The Daily French

Word Match

2011-12-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Use the vocabulary you learned yesterday!

Bonus! Flash cards! Click here to download the PDF.

Fruits et Légumes

2011-12-05T21:00:00.001-05:00

Now for something slightly different! First in a series of visual vocabulary pictures:

Fruits and vegetables: a random selection.

Click here for full size version

Mots croisés de Noël

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Réponses!

Noël!

2011-12-02T15:39:00.001-05:00

With christmas music playing in every mall, grocery store and office building, it's hard not to get in the mood!

Here is a christmas themed crossword puzzle! It's a little bit more difficult, so feel free to use the dictionary, google and whatever else you please, and help each other in the comments :)

Answers tomorrow.

Wednesday Mad-Libs

2011-12-01T00:08:00.001-05:00

...in which I take a bunch of completely random* words from the dictionary for your vocabulary learning entertainment.

Our words today are:

aiguille	nom féminin
couloir	nom masculin
modeler	verbe
nerveux	adjectif
séance	nom feminin
table	nom feminin

What do they mean?

aiguille	needle, for sewing, or for injecting things into other things
couloir	hallway
modeler	to sculpt or to shape something
nerveux/se	nervous
séance	session, meeting
table	table

Let’s see these new words in action!

Aujourd’hui je pars pour une séance d’information avec ma couturière. La dernière fois que je l’ai vu elle était debout sur une table et modelait une reproduction de mon corps en argile à l’aide de ses aiguilles. Ça me rend très nerveuse surtout parce qu’elle vient de déménager au bout du couloir.

Today's challenge:

1. Read up on voodoo.

2. Continue the story.

*Actually chosen by l'internaute.

Going somewhere?

2011-11-29T10:44:00.001-05:00

How are you getting there? Well, I guess you could walk, but that might take a while depending on the distance.

une bicyclette (qc), un vélo (fr)	bicycle, (bike)
une automobile, une auto, un char (qc)	car
un camion	truck
un autobus	bus
un train	train
un traversier (qc), un transbordeur (fr)	ferry
un avion	plane
une fusée	rocket

And some verbs you might find useful:

marcher	to walk
courir	to run
nager	to swim
conduire	to drive
voyager	to travel
piloter	to pilot
prendre	to take
faire	to do

Now let’s put it together!

faire de la bicyclette (qc), faire du vélo(fr)	to ride a bike
conduire une auto[mobile]	to drive a car
conduire un camion	to drive a truck
prendre l’autobus	to take the bus
prendre le train	to take the train
prendre le traversier/transbordeur	to take the ferry
piloter un avion	to pilot a plane
prendre l’avion	to take the plane
piloter une fusée	to pilot a rocket
voyager en train, auto, autobus, avion	to travel by train, car, bus, plane

Just be glad you aren't travelling on this highway ;)

Verb of the day / A bit of pronounciation

2011-11-28T11:47:00.001-05:00

Your verb for today is Manger: to eat

Manger is a verb of the ER type. Its conjugation is fairly simple and follows the ER verb pattern, but with a slight exception! Due to the fact that it contains the letter g before the ER, it sometimes requires an extra e (which is not pronounced) when it lands in front of hard vowels such as a, u and o.

But why??

The letter G can be pronounced two ways in French. It can be hard (like in gust!) or soft (like in gin, but without the d sound.) The way it goes depends on the letter following it.

Soft Vowels	e	gémir, gèle, mangeais, neige
	i	gite, giraffe , girouette, gigantesque
	y	gynécologue, gyroscope
Hard Vowels	a	gamme, gamin, gant, gallop
	o	gomme, Congo, bingo,
	u	guérir, longue. guide *

*The u in those words is ONLY used to make the g hard, and is not pronounced. I think there must be a few words where the u is pronounced after a g, but I couldn’t come up with any…

Anyway, here is the verb Manger, conjugated for you, with the extra e’s highlighted.

