Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Who’s the Best: Yves Montand Or Édith Piaf? Posted by Hichem on Jun 11, 2011
Today everyone is invited to vote, even though le départage, the “decide between” two towering giants of French song such as Yves Montand and Édith Piaf is by no means an easy task! Yves Montand’s “Sous le ciel de Paris” Édith Piaf’s “Sous le ciel de Paris” * “SOUS LE SOLEIL DE PARIS” (“Under the Paris Sky”)…
The French Robot from EuroTrip Posted by Hichem on Jun 10, 2011
As the fin de semaine (end of the week) is already upon us, what could be better than something to remind you of a fun “French souvenir“, so to speak. If you watched (over and over, for some) the movie “EuroTrip“, the now “classic” American comedy that hit the theaters a few years ago, you cannot…
Monsieur Balzac Asks: How Well Can You Do French Conjugaison? Posted by Hichem on Jun 9, 2011
Imagine one second that your French teacher asks you by surprise: “Passez au tableau” (“Come to the blackboard”) to write the full conjugaison of the verb “faire” (“to do”)—“Que faire?” (“What to do“?) Whatever you “do”, ne panique pas(don’t panic)! As you will see in the tables listed below, it’s far from being a “UNE…
Out of a “Nouveau Monde” (“New World”) Posted by Hichem on Jun 9, 2011
Les paroles (the lyrics) of today’s song contain an unusual feature, do you think you can identify it? Need un indice (a hint)? Many words in French sound similar (homophones): Pot (meaning “pot” in English) and peau (skin); fer (iron) and the verb faire (to do), etc.! * * * Mypollux – “Notre Nouveau Monde” *…
Édith Piaf: A Love Hostage to the Vagaries of “La Foule” (“The Crowd”) Posted by Hichem on Jun 7, 2011
Who said that la culture française rarely opened itself to cross-border influence and inspiration, and that the French always lived secluded within the stone walls of their village gaulois ? 🙂 With her outstanding song “La Foule” (“the Crowd”), Édith Piaf dispels such a misconception about her country, by interpreting a Peruvian Waltz titled “Que nadie sepa mi…
Who’s Haunted by “Le Fantôme de l’Opéra”? Posted by Hichem on Jun 2, 2011
As your keen powers of observation have infallibly prompted you to notice, it is the second time d’affilée (in a row) that des fantômes (ghosts) boast a prominent appearance here on The French Blog… But don’t panic just yet, or speed dial the “S.O.S. Fantômes” (“Ghostbusters”) emergency line. Unlike “Ça” of the previous post, today’s phantom wears no makeup or some silly pair of chaussures rouges…
French Homophones: “Ça”, “çà”, and “sa” Posted by Hichem on May 30, 2011
Whether or not you’ve been fully or partially diagnosed with a desperately incurable case of “coulrophobie” (that -please don’t laugh- is the serious term that applies to the “phobia of clowns”), using “ça” in French grammar should not be as terrifying of an experience as, say, watching all alone in the grim darkness of…