Tag Archives: free French lessons
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…
Salade de mots* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 11, 2016
Savez-vous planter des choux . . . et pourquoi l’on se bat pour des prunes ? (Do you know how to plant cabbages . . . and why one fights for plums?) French is full of interesting expressions about les fruits et les legumes (fruits and vegetables). This week I thought I’d share a few…
Le Temps: Both Time and Weather? Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 10, 2016
In French, le temps can mean both “time” and “weather”–which can be a bit confusing for new French learners. In French, le temps when referring specifically to time refers to time in the abstract. That means that you cannot ask the equivalent of “What time is it?” in French (Quel temps est-il, which is not correct). Rather, you would ask…
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…
Quoi de neuf?* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 4, 2016
It’s not always easy to keep up with the news, but a number of recent stories out of France and Canada caught my eyes and I thought I’d share some of them with you this week. Up first, some exciting news about one of the world’s great villes francophones (French-speaking cities). Québec has just been…
MDR* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Sep 27, 2016
Sometimes all you want to do is laugh. Au bureau la semaine dernière (Last week at work), I was introduced to a very funny video that I thought I’d share with you, chers lecteurs (dear readers). A collègue (coworker) over heard me speaking French with another collègue and thought we’d get a kick out of…
Oh la barbe! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Aug 23, 2016
Nous avons reçu la visite de mes beaux-parents et de notre tante récemment. (We recently had a visit from my in-laws and our aunt.) Ne me demandez pas comment (Don’t ask me how/why) but somehow we ended up talking about beards! French has many great expressions that incorporate the word “barbe” or that incorporate beards/facial…