Présent	Imparfait	Future simple
Today, I eat	Yesterday, I was eating	Tomorrow, I will eat
je mange tu manges il mange nous mangeons vous mangez ils mangent	je mangeais tu mangeais il mangeait nous mangions vous mangiez ils mangeaient	je mangerai tu mangeras il mangera nous mangerons vous mangerez ils mangeront

Your challenge:

1. Think of a word with a g in it where it’s pronounced softly and a word where it is pronounced hard. Bonus points for having both g’s in the same word!

2. Make a sentence describing what you are eating for lunch.

Scramble Answer

2011-11-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

The answer to yesterday's word scramble was:

"Fermes les lumières, je veux voir si ma lampe de poche fonctionne."

Congrats everyone who got it! :)

Saturday Puzzle!

2011-11-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

It's a word scramble!

Unscramble the tiles to reveal the secret message. Your hint is... LIGHT.

Vocabulary Bash!

2011-11-25T21:42:00.001-05:00

Today’s mostly random vocabulary topic is….. *drumroll* Light!

All kinds of lights!

The word for light is Lumière. But it comes from so many sources!

Here are some sources of light:

le soleil	The sun
la lune	The moon
La lampe	The lamp
La lampe de poche	The flashlight
Les lumières de noel	The Christmas lights
Le feu	The fire
Les phares	The headlights
La chandelle	The candle
Un briquet	A lighter

The word for lighting is éclairage.

Here are some adjectives that you can apply to both light and lighting! You will notice they have both the masculine and feminine form included, because while éclairage is a masculine word, (un éclairage), lumière is a feminine word. (une lumière).

Brillant(e)	Shiny
Fort(e)	Strong
Coloré(e)	Colored
Joli(e)	Pretty
Allumé(e)	Lit (turned on)
Éteint(e)	Extinguished (turned off)

Actually speaking of those last 2 adjectives (they can also be used on fire!), we light things just a bit differently! Here are some common expressions:

Allumer la lumière	To light the light	To turn the light on
Éteindre la lumière	To extinguish the light	To turn the light off

Also, in Québec it is very common to hear:

Ouvrir la lumière	Open the light	To turn the light on
Fermer la lumière	Close the light	To turn the light off

So if you’ve ever witnessed a Québecer asking you to “Close the light!”, now you know why.

Here are a few examples of these words in use:

Les lumières de Noël sont colorées.

Ces phares sont forts !

La chandelle est jolie.

Your challenge :

1. Find your candle stash *before* the next power outage.

2. Think of a lighting source I missed (in French! Use the dictionary!) and post it in the comments.

Wednesday Mad-Libs

2011-11-23T15:02:00.001-05:00

...in which I take a bunch of completely random* words from the dictionary for your vocabulary learning entertainment.

Our words today are:

cuisson	nom féminin
écriture	nom féminin
frein	nom masculin
neuf	adjectif numéral
sain	adjectif
suspendre	verbe
sexe	nom masculin

What do they mean?

une cuisson	the cooking or baking of something. e.g. une cuisson égale: an even bake
une écriture	handwriting, style of writing
un frein	brakes (like the ones on a car or a bike)
nine	nine (9)
sain(e)	sane, healthy
suspendre	to hang something up(like a coat on a hook), to suspend
le sexe	sex (gender) or sex.. you know…. sex. winkwink

Let’s see these new words in action!

(I had to write a lot longer than usual to get all those words in a sensical paragraph… What an odd bunch!)

Ma voiture est chez le garagiste depuis neuf jours à cause de ses freins. Le garagiste refuse de la réparer puisque je suis une personne de sexe féminin! Comme c’est sexiste! On a du suspendre toutes nos habitudes depuis. Je fais la cuisson à la maison depuis mais c’est difficile de suivre mes recettes car mon écriture est horrible. Au moins, notre santé sera plus saine.

(broken car = = baking?)

Today's challenge:

Translate the text back to English. (Feel free to take it to the comments, I will help if I need to)
Look up a recipe for a dish you like in French and bake something delicious.

*Actually chosen by l'internaute.

Oh no!

2011-11-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

The theme of the week is…. Medicine!

