{"id":25349,"date":"2016-11-29T05:36:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T04:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=25349"},"modified":"2019-09-14T21:22:03","modified_gmt":"2019-09-14T19:22:03","slug":"le-plus-important-des-jours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/le-plus-important-des-jours\/","title":{"rendered":"Le plus important des jours . . . *"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novembre touche \u00e0 sa fin. <\/strong>(November is almost over.) <\/em>As I was reflecting on the last month and thinking about this week’s post, it struck me that November is a month full of momentous jours <\/strong>(days) . . . <\/em>some are specific to us here in the US, but at least one should be on the calendars of every Francophile (especially ceux qui aiment le vin<\/a>! \/ <\/strong>those who love wine!)<\/em><\/p>\n

Le premier jour important de novembre est le premier mardi (sauf si le premier mardi est aussi le premier du mois!).<\/strong> (The first important day in November is the first Tuesday (unless the first Tuesday is also the first of the month!)<\/em>) Try to keep that one straight! In any case, the first Tuesday in November every four years here in the US is the day on which we vote for president.<\/p>\n

Le deuxi\u00e8me jour important est le 11 novembre.<\/strong> (The second important day is November 11.) <\/em>Le 11 novembre<\/strong> in France is Armistice Day<\/a> which marks the end of World War I. This year le 11<\/strong> was a vendredi<\/strong> (Friday), <\/em>but if it had been a mardi<\/strong> or a jeudi<\/strong> (Tuesday, Thursday<\/em>) you can bet that the French would have taken advantage to faire le pont<\/strong><\/a> (make the bridge)!**<\/em><\/p>\n

Novembre est aussi le mois de l’Action de Gr\u00e2ce . . . du moins aux \u00c9tats-Unis.<\/strong> (November is also the month of Thanksgiving … in the US at least.)<\/em> In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on le deuxi\u00e8me lundi d’octobre<\/strong> (the second Monday in October). <\/em>Thanksgiving remains by and large a North American holiday little known to most French people, but you can always find a few good ex-pat gatherings and even some restaurants and stores to meet your needs if you find yourself in Paris on the quatri\u00e8me jeudi de novembre<\/strong> (fourth Thursday in November).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"640px-charnay_vue_generale\"

^^ A vineyard in Beaujolais<\/p><\/div>\n

Between le 11 novembre<\/strong> and l’Action de Gr\u00e2ce <\/strong>though is the all-important day for those\u00a0qui aiment le vin. Le troisi\u00e8me jeudi de novembre voit l’arriv\u00e9e du Beaujolais Nouveau!<\/strong> (The third Thursday of November sees the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau!<\/em>) The Beaujolais Nouveau is a red wine from the Beaujolais region of Frace to the north west of Lyon. Every year the first harvest is pressed, quickly fermented, and shipped out around the world . . . but cannot legally be sold until le troisi\u00e8me jeudi de novembre.<\/strong> Because it is processed so little, the Beaujolais Nouveau is a very fruity wine that is best enjoyed frais <\/strong>(fresh, or cool).<\/em> For some it is a last taste of summer, for others, the first taste of fall.<\/p>\n

Vocabulaire utile <\/strong>\/ Useful vocabulary<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Les jours de la semaine<\/strong> \/ The days of the week***<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
lundi<\/td>\nMonday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mardi<\/td>\nTuesday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mercredi<\/td>\nWednesday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
jeudi<\/td>\nThursday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vendredi<\/td>\nFriday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
samedi<\/td>\nSaturday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dimanche<\/td>\nSunday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Les mois de l\u2019ann\u00e9e<\/strong> \/ The months of the year<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
janvier<\/td>\nJanuary<\/td>\njuillet<\/td>\nJuly<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
f\u00e9vrier<\/td>\nFebruary<\/td>\naout<\/td>\nAugust<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mars<\/td>\nMarch<\/td>\nseptembre<\/td>\nSeptember<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
avril<\/td>\nApril<\/td>\noctobre<\/td>\nOctober<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mai<\/td>\nMay<\/td>\nnovembre<\/td>\nNovember<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
juin<\/td>\nJune<\/td>\nd\u00e9cembre<\/td>\nDecember<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nombres ordinaux <\/strong>\/ Ordinal numbers****<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
premier \/ premi\u00e8re<\/td>\nfirst<\/td>\nsixi\u00e8me<\/td>\nsixth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
deuxi\u00e8me<\/td>\nsecond<\/td>\nsepti\u00e8me<\/td>\nseventh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
troisi\u00e8me<\/td>\nthird<\/td>\nhuiti\u00e8me<\/td>\neighth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
quatri\u00e8me<\/td>\nfourth<\/td>\nneuvi\u00e8me<\/td>\nninth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
cinqui\u00e8me<\/td>\nfifth<\/td>\ndixi\u00e8me<\/td>\ntenth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Finally, last week<\/a> we talked about changes and about regrets. Well here’s a change I never thought I’d see in France. In an effort to address a growing problem of gaspillage allimentaire <\/strong>(food waste), <\/em>France has adopted une loi <\/strong>(a law)<\/em> requiring restaurants to offer customers doggy bags (which, no kidding, they call “le doggy bag<\/a>“<\/strong>). The law has been in effect since January, but I only just heard about it over dinner recently during a visit from my beau-frere et belle-soeur<\/strong> (bother and sister-in-law) visiting from Paris.<\/p>\n

Also from last week, I used a picture of the cover of a small work by Diderot, Regrets sur ma vielle robe de chambre <\/strong>(Regretting (parting with) my old bathrobe). <\/em>In 1988, more than 200 years apres la mort de Diderot<\/strong> (after Diderot’s death)<\/em>, the work gave rise to the term “the Diderot effect<\/a>” which describes consumption habits. Clearly he was a man ahead of his time!<\/p>\n

* The most important day<\/p>\n

** November 11 is also Veteran’s Day<\/a> here in the US when we remember all of those who have fought and died in the many wars in which the United State’s has participated over its history.<\/p>\n

*** Note that days of the week (and months of the year) are only capitalized in French when they come at the start of a sentence. As a general rule, they use lower-case.<\/p>\n

**** Ordinal numbers tell us what order<\/em> things go in. The word for first<\/em> (premier \/ premi\u00e8re) <\/strong>has both masculine and feminine forms.<\/p>\n

Image Credits:
\n^^ By Camster – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=18718368<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Novembre touche \u00e0 sa fin. (November is almost over.) As I was reflecting on the last month and thinking about this week’s post, it struck me that November is a month full of momentous jours (days) . . . some are specific to us here in the US, but at least one should be on…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":25357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4540,2149,11656,316,432],"class_list":["post-25349","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-canada","tag-france","tag-french-blog","tag-french-culture","tag-french-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