Tag Archives: French language
DON’T Speak French—Talk to the Hand! Posted by Hichem on Sep 13, 2013
If you plan to go to Belgium to practice your French, better stay out of the small city of Menin, near the French borders—unless perhaps you got some good skills at expressing yourself with your hands. As of recently, the local authorities have decided that from now on it would be inacceptable (unacceptable) for anyone…
What do you like to do in your free time? Posted by Adir on Jun 26, 2012
Let’s suppose that you and your friends are on vacation so you ask each other what you like to do in your free time. Here are some suggestions! Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire pour t’amuser? [What do you like to do to have fun?] En géneral, qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire quand tu sors? [Usually…
French Language – Body Slang Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 9, 2009
As I’ve written before, understanding and then being able to use expressions and slang in another language is a huge step forward in the language learning process. So, I’ll let you in on some more French slang. These expressions sound like they have something to do with the body, but in fact, do not. Be…
French Language – Negation Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 28, 2009
In the French language, there are different ways to be negative…to express negativity. Perhaps the most common is when you want the sentence to be negative. In that case, you place ne before the main verb and pas after it. Or, if you want to say that you never do something, you place ne before…
French Language – Semi Auxiliaries Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 27, 2009
In the French language, semi-auxiliaries are the same as in the English language. They are multi-word verbs that occur before main verbs. In English, these semi-auxiliaries include: have to, get to, be about to, used to, mean to, be going to, etc. In French, many of the semi-auxiliaries are the same as the English ones…
French Language – Voilà or Il y a Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 17, 2009
Voilà is one of my favorite expressions in French. It just seems so French and much more appealing than its English equivalents: ‘there is’ and ‘there are’. However, you must be careful because Il y a has the same English translation so to speak, but the meaning or useage is different. Voilà is used as if you are pointing…
How to Make French Nouns Plural Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 11, 2009
Making nouns plural in the French language can be a bit more complicated than English, but perhaps not. Just like in English, you normally add an -s to the written form of the singular. I say written form, because usually the pronunciation doesn’t change one bit when using a plural noun, except for the links…