Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Talking About Music In French Posted by John Bauer on May 3, 2017
Listening to music is a fun and easy way to not only learn more, but also have fun while doing it! Singing along to Stromae or Baptiste W. Hamon hardly feels like studying, but it is an amazingly useful way to improve your French. I have always loved music and used to be involved in…
It’s spring and inspiration is in the air Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 2, 2017
May has returned and with it the beautiful weather of le printemps (spring) at least here in my little corner of the world. In France that means – even with the stress of les élections présidentielles (the presidential elections), which are particularly heated this year*, and a recent spate of cold weather in the north…
The Origin Of L’Ordinateur – Computers In French Posted by John Bauer on Apr 26, 2017
New technologies comme (like) the Internet and computers need new words to describe them. Those new words either comes from adaptations of older words or are completely new inventions. One such word is computer in French: ordinateur. Le nom (the noun) computer comes from le verbe (the verb) to compute, which originally comes from the…
What would you do? Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 25, 2017
Last summer I asked ‘what I did‘ and ‘what you are going to do‘ (looking at the past and future tenses in song). This week, a look at another French tense – and a new song – to learn about le conditionelle (the conditional). Le conditionelle is not actually a tense, but a mood…
A final trip to the store Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 18, 2017
Last week* we took a tour around France and learned about les gentilés (‘the names of the inhabitants’) of a number of French cities and towns. This week we’ll complete our shopping trip with a look at the new food labeling coming to France en avril (in April). In order to help les consommateurs…
French Expressions: Pregnancy and Childbirth Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 17, 2017
I’m due soon with my second son and so have had pregnancy and birth on my mind a lot lately. I’ve always loved the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s use of birth and pregnancy in his writings to denote giving birth to ideas in philosophy. In one famous example, Nietzsche wrote, “What saved me then [from madness]? Nothing…
Joyeuses Pâques ! Easter Vocabulary in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Apr 15, 2017
This week has been a holy one for Christians around the world. It’s called Paschal Triduum (and is sometimes referred to as the Easter Triduum), and it contains 3 important days in the life of Jesus Christ. Maundy Thursday (jeudi saint) commemorates the Maundy (the Washing of the Feet) and the Last Supper. Good Friday…