The French Learning Thread

[Agrippa]

German genders

German can be even more fun where the words for "girl" (Mädchen) and "Miss" (Fräulein) take the neutral gender.

I've always found this intresting. I don't know if it is deliberate, but I've always thought of this as them having to earn their womanhood not unlike boys becoming men. Girls and Miss are not women yet. This also holds true for boys (der Junge) which is netural also!

 

[Esco!]

I find Spanish much easier then French.
French is not easy!!

Francais est difficile, ce'st ne pas facile

 

[chef]

Minor error: if you say "Les femmes" then it's plural and therefore the verb must also be plural "sont" and not "est." ........

Do you not also have to say "chers" as it's plural ?

 

[Agrippa]

I find Spanish much easier then French.
French is not easy!!

But if you know Spanish, French should be easier to learn (than not knowing any Spanish)!

Francais est difficile, ce'st ne pas facile

Good try, I'm only correcting you so you know how to say it properly.
Le Francais est une langue difficile à apprendre. Would be sufficient. Again, the opposite could also be said. Le Francais n'est pas une langue facile à apprendre. would also be a proper way of saying it. Though no one would actually speak like this (at least in Quebec) A Quebecker would say "C'est pas facile d'apprendre le francais."

Written French is always more formal then spoken French. It's something you get a feel for with time...

 

[Agrippa]

Do you not also have to say "chers" as it's plural ?

Hmmm, I don't think it would be incorrect either way. Both are acceptable but I think cher is more common than chers I don't really have a better explanation other than saying, it's the state of being expensive, you can't be expensive multiple times... but that's just me thinking out loud. I don't know that this is a grammatical rule.


Edit:
when I'm not certain, I just google it!
"sont cher" yields 4,880,000 hits and
"sont chers" yields 2,560,000 hits.
Both are evidently common, but one much more popular than the other.

 

[Esco!]

How much is the Quebec accent discernable to European French???
Is it like North-American vs English????

 

[ck_nj]

But if you know Spanish, French should be easier to learn (than not knowing any Spanish)!

Agrippa, that is very true, at least for me. I took Spanish every year from middle school all through high school, and in college too. I still use it too, which helps.

When I took adult French courses, I found learning French lot easier to learn than I thought. Again, you have to use it, or else you can easily forget.

 

[Big Bee]

How much is the Quebec accent discernable to European French???
Is it like North-American vs English????

Very. We can tell a french from France within 2-3 words vs our french here.

 

[chef]

I've always found this intresting. I don't know if it is deliberate, but I've always thought of this as them having to earn their womanhood not unlike boys becoming men. Girls and Miss are not women yet. This also holds true for boys (der Junge) which is netural also!

Agrippa,

Latin, French, English, and now German - you are a veritable linguini !!!

 

[Agrippa]

Agrippa,

Latin, French, English, and now German - you are a veritable linguini !!!

Hehe, thanks chef. I have mastered English and French... but it's been centuries since I've spoken Latin and my German isn't good enough to flirt with the ladies, so I can't say I have those two mastered.

 

[Agrippa]

Der Junge is masculine. Remember, in the nominative case, "der" is masculine, "die" is feminine, and "das" is neutral, and don't forget that "die" is the plural for all genders.

My apologies for the erroneous information. Somehow in my haste (and lack of practicing German in years) I asociated der with neuter. You're correct johnhenrygalt. Sorry.

 

[ck_nj]

"Je sais" and "J'essaie" pronuncuations

Whenever I attempt to practice my French, and someone says that I spoke it well, I always like to say "Thank you. I try." In French, that would be "Merci, j'essaie".

Can someone tell me if "Je sais" and "J'essaie" sound the same, or is there some inherent difference in the way the phrases sound? I am asking because I do not want to come off as a smartass, and have people think I am saying "Thank you, I know," when I am being complimented, especially when I try to be a modest person in general.

Merci à l'avance...

 

[chef]

"Je sais" and "J'essaie" pronuncuations.........

Here's an attempt at the blind leading the blind. When you say, "Je sais", there should be a brief, almost imperceptible, pause between the two words. In the other case, the start of the word should be the same as when you say the English word, "Jess", but of course with the "J" being the softer French pronunciation.

That is just my take on it. I may stand corrected.

 

[Agrippa]

"Je sais" and "J'essaie" pronuncuations

Je sais is more like 'Je seh' [2 somewhat separate syllables]
and
J'essaie is 'j'essay' [pronounced 'straight through'] as in essay: "I handed in my essay for my poly sci class."

 

[ck_nj]

Chef and Agrippa,
Thanks for the quick responses. Next time I'm in town, I'll buy both of you drinks at Cleo's!

 

[Big Bee]

You could also go for..... Je fais mon possible...

Meaning I do what I can...

OR put emphasis on the end of the word J,essaie... like J'essaYEs...type of thing
the YE makes all the difference and removes any a-holeness from that sentence..!!! Probably not 'correct' french but you'll get your point through this way.

 

[metoo4]

Big Bee, to be correct, it need to be "J'asseiye, calisse!" That's the correct "Québecois" way!

 

[incognito_NYC]

Yeah, but ...

Edit:
when I'm not certain, I just google it!
"sont cher" yields 4,880,000 hits and
"sont chers" yields 2,560,000 hits.
Both are evidently common, but one much more popular than the other.[/QUOTE]


Yeah, but .....

How many hits did "Sony & Cher" have ?!?!?!?!?

 

[Agrippa]

when I'm not certain, I just google it!
"sont cher" yields 4,880,000 hits and
"sont chers" yields 2,560,000 hits.
Both are evidently common, but one much more popular than the other.

Yeah, but .....

How many hits did "Sony & Cher" have ?!?!?!?!?

I counted less than 2,320,000.

 

[z/m(Ret)]

Devinette

(A) Les fleurs qu'elle a cueuillies...

(B) Les $10 que ce repas m'ont coûté...

Pourquoi 'cