Tag Archives: French vocabulary
French pronunciation basics part 1 Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 7, 2017
In a recent reader survey, one of the top requests you, chers lecteurs, (dear readers) of the Transparent Language French blog made, was for more help with pronunciation. Providing a comprehensive overview of French pronunciation would take une éternité (an eternity / forever), but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a go at it! A…
Mind your manners Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 28, 2017
The French are very big on manners and following the rules of étiquette. You can read here about the rules for gift giving, here for proper greetings, and here for the rules for kissing (yes, they even have rules for that!). But do you know where the rules come from? The rules of French etiquette…
Funny French Expressions Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Feb 23, 2017
Recently, we’ve gone over French idioms and other common French expressions. But now let’s go over some funny French expressions that will have you laughing out loud (check out this post on the French equivalent of LOL–MDR). Avoir le cafard One of the most common French idiomatic expressions is a funny … if not odd… one…
Let’s eat! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 21, 2017
Everyone knows that the French love to eat (and that they know how to set a fancy table!). But do you know all of the different ways to talk about food in French? This week, we’ll review key vocabulary around eating . . . and drinking while we’re at it. Bon appétit!* On mange…
Love and animals? Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 14, 2017
Happy Valentine’s Day! C’est le 14 février*. Le jour des amoureux ! (It’s the 14th of February. The day of lovers!) In honor of the day, I thought a little song about love was in order. Malheureusement (Sadly), l’amour n’est pas toujours facile ! (love isn’t always easy!) So while today’s song is about love…
It’s all about you Posted by Tim Hildreth on Feb 7, 2017
Whereas English only has one from of the word ‘you’ (serving as both the singular and plural*) French, like many languages, has two (tu and vous). But do you know why? And do you know when to use them? ‘Tu‘ and ‘vous‘ are personal pronouns that replace (or refer to) the subject of a…
Rainbows Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 31, 2017
Spring is still many weeks away . . . at least up here in the hémisphère nord (northern hemisphere) and in the midst of un janvier froid et gris (a cold and grey January), I know we can all use a little taste of spring to get us through. En plus (And), last week’s post…