{"id":32195,"date":"2020-08-04T05:30:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T03:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=32195"},"modified":"2020-08-24T00:21:11","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T22:21:11","slug":"french-vocabulary-for-the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-vocabulary-for-the-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"French Vocabulary – For the birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s post is brought to you in part by my trip this weekend to la plage<\/strong> (the beach).<\/em> In these times of social distancing1<\/a><\/sup>Dit la distanciation physique, distanciation sociale, ou \u00e9loignement sanitaire en fran\u00e7ais.<\/span> a trip to the beach seemed like a relatively safe bet what with all the fresh air, sun, and space.<\/p>\n

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As I relaxed sur la sable<\/strong> (on the sand<\/em>) I imagined the great post I could write about all the words for things you see \u00e0 la plage<\/strong> \u2026 sadly I quickly discovered we\u2019ve already covered the beach<\/em> here on the Transparent Language French blog!<\/p>\n

Quoi faire\u00a0?!<\/strong> (What to do\u00a0?!)<\/em> Fortunately I wasn\u2019t entirely out of luck, because one of the things I saw \u00e0 la plage<\/strong> gave me another idea.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more words to add to your vocabulaire de la plage<\/a>: la mar\u00e9e<\/strong> \/ the tide<\/em>; mar\u00e9e haute<\/strong> \/ high tide<\/em>; mar\u00e9e basse<\/strong> \/ low tide<\/em>; les vagues<\/strong> \/ the waves<\/em>; le ma\u00eetre-nageur sauveteur\/la ma\u00eetre-nageuse sauveteuse<\/strong> \/ the lifeguard<\/em>2<\/a><\/sup>Apparently now known as \u00ab \u00e9ducateur sportif des activit\u00e9s de la natation \u00bb<\/strong> \/ sports instructor for activities related to swimming !<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n

Les noms des oiseaux<\/strong><\/p>\n

So left without any good beach vocabulary, this week we look at les oiseaux<\/strong> (birds). Starting with:<\/p>\n

la mouette<\/strong> \/ gull, sea gull<\/em><\/p>\n

la cigogne<\/strong> \/ stork<\/em><\/p>\n

l\u2019oie<\/strong> \/ goose<\/em><\/p>\n

l\u2019aigle<\/strong> \/ eagle<\/em><\/p>\n

le colibri<\/strong> \/ hummingbird<\/i><\/p>\n

le cygne<\/strong> \/ swan<\/em><\/p>\n

l\u2019hirondelle<\/strong> \/ swallow<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

le flamant rose<\/strong> \/ the pink flamingo<\/em><\/p>\n

le rossignol<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>Rossignol is also the name of the famous French ski and sports equipment manufacturer<\/a>.<\/span> \/ nightingale<\/em><\/p>\n

le\u00a0<\/strong>corbeau<\/b>\u00a0\/ raven, crow<\/em>4<\/a><\/sup>The proper term for crow<\/em> is actually une corneille<\/strong>, but most French people will call them corbeau<\/strong> (even if that is really the word for raven<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n

le moineau<\/strong> \/ sparrow<\/em><\/p>\n

le piaf<\/strong> \/ sparrow<\/em>5<\/a><\/sup>While the correct term is moineau<\/strong>, the sparrow is also known as a piaf <\/strong>in common language. Piaf, is also, of course, the stage name of one of France\u2019s greatest singers.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

le perroquet<\/strong> \/ parrot<\/em><\/p>\n

le paon<\/strong> \/\u00a0peacock<\/em><\/p>\n

le hibou<\/a>, la chouette<\/a><\/strong>6<\/a><\/sup>According to this article<\/a>, while often assumed to be the male and female of the same species, les chouettes et les hiboux<\/strong> are actually different animals … though we call both of them\u00a0owls<\/em> in English.<\/span> \/ owl<\/em><\/p>\n

A la semaine prochaine!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you notice a few birds missing from the list above? I\u2019ve saved a few for an upcoming post<\/a> when we\u2019ll look at the birds (and other animals) of la basse-cour<\/strong>.<\/p>\n