Tag: french

capitals

frenchy-french:

I. generalities :

you can usually find a capital at the beginning of a sentence (Le train entre en gare) and of a proper noun (first name, city, country, planet…)

II. at the beginning of sentences :

you capitalise a/ the first letter of the first mot of a sentence, b/ the first word after an hyphen (un trait d’union -) or a colon (un deux-points 🙂 that expressed direct speech (ex : Elle m’a répondu : “ Je ne viendrai pas. “, c/ at the beginning of verses in classic poetry (ex : Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché…)

III. at the beginning of proper nouns :

you capitalise a/ the first letter of a first name or last name (Marianne Dumaret), nb : the preposition in compound names and the article in compound surnames don’t take a capital, ex : Jean de La Fontaine, Pierrot le Fou, b/ the first letter of titles (Madame la Comtesse, Votre Altesse), c/ the first letter of the names of locations, historical monuments or political institutions (la Loire, la Bastille, l’Assemblée nationale), nb : when a location has a compound noun, nouns take a capital but articles or prepositions don’t (Trouville-sur-Mer), d/ the first letter of the nouns of social and cultural institutions (la Sécurité sociale, l’Académie française), e/ the first letter of nouns expressing historical periods (les guerres de Religion, la Libération, la Renaissance)…

image

candygarnet:

shamwowxl:

wine-dark-sea:

ilyasaurus:

randomfandomteacher:

indigopersei:

broitsablog:

wildeisms:

@indigopersei is the french language just always on the verge of getting someone accused of assault or..?

my friend,
if only you knew

It’s a very dangerous language to learn

Here’s an interesting thing about French! Everything needs to have an article in front of it. That’s why it’s “la chat” as opposed to just “chat”. So, for instance, you could say la fille for the girl, or jeune fille for young girl, but you can’t just say fille, because that means you are calling her a sex worker in a derogatory way.

The moral of the story is, if you want to make something rude in French, just take out the article in front of it. Yes, this works for nearly. every. word.

#now I’m wondering how often my high school french teacher was silently screaming because of this little fact

Every year. Every year there’s that kid who forgets that you can’t translate “I am excited” to “Je suis excitée”. And every year Monsieur Jordan has to slam the brakes before that kid can finish his sentence and then tactfully ask him not to announce to the class that he is horny.

“is the french language always on the verge” oh buddy, oh pal, i am so happy to break this news to you: 

truly the language of love

candygarnet:

shamwowxl:

wine-dark-sea:

ilyasaurus:

randomfandomteacher:

indigopersei:

broitsablog:

wildeisms:

@indigopersei is the french language just always on the verge of getting someone accused of assault or..?

my friend,
if only you knew

It’s a very dangerous language to learn

Here’s an interesting thing about French! Everything needs to have an article in front of it. That’s why it’s “la chat” as opposed to just “chat”. So, for instance, you could say la fille for the girl, or jeune fille for young girl, but you can’t just say fille, because that means you are calling her a sex worker in a derogatory way.

The moral of the story is, if you want to make something rude in French, just take out the article in front of it. Yes, this works for nearly. every. word.

#now I’m wondering how often my high school french teacher was silently screaming because of this little fact

Every year. Every year there’s that kid who forgets that you can’t translate “I am excited” to “Je suis excitée”. And every year Monsieur Jordan has to slam the brakes before that kid can finish his sentence and then tactfully ask him not to announce to the class that he is horny.

“is the french language always on the verge” oh buddy, oh pal, i am so happy to break this news to you: 

truly the language of love

The Subjunctive

futurefrenchprof:

futurefrenchprof:

Bonjour!

I know I haven’t covered the Subjunctive on this blog yet, but for some of you this is review. I hope I can make this as clear as I can (because anyone who studies French knows how murky the water can be).

The Subjunctive uses:

  • To express doubt
  • To express an attitude
  • To express and opinion
  • To imply a hypothesis

How to Conjugate the verbs:

  1. Conjugate your verb for the 3rd person noun (Ils/Elles). For Nous and Vous, use their “Imparfait” endings
  2. Take off the ending -ENT and add the following endings
    • Regular -ER verbs
      • Je parle
      • Tu parles
      • Il/Elle/On parle
      • Nous parlions
      • Vous parliez
      • Ils/Elles parlent
    • Regular -IR verbs
      • Je finisse
      • Tu finisses
      • Il/Elle/On finisse
      • Nous finissions
      • Vous finissiez
      • Ils/Elles finissent
    • Regular -RE verbs
      • J’attende
      • Tu attendes
      • Il/Elle/On attende
      • Nous attendions
      • Vous attendiez
      • Ils/Elles attendent

    3. Enjoy the easiest part of the Subjunctive because it’s about to get real.

    4. Cry because of all of the irregular verbs

    • Aller -> aille, ailles, aille, allions, alliez, aillent
    • Avoir -> aie, aies, ait, ayons, ayez, aient
    • Être -> sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient
    • Faire -> fasse, fasses, fasse, fassions, fassiez, fassent
    • Pouvoir -> puisse, puisses, puisse, puissions, puissiez, puissent
    • Savoir -> sache, saches, sache, sachions, sachiez, sachent
    • Vouloir -> veuille, veuilles, veuille, voulions, vouliez, veuillent

Now that we know how to conjugate the tense plus we know the irregular verbs, it’s time to make the uses clearer:

The Subjunctive follows by expressions. Here are some expressions to know:

  • Ce n’est pas le peine que… -> It’s not worth the effort…
  • Il est bon que… -> It’s good that…
  • Il est dommage que… -> It’s a shame that…
  • Il est essentiel que… -> It’s essential that….
  • Il est étonnant… -> It’s surprise that…
  • Il faut que … -> It’s necessary that… (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT)

That’s a very, very brief list. Now, let’s put it all together!

  • Il est essentiel que je sois le meilleur. -> It’s essential that I am the best.
  • Je doute que tu aies beaucoup de argent. -> I doubt that you have a lot of money.
  • *Note* Espérer does NOT trigger the subjunctive: J’espère que le nouveau prof n’est pas trop strict. -> I hope the new prof isn’t too strict.
  • Il faut que nous sachions ton âge. -> It’s necessary that we know your age.
  • Vous souhaitez que j’apprenne plus de langue. -> You want me to learn more languages.

Practice! Conjugate these sentences with the verbs in parentheses!

  1. Je pense que tu _____ (être) mignon!
  2. Il faut qu’ils _____ (recevoir) la journal.
  3. Vous doutez qu’il vous ____ (connaître).
  4. J’espère que vous m’ _____ (aimer).

Answers!

  1. Je pense que tu es mignon! (This is not the subjunctive so don’t conjugate as such. Sorry for the trick question!)
  2. Il faut qu’ils reçoivent la journal.
  3. Vous doutez qu’il vous connaisse. (Make sure you pay attention and you conjugate the verb for the subject and not the direct object!)
  4. J’espère que vous m’aimez. (Not the subjunctive so don’t conjugate as such!)

I hope this was a big help!

À bientôt!

An important note to add to this post (years after making it) is that when the subject is the same, the subjunctive does not apply. Example :

  • Je doute que je vais recevoir une bonne note. – I doubt I’m going to get a good grade.

BUT if the pronoun is impersonal (il) followed by a personal pronoun (il/elle/on), it still takes the subjunctive. Examples :

  • Il est important qu’il fasse ces devoirs. – It’s important that he does his homework.
  • Il est nécessaire qu’il parte. – It’s necessary that he leaves.