{"id":22685,"date":"2015-12-09T14:47:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T13:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=22685"},"modified":"2017-10-24T14:50:01","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T12:50:01","slug":"22685-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/22685-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Your Pills! – Finding Batteries in France"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been having trouble with electronics<\/a> and hardware<\/a> these past few months. It seems that when one thing goes wrong it creates un effet domino<\/strong> (a domino effect).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I recently bought une souris sans fil<\/strong> (a cordless mouse), but forgot that it needs batteries to function. So I was surprised when ma souris<\/strong> stopped working il y a quelque jours<\/strong> (a few days ago), and I needed to buy new batteries. By now I know to look up what I want beforehand so I at least know what to ask for when I walk in the store.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I learned that une batterie<\/strong> is not always the same thing as a battery<\/em>. A car battery<\/em> or a computer battery<\/em> is une batterie<\/strong>, but a small disposable battery<\/em> is une pile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Une fois au magasin<\/strong> (once I was at the store), I walked up to the nearest employ\u00e9<\/strong> (worker) and asked them:<\/p>\n

Est-ce que vous avez des piles ?<\/strong>
\nDo you have batteries?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

L’employ\u00e9<\/strong> responded nicely:<\/p>\n

Oui, mais il faut demander \u00e0 la caisse.<\/strong>
\nYes, but you have to ask at the register.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pas de probl\u00e8me<\/strong> (no problem). I knew I had the right word because l’employ\u00e9<\/strong> understood what I was looking for. However, once I was at la caisse<\/strong>, I had a very swift French lesson.<\/p>\n

Quel type de pile ?<\/strong>
\nWhat kind of battery?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thinking it couldn\u2019t be much different than in English I simply said:<\/p>\n

Double A.
\n<\/strong>Double A.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The confusion on le visage du caissier<\/strong> (the cashier’s face) made me realize that\u2019s not how it\u2019s said in France. It turns out that a double A battery<\/em> is une pille AA<\/strong> (pronounced \u201cah-ah\u201d). I left the store slightly embarassed, but with better French than when I entered thanks to my mistake<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It also made me think about how with all these problems I\u2019m having, I think I know what to ask for Christmas<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I\u2019ve been having trouble with electronics and hardware these past few months. It seems that when one thing goes wrong it creates un effet domino (a domino effect). I recently bought une souris sans fil (a cordless mouse), but forgot that it needs batteries to function. So I was surprised when ma souris stopped working…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":28886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22685","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t