Instrument Names in French Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jun 23, 2016
In my last post, I wrote about one of my biggest passions: l’opéra. I briefly mentioned some orchestra terms but focused more on what happens at an opera house. That being said, an opera can’t happen without an orchestra*, so I’d like to write more on the actual instruments. À mon avis, la voix est…
Is That Covered By Your Insurance In France? Posted by John Bauer on Jun 22, 2016
France is famous for l’amour et le vin (love and wine), and its culture that extends throughout the la francophonie. Cependant (however), France is also known for la bureaucratie et la paperasse (bureaucracy and paperwork). All countries have an element of la bureaucratie that can be extra difficult when you’re un étranger (a foreigner) and…
École le samedi ?!! * Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 21, 2016
C’est la fin de l’année scolaire (en France comme aux Etats-Unis). / It’s the end of the school year (in France and in the United States). In many ways school in France isn’t all that different from school in America, but in other ways, it’s quite different. School in France is highly centralized, and as…
French Grammar: The Past Conditional Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 20, 2016
The French past conditional, also called the conditional perfect, is used to express what could or would have happened in the past if things had happened differently. As described in my post on si clauses, the past conditional often can follow the past tense in si clauses. For example, “si j’avais su que le magasin…
Two Front Doors! – Special French Addresses Posted by John Bauer on Jun 15, 2016
Using La Poste and knowing what your adresse is solves most of your mail related problems in France. There is however another aspect of French addresses that I did not understand for a very long time. Sometimes une adresse has a number followed by the word bis. I didn’t know what the bis meant until…
A vous de choisir! * Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 14, 2016
Vous: Qu’est-ce que c’est que ça ? Une chanson ? Encore ? Moi : Et oui, encore une chanson ! J’aime la musique, pas vous ? Et je voudrais partager celle-là avec vous.** The verb vouloir means « to want » or « to want to ». It’s very useful for expressing what your wishes and desires are when communicating with your French friends. When…
French Baguettes Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 13, 2016
If I were to ask you what basic food the French are known for, what would you say? Many of you would respond that the French are famous for their cheese, which is true. A famous saying in French states that there are 365 different French cheeses–one for each day (il existe un fromage différent…