Tag Archives: French grammar
Plus ça change . . . * Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 22, 2016
Nostalgia, like jet-lag, is a modern phenomenon. Just like you can’t have jet-lag without jets – If you can’t change time zones faster than your body can adapt, you can’t lose sleep over it! – you can’t have nostalgia unless the present is significantly different from the past. And in today’s world – when so…
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…
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…
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…
Potpourri * Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 28, 2016
La semaine dernière (last week)**, we talked about changes in the French school week. Most notably about the change in the status of le mercredi. Once upone a time, Wednesday’s for younger children were filled with organized activities outside of school. For many older kids, Wednesday afternoons were filled with a trip to the movies…
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…
Que vas-tu faire? * Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 7, 2016
After last week’s example of the passé composé, I thought this week we’d take a look ahead . . . to the avenir (“the future”). There are two common ways of forming the future in French: the futur proche which like the passé composé is formed using an auxillary verb (recall that the passé composé…