Here are some useful words to know if you get sick.

un hôpital	a hospital
un(e) docteur(e)	a doctor
une allergie	an allergy
une ambulance	an ambulance
une douleur	a pain
une fièvre	a fever
un(e) chirurgien(ne)	a surgeon
un mal de [quelque chose]	a[something]-ache
une toux	a cough
un éternuement	a sneeze

cassé(e)	broken
foulé(e)	sprained
rouge	red
douloureux/douloureuse	painful
enflé(e)	swollen

casser	to break
fouler	to sprain
avoir mal à [quelque part]	to have pain [somewhere]
tousser	to cough
éternuer	to sneeze
dormir	to sleep

Examples:

J’ai mal à la tête. – My head hurts.

J’ai un mal de tête - I have a headache.

Il a un mal de ventre – He has a stomach ache.

Vous avez mal au ventre – Your stomachs are hurting.

Elle a le mal de mer – She has seasickness/She is seasick.

J'ai la jambe cassée. - I have a broken leg.

Next week: Parts of the body! (So you can describe WHAT is hurting. If you get sick until then, just point.)

Your challenge:

Don't get sick.

Marcher

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Our verb of the week is marcher: to walk!

Marcher is an easy to conjugate verb of the ER type.

Many verbs ending in ER follow the same conjugation pattern, therefore it can be very useful to memorize this pattern.

Présent	Imparfait	Future simple
Today, I walk	Yesterday, I was walking	Tomorrow, I will walk
je marche tu marches il marche nous marchons vous marchez ils marchent	je marchais tu marchais il marchait nous marchions vous marchiez ils marchaient	je marcherai tu marcheras il marchera nous marcherons vous marcherez ils marcheront

Please note that the root of the verb never changes! You can obtain the root of any ER verb* by removing the “ER” ending to the infinitive.

In theory, which this knowledge you should be able to conjugate other ER verbs, like jouer (to play) and acheter (to buy)!

Your challenge:

1. Conjugate jouer in the present tense.

2. Go for a walk, it’s healthy!

*A few verbs ending in ER are not actually ER verbs but exceptions. Aller (to go) is one of these.

Word Search Answer Key

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here are the answers to yesterday's word search:

Friday Word Search

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Translate the words to french, and find them in the grid! Hints here, here, here, and here.

Answer key tomorrow!

desk: ______________________
work: ______________________
chair: ______________________
keyboard: ______________________
schedule: ______________________
noisy: ______________________
to read: ______________________
tough: ______________________
to haunt: ______________________
pose: ______________________
range: ______________________
blue: ______________________
yellow: ______________________
brown: ______________________
green: ______________________
turquoise: ______________________
chestnut: ______________________
to be: ______________________
we are: nous ______________________

At the office

2011-11-17T12:48:00.001-05:00

Here’s some useful vocabulary for working at the office!

Some nouns:

mon bureau	my desk
un dossier	a folder
l’heure du diner	lunchtime
au travail	at work
la chaise	the chair
un ordinateur	a computer
le clavier	the keyboard
un horaire	a schedule
le calendrier	the calendar
une conférence	a conference

A few adjectives:

occupé(e)	busy
ennuyant(e)	boring
bruyant(e)	noisy
brisé(e)	broken
satisfaisant(e)	satisfying
intéressant(e)	interesting

As well as some verbs to put it all together:

travailler	to work
discuter	to discuss
taper	to type
lire	to read

Here's a song entitled "Travailler c'est trop dur":

Your challenge:

1. Make a few sentences with the vocabulary provided.

2. What are you working on?

Wednesday Mad-Libs

2011-11-16T09:56:00.001-05:00

...in which I take a bunch of completely random* words from the dictionary for your vocabulary learning entertainment.

Our words today are:

coriace	adjective
gamme	nom féminin
hanter	verbe
mine	nom féminin
pleurer	verbe
pose	nom féminin

What do they mean?

coriace	tough. (in texture or in character) difficult to beat; resilient; stubborn.
une gamme	series of things; range; a musical scale.
hanter	to haunt. (like, ghosts and such.) Also, you could haunt your favourite location.
une mine	1. Mine (as in a coal mine) 2. Lead(Actually graphite) (as in the lead in my pencil) 3. Mine (as in the mine I stepped on exploded) 4. A look, an expression on one’s face. (Hah! weren’t expecting that were you?!)
pleurer	to cry, to wine, to lament. to shed tears
une pose	a pose! Like when you stand on your head, or pose for a photo.

Let’s see these new words in action!

- Oh! Comme tu as mauvaise mine! Pourquoi pleurs-tu?

- On m’a vendu une gamme de mines de crayon qui cassent trop facilement. Je n’arrive pas à les revendre. Ça me hante depuis la semaine dernière.

- Quel problème coriace. Fais-moi une belle pose, je te prendrai en photo pour mettre une annonce dans le journal.

Today's challenge:

Translate the text back to English. (Feel free to take it to the comments, I will help if I need to)
Find the word used in today’s text that was part of last week’s Mad-Libs!

*Actually chosen by l'internaute.

Les couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I present to you a handy colour reference chart for your educational pleasure:

Type 1 Plain adjectives : these take plural and gender associations with the noun they describe. i.e. une chatte blanche, les pommes vertes, deux crayons noirs	blanc	white
	noir	black
	gris	grey
	bleu	blue
	rouge	red
	jaune	yellow
	vert	green
	beige	beige
	violet	violet
	brun	brown
Type 2 Colours named after things : these stay the same no matter what. i.e. des chats orange	orange	orange
	pêche	peach
	turquoise	turquoise
	marron	chestnut
	champagne	champagne
Type 3 Colours with modifiers : these stay the same no matter what. i.e. une pomme vert pâle	bleu marin	dark blue
	rouge vin	wine red
	jaune-orange	amber
	vert foncé	dark green
	vert pâle	light green

There are more colours, obviously, but this should get you started.

You might be wondering: what’s with those types?

Well, as with most adjectives in French, you usually need to make sure they match the word they are applying to: a plural adjective for a plural noun, for example.

For colours however, you get a freebie; only SOME of them have to match, the rest can stay the same!

How do you know which ones? Well… you don’t. Use the chart. One day, they will all be memorised in your head. In the meantime... well don’t sweat it, we all make those mistakes. ;)

Here we are: gender and plural of colours:

	masculin, singulier	féminin, singulier	masculin, pluriel	féminin, pluriel
Type 1 Plain adjectives : these take plural and gender associations with the noun they describe.	blanc	blanche	blancs	blanches
	noir	noire	noirs	noires
	gris	grise	gris	grises
	bleu	bleue	bleus	bleues
	rouge	rouge	rouges	rouges
	jaune	jaune	jaunes	jaunes
	vert	verte	verts	vertes
	beige	beige	beiges	beiges
	violet	violette	violets	violettes
	brun	brune	bruns	brunes
Type 2 Colours named after things : these stay the same no matter what	orange	x	x	x
	pêche	x	x	x
	turquoise	x	x	x
	marron	x	x	x
	champagne	x	x	x
Type 3 Colours with modifiers : these stay the same no matter what.	bleu marin	x	x	x
	rouge vin	x	x	x
	jaune-orange	x	x	x
	vert foncé	x	x	x
	vert pale	x	x	x

Here is a well known French nursery rhyme for your amusement:

Une poule grise

Il était une petite poule grise
Qui allait pondre dans l’église
Pondait un petit coco
Que l’enfant mangeait tout chaud

Il était une petite poule blanche
Qui allait pondre dans la grange
Pondait un petit coco
Que l’enfant mangeait tout chaud

Il était une petite poule noire
Qui allait pondre dans l’armoire
Pondait un petit coco
Que l’enfant mangeait tout chaud

Il était une petite poule brune
Qui allait pondre dans la lune
Pondait un petit coco
Que l’enfant mangeait tout chaud

Your challenge:

1. Of what type are the colours in the song?

2. Name some things you see and what colour they are. For example: "Le papier blanc."

Être

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Your verb of the week is... Être!

