trying to remember les genres des mots (the gender of words). The seemingly random choice of one word being masculin and another being féminin always leads to making mistakes. Sometimes the fast pace au bureau (at the office) doesn’t leave time for corrections and small errors…
Egg In Your Eyes – Difficult French Voyelles Posted by John Bauer on Oct 17, 2018
Confusing simple things in a new language is so common it can be more surprising when it doesn’t happen than when it does. While mixing up the meaning of un mot (a word) happens all the time, when le mot has a sound that doesn’t exist en anglais it leads to different kinds of mistakes…
French Grammar – Relative Pronouns Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 9, 2018
Relative pronouns help add clarity to language by identifying the who, what, where, or when. This week we’ll look at the three main pronoms relatifs (relative pronouns) in French: qui, que, and où. Qui When it stands alone or comes at the start of a sentence, qui generally means who? Qui ? / Who? Qui…