Tag Archives: French music
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…
Qu’est-ce que j’ai fait?* Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 31, 2016
In 1986, Sabine Paturel had a hit with the song “Les bêtises“. There is just a handful (une poignée) of verbs in French that use the verb être to form the past tense, but most verbs in the passé composé are formed using the verb avoir (to have). Les bêtises gives you lots of chances…
L’heure de la sortie / Quitting Time Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 17, 2016
Listening to one of my old favorites in the car the other day, I got to thinking about French expressions for time and in particular the difference between some very common expressions that, while not exactly confusing, can trip up the novice and experienced language learner alike. You see, the French have two words for…
A singer captures mon cœur Posted by Tim Hildreth on May 10, 2016
Not every country is lucky enough to have a former model as their “first lady”, but France isn’t just any country! Carla Bruni Sarkozy, the wife of France’s former president, Nicolas Sarkozy (president from May 2007 – May 2012)* is not only a model, but also an accomplished singer. Italian by birth, Carla Bruni grew…
French Music: Indila Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Nov 9, 2015
Have you heard of a singer-songwriter named Indila? Indila is a French musician whose first album, Mini World, came out in 2014 to great acclaim. Indila is of Cambodian, Egyptian, and Algerian descent and uses musical influences from each of these cultures in her songs. In particular, she has stated that Algerian räi music has been a…
Top 5 Francophone Albums Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Apr 6, 2015
Listening to music is a great way to learn another language. Why? It is easier to memorize melodies and lyrics together than to just memorize sentences. Something in my brain is triggered when I hear music and, although I wouldn’t say that I have a great memory, I remember every note and lyric of the songs…