Easy right? Everyone knows that verb! It’s to be! Not so fast.. Être is probably the strangest beast in the Bescherelle.*

Not only is it an irregular verb (meaning it doesn’t follow the usual conjugation rules) but it is also an auxiliary verb, which means it can be used with certain other verbs to form extra past tense or future tense combinations. Even stranger rules apply then!**

Because of the complexity of this verb, it is very important to have the basic tenses thoroughly memorized.

Here they are:

Présent	Imparfait	Future simple
Today, I am	Yesterday, I was	Tomorrow, I will be
je suis tu es il est nous sommes vous êtes ils sont	j'étais tu étais il était nous étions vous étiez ils étaient	je serai tu seras il sera nous serons vous serez ils seront

Let’s see these in action!

Quand je serai grand, je serai pompier! Les pompiers sont forts, et comme moi aussi je suis fort, c’est un métier qui me convient. Mon grand-père était pompier et aimais sa profession. Quand vous serez mal pris, je viendrais à votre secours.

Your challenge:

1. Write a few sentences using all three different tenses.

2. Fill in the blank: Quand j’étais enfant, je voulais être ___________(métier).

*If you don’t have a Bescherelle, you should totally get one. They are the most useful thing you can own after a good French-English dictionary.

**More on this in a different post.

Crossword Solution

2011-11-12T12:13:00.000-05:00

Here is the answer to yesterday's crossword puzzle!

See you on Monday!

Mots croisés

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today's puzzle is a crossword! All words are in french.

Feel free to print it and work on it. Answer key tomorrow!

Across

3	to have
5	will have
6	lukewarm
7	water
9	concentrate
12	frozen
13	voice
15	hit
16	thyme
17	breast

Down

1	by the way
2	broom
4	not decent
5	to complete
8	this one is easy
10	intoxication
11	skin
14	socks
15	hundred

Homonymes

2011-11-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

Let’s look at a few common words that have the same sound but a different meaning. Using the wrong spelling of a word can turn a sentence from regular to relatively hilarious.

balai	(ba-lè)	broom
balet	(ba-lè)	balet

bas	(ba)	down/bottom. (en bas - downstairs, au bas de - at the bottom of), socks
bas/bat	(ba)	conjugations of “battre” – to beat up.

sein	(s-in)	Breast (but only for women! Cannot be used for “chest”)
saint		Saint (like in Saint-James Church)
sain		sane

cent	(s-an)	a hundred
sans	(s-an)	without

cou	(c-ou)	neck
coup		hit
coût		cost

peau	(po)	skin
pot	(po)	pot (the cookware, not the drug)

port	(por)	port
porc	(por)	porc

teint	(t-in)	tint, dyed
thym	(t-in)	thyme

voie	(v-oi)	path. (voie ferrée – railroad)
voix		voice
vois/voit		conjugation of the verb “voir” - to see

Here’s a few funny sentences for practice. Yes, I came up with these. I need more coffee.

J’ai apporté un balai au balet.

Il me bat parce que j’ai oublié mes bas en bas.

C’est sain de donner son sein pour un bébé saint.

J’ai cent biscuits sans chocolat.

J’ai reçu un coup dans le cou quand j’ai vu le coût de cet achat.

Le pot a brulé ma peau.

Il y a du bon porc au port.

Le thym a un beau teint vert, c’est comme si on l’avait teint.

Je vois que tu a perdu ta voix quand tu a hurlé vers cette voie ferrée.

Your challenge :

1. Write one sentence using two homonymes of the same group.

2. Practice pronouncing these words remembering that they sound exactly the same.

Wednesday Mad-Libs

2011-11-09T10:46:00.000-05:00

...in which I take a bunch of completely random* words from the dictionary for your vocabulary learning entertainment.

Our words today are:

achever	verbe
concentré	nom masculin, participe passé, adjectif
ébriété	nom féminin
facile	adjectif
indécent	adjectif
passant	nom masculin, participe présent

What do they mean?

It’s a tough one today; some of these words have different meanings depending on usage. Please pay attention to the multiple definitions.

achever	to finish a project, to conclude something. Often used in the imperative (achève!) to tell someone to “get to the point!” when talking.
concentré	a concentrate(noun), concentrated(past tense verb) concentrated(adjective)
ébriété	intoxication (state of). A formal way to refer to drunkeness
facile	easy
indécent	indecent
passant	a passerby(noun), passing(verb). “En passant” is an expression meaning “by the way”. Literally “in passing”.

