Tag Archives: French vocabulary
French Language and Culture – At school Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 12, 2017
As I’ve mentioned before, ma tante Rose (my Aunt Rose) likes to send funny jokes and pictures from the internet. Her latest courriel (email) contained an attachment that sent me off on a little bit of an internet adventure. Unfortunately it meant a lot of extra digging. Fortunately it led to some fun discoveries that I’ll…
French Grammar – Putting an addition on the “the house of être” Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 5, 2017
êFrench uses helping verbs to form the past tense form known as the passé compose (the composed past)*. Most verbs use avoir as their helping verb while a select group though use être. While this rule is generally true, there is a special case when even verbs that usually take avoir use être to form…
French Vocabulary – Nap Time Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 28, 2017
Last Thursday we celebrated the very American holiday of Thanksgiving* here in the United States. And while Thanksgiving is not typically celebrated in France, some of my best memories from my times in France happened on or around Thanksgiving time. First some vocabulary After dinner Thursday, I entered a state lovingly referred to in the…
Buying a House (in French) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Nov 27, 2017
My husband and I recently bought our first house. It has been a welcome distraction, especially since we lost someone very important to us this year and we were getting lost in our grief. But it has also been chaotic, time-consuming, and a little scary, too! There are lots of things that I wasn’t familiar…
Reading Signs in French Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 14, 2017
A very important skill for traveling abroad is reading signs. This is as true in France as it is in any country. Reading the local signs isn’t generally a matter de vie ou de mort (of life or death), but sometimes it can mean the difference between privacy … and, well, wet shoes. I love…
Chartres Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 31, 2017
Located just over an hour to the southwest of Paris, the city of Chartres makes a perfect stop on the drive from Paris to points west (like la Bretagne). It is home to, among other things, the beautiful Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral. That, along with a nice lunch, is just about a perfect detour in…
The World Series…in French? Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 30, 2017
Believe it or not, baseball actually has a long history sur le sol français (on French soil). The first game played in France, occurred on March 8, 1889. Le premier championnat (the first tournament) took place during World War I. Today, baseball is known as a primarily American sport in France and is not given much media…