Tag Archives: French language
French Culture – Retro Pubs 2 Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jul 16, 2019
This week we enjoy another vintage commercial from the 1980’s. This one features (amazingly) the chanteur français (French singer) Patrick Bruel (même un très jeune Patrick Bruel / and a very young Patric Bruel, at that). Français English Moi j’ai le plan pour les vacances* I’ve got the plan for vacation Je prends le train…
French Culture – Retro Pubs Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jul 9, 2019
When I lived in France in the 1980’s, I found popular culture, including commercials, to be a powerful way to connect with and to learn French. J’étais donc enchanté (I was therefore charmed) to stumble across this great YouTube clip (video) that features de biens bons (some great ones). Over the next few weeks, I’ll…
French Culture – Current(ish) Events Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 25, 2019
As you know, I had the great privilege of studying in France au lycée (in high school). I also enjoyed returning during my junior year (3rd year) à l’université (in college*). Reading a recent New York Times article, I learned that that was just one thing I shared with the late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Une…
French vocabulary – Food shopping Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 4, 2019
While it is true that there are more and more épiceries (grocery stores) in France and that more people font leurs emplettes dans des grands-surfaces (do their shopping in big stores) or in des supermarchés (super markets), most Français (French people) still do a fair amount of their food shopping in small, often-family-owned shops that…
French Colors and Commercials Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 28, 2019
We’ve talked about colors in the past. And we’ve looked at a pub (French TV commercial) for Haribo as well. But these two that I came across recently do such a good job of combining the two, that I just had to share them. They also provide a nice illustration of the useful French verb préférer. Je…
French Vocabulary – Cleaning Up Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 14, 2019
Spring is the perfect time for cleaning … that’s why we call it “spring cleaning!” So ouvrez les fenêtres (open the windows), sortez les balais et les serpillères (get out the brooms and the rags*), et commençons (and let’s begin)! Le nettoyage de printemps Spring cleaning (also known in French as le ménage de printemps…
French Wit Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 23, 2019
When I was first living in France and learning French, understanding humour was one of things that took me the longest. As John discussed recently, a lot of this is due to the fact that so much humour depends on more than simply understanding the words. It’s also because, for the French, humour is an…