{"id":30163,"date":"2018-05-01T05:56:42","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30163"},"modified":"2018-05-04T16:25:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T14:25:14","slug":"french-verbs-to-take-to-learn-to-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-verbs-to-take-to-learn-to-understand\/","title":{"rendered":"French Verbs – To Take, To Learn, To Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m hoping – despite the challenges<\/a> – to one day\u00a0\u00a0teach French full time. In order to be ready for that eventuality, I have gone back to school myself to get a Master’s degree in Education. A recent assignment on learning and understanding got me thinking about those verbs in French… and their connection to a third French verb.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Prendre, apprendre, comprendre<\/strong><\/p>\n

The English word\u00a0to take<\/em> might not seem to have much to do with\u00a0learning<\/em> or\u00a0understanding<\/em>, but the related\u00a0to grasp<\/em> certainly does. And both\u00a0to take<\/em> and\u00a0to grasp<\/em> can be translated in French as\u00a0prendre<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0prendre<\/strong> (to take, to grasp)<\/em>,\u00a0apprendre<\/strong> (to learn), <\/em>and\u00a0comprendre\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(to understand)<\/em> all share a common ancestor in the Latin\u00a0prehendere (to lay hold of)<\/em> – as do, by the way, the English words\u00a0apprehend <\/em>and\u00a0comprehend.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As you might imagine, the words are related in other ways. Due to their common ancestry, they all share a common pattern of conjugation. Once you can\u00a0conjugate one<\/a>, you can conjugate them all! All three are also very useful, particularly\u00a0prendre<\/strong>, which shows up in all sorts of useful places.<\/p>\n

Prendre<\/strong> \/\u00a0to take, to grasp<\/em><\/p>\n

You can, for example, say\u00a0“Prends ma main.” <\/strong>(Take my hand.)<\/em>

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Or you can\u00a0prendre un bain (ou une douche)<\/strong> (to take a bath (or a shower)<\/em>).

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

You can\u00a0prendre des m\u00e9dicaments<\/strong> (to take medications<\/em>).

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

And of course, you can\u00a0prendre des cours, des cours de fran\u00e7ais*, par exemple, pour apprendre le fran\u00e7ais!<\/b>\u00a0(to take courses\/lessons, French lessons, for example, to learn French!<\/em>).

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n
* Remember that when the word fran\u00e7ais<\/em> refers to the language or is used as an adjective to describe something (une jeune femme fran\u00e7aise \/ a young French woman<\/em>) it takes a lower case f<\/em>. Fran\u00e7ais<\/em> is only capitalized when used to refer to a citizen of France (or when it comes at the start of a sentence as it does here!). See this post<\/a> for more.<\/div>\n

Another useful expression is: \u00c7a me (ou tu me) prend\/s la t\u00eate!<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(That (or you) drive(s) me crazy!)<\/em>.

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

It’s a handy way to say that something (or someone) is bothering you, annoying, or preoccupying you.<\/p>\n

Apprendre<\/strong> \/\u00a0to learn<\/em><\/p>\n

Apprendre<\/strong> most commonly means to learn<\/em> as in:
\nMarie apprends \u00e0 jouer du piano<\/strong> (Mary learns\/is learning to play piano<\/em>).

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nNous apprenons le fran\u00e7ais <\/strong>(We learn\/are learning French).<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

But apprendre<\/strong> can also mean to teach <\/em>when it shows up in the construction apprendre quelque chose \u00e0 quelqu’un (to teach something to someone):
\n<\/em> Marie apprends \u00e0 jouer du piano \u00e0 son fils <\/strong>(Mary teaches\/is teaching her son to play piano).<\/em>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nNous apprenons le fran\u00e7ais \u00e0 nos enfants<\/strong> (We are teaching our kids French).<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Comprendre<\/strong> \/\u00a0to understand<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the most useful phrases when you’re first learning French is “Je ne comprends pas.”<\/strong> (I don’t understand.)<\/em>.

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Useful phrases that can go along with it include:
\nJe suis d\u00e9sol\u00e9(e)\u00a0<\/b>(I’m sorry)<\/em>,

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nEst-ce que tu peux\/vous pouvez r\u00e9p\u00e9ter, s’il te\/vous pla\u00eet?\u00a0<\/b>(Can you repeat that, please?)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nPeux-tu\/Pouvez-vous parler plus lentement, s’il te\/vous pla\u00eet?<\/strong> (Can you speak more slowly, please?).<\/em>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n
Remember that French has two forms for the English word you<\/em>. Find out more here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Photo credit\u00a0https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/classroom-lecture-hall-college-1699745\/ (CC0 License).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m hoping – despite the challenges – to one day\u00a0\u00a0teach French full time. In order to be ready for that eventuality, I have gone back to school myself to get a Master’s degree in Education. A recent assignment on learning and understanding got me thinking about those verbs in French… and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":30166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[408503,284,346,357,432,55189,12514],"class_list":["post-30163","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","category-vocabulary","tag-free-french-lesson","tag-free-french-lessons","tag-french-grammar","tag-french-language","tag-french-vocabulary","tag-grammaire-francaise","tag-vocabulaire-francais"],"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