Archive for 'Grammar'
Si, Señor! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 3, 2017
No, you’re not in the wrong place. This is indeed your favorite French blog. If you know any Spanish though, you’ll recognize this week’s title as Spanish for “Yes, Sir!“.* And while most people first learning French learn that the way to say ‘yes’, is ‘oui’, did you know that there are actually two ways…
Adjective Placement in French (Part 2) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Dec 12, 2016
Last week, we went over an easy acronym to help you determine where to place an adjective in relation to the noun it is modifying. However, as we know, there are exceptions to grammar rules. And with French adjective order, the rules can get tricky … particularly when certain adjectives change meaning depending on where…
Les Petites Noires Chaussures? Ou Les Petites Chaussures Noires? (Adjective Placement in French) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Dec 5, 2016
So, which one is right? Les petites noires chaussures? Or … les petites chaussures noires? Believe it or not, there are rules governing proper adjective placement in English, too, although we are not typically aware of them. Native English speakers typically can “feel out” whether something is correct or not by how it sounds. This is why you…
I Miss You! (Beginner Mistakes in French) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Nov 28, 2016
I’ll never forget a moment early on in my relationship with the man who would become my husband. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of days and so I thought I would sweetly (and honestly) tell him that I had missed him. “Je t’ai manqué,” I told him and then nervously waited for his…
Mea culpa Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 25, 2016
Did you catch it? My mistake last week? Non? Well, I’m glad! But I’m also sorry if I misled anyone. Halloween of course is le 31 octobre (October 31) which is still a week away! I was either so excited for les déguisements et les bonbons (costumes and candy) or I was simply not paying attention…
L’on vs. On – What’s the Difference? Posted by Josh Dougherty on Oct 20, 2016
Bon or bien? An or année? C’est or il est? Tu or vous? As a student of French, you often encounter tricky pairs that don’t have an exact equivalent in your language. They require additional studying with plenty of examples for them to finally click, but eventually they become second nature. We’ve discussed many of…
Pesky Pronouns: Y and En Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 4, 2016
In French, the most well known pronouns, of course, are je (I), tu (you singular), il/elle/on (he/she), nous (we), vous (you plural/formal), ils/elles (they). But there are many other–and more confusing–pronouns as well. The peskiest of these–and the most difficult for many French learners to master–is y and en. These pronouns are called, more precisely, adverbial pronouns because they actually act as adverbs, too. They replace both nouns…