Let’s see these new words in action!

Hier, j’ai vu un homme en état d’ébriété harceler un passant. C’est facile d’être indécent de nos jours. On nous offre des concentrés d’alcool qui vont vite nous achever! En passant, j’ai concentré très fort et j’ai trouvé la solution qui me permettra d’achever mon garage.

Today's challenge:

Translate the paragraph back to English. (Feel free to take it to the comments, I will help if I need to)
Write a few sentences using some of today’s words

*Actually chosen by l'internaute.

Glou glou

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

The word of the day is:

Eau! (water)

Water is an uncountable noun in both English and French. You can have some, but how much of it you have is determined by container size or landmass, and not by a number in front. You can still talk about waters in plural, as found in nature, in order to qualify it. Let's look at the following examples:

de l’eau	some water
un verre d’eau	a glass of water
de l’eau froide	cold water
des eaux turbulentes	turbulent waters
il y a trop d’eau dans la marmite	there is too much water in the pot
il ne reste plus d’eau chaude!	there is no more hot water!

Let’s look at some adjectives that we can apply to water :

froide	cold
tiède	luke warm
chaude	warm/hot
bouillante	boiling
gelée	frozen
bonne	tasty(drinking), nice(swimming)

Your challenge:

1. Write a few sentences related to water.

2. Go drink a glass of water, you deserve it!

The most important verb of all...

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Your verb of the week is...

Avoir To have

Why couldn’t we start with an easier verb, you ask? One that follows the regular rules of conjugation? That’s because avoir is the basis for many tenses of conjugation and therefore must be mastered first.

If you know how to properly conjugate avoir, you can conjugate things into the past tense, the future tense... you can tell people how old you are... and best of all, you can tell them what you have, to make them jealous.

Here it is in the most commonly used tenses.

Présent	Imparfait	Future simple
Today, I have	Yesterday, I had	Tomorrow, I will have
j'ai tu as il a nous avons vous avez ils ont	j'avais tu avais il avait nous avions vous aviez ils avaient	j'aurai tu auras il aura nous aurons vous aurez ils auront

But that’s not all! Because avoir is the base of many composed tenses, let’s look at those too.

Composed tenses are formed by using an auxiliary verb such as avoir and tacking on the past tense of the other verb to form a new tense. It seems complicated but we do it in English all the time. Take the following:

J’ai mangé	I have eaten
J’avais mangé	I had eaten
J’aurai mangé	I will have eaten

Not too bad, right? The “mangé” part which doesn’t change is called the participe passé. Avoir has a participe passé as well (eu), and you can use it on itself!

J’ai eu	I have had
J’avais eu	I had had
J’aurai eu	I will have had

Granted, they aren’t the most common tenses, but you still need to know they exist!

Here are some composed tenses of avoir. You’ll notice they are the same as the ones above, with “eu” at the end.

Passé composé	Plus-que-parfait	Future simple
Yesterday, I have had	Yesterday, I had had	Tomorrow, I will have had
j'ai eu tu as eu il a eu nous avons eu vous avez eu ils ont eu	j'avais eu tu avais eu il avait eu nous avions eu vous aviez eu ils avaient eu	j'aurai eu tu auras eu il aura eu nous aurons eu vous aurez eu ils auront eu

Examples:

Chez nous, nous avons plein de jouets. Ma sœur a un ours en peluche, j’ai un camion et mon ami Luc a une voiture miniature. J’avais une poupée mais comme elle a eu une tache, ma mère l’a jetée. Pour ma fête, j’ai eu un jeu de lego mais j’aimerai avoir plus de morceaux. J’aurai eu un avion l’année prochaine! Après noël, on aura encore plus de jouets! Toi, quels jouets as-tu?

Challenge :

Translate the paragraph into english. (No feeding the whole thing into a translator!)
Write a few sentences using as many different tenses as you can.