Meet Steven, A Devoted French Student
This story is derived from the chapters of our e-book titled “Learn French? Of Course You Can”. For the all the stories visit our online store to download our ebook. FOR ME, THE PROCESS OF LEARNING has centered on repetition and exposure to the language. I try to space out my lessons so that they are every other day, or every third day, on the days I...Read More
More or no more? – How to Use Plus in French
Plus de pain ? Plus de fromage ? Plus de gateau ?…” We have witnessed on several occasions our foreign guests get a little confused when, invited to a dinner by a French family, they are asked such questions. “More bread or no more bread? More cheese or no more cheese? More cake or no more cake?… What was the question, exactly?” Very few short French...Read More
Expressing Quantities in French
If you try to translate all the sentences below in French, you might get a bit muddled. Expressing quantity in French is tricky. The French have a specific list of words to communicate either vague or specific quantities. ‒I would like some water please! ‒Right away! Do you wish a bottle or a glass of water? And more wine? ‒No, no more wine, just a few glasses of water for everyone!...Read More
An vs année, jour vs journée, etc. How to Know Which One to Use?
Who has not been confused over the difference between jour vs journée, soir vs soirée and an vs année? The reasons for using one or the other can be complicated, therefore, I would like to give an easy and straight forward explanation. The idea is to avoid thinking too much about it when speaking to a French person. In a nutshell, you should use the shorter version: jour, soir and an...Read More
French essential key expressions, idioms and verbs
To add to our previous lists of expressions published in our Free eMagazine French Accent Magazine where we provided some “do’s” and “don’ts” of typical mistakes that frequently result from making a direct and literal translation from English to French, we have come up with an additional list. These common errors are what differentiate a French native speaker from a...Read More
How to Use the French Accent Marks
How to use French accent marks, on which letters, how they affect pronunciation… This is certainly one the mysteries of the French Language that usually puzzles many students who speak a language in which accents do not exist! And yet, they are very important as they definitely change the pronunciation of the words, and can even change their meaning. We also give a few...Read More
Gender in French – Masculin ou féminin ?
One of the major challenges that drives many of our students crazy is that every noun has a gender in French! It has a to either masculine (masculin) or feminine (féminin). Globally, there is no specific reason for it; the determination of its gender depends very much on its origin, with the suggestion that the word refers to something which is supposed to be more masculine or...Read MoreMeet Jim, A Californian Who Loves France!
This story is derived from the chapters of our e-book titled “Learn French? Of Course You Can”. This article is a 10 minute read. For the complete story visit our online store to download our ebook. We could go on for hours. Jim never tires of speaking about this country that he simply adores, and he loves the French, too, whom he finds...Read More
Top 6 Tips on Learning French
In this article, we would like to offer a few suggestions and tips to help you learn French efficiently. We hope you will find it useful and interesting. When learning a foreign language, we know that it can be exciting, motivating, rewarding and fun but inevitably, at times, it can also be discouraging, frustrating and difficult – it is a bit like a roller coaster. Don’t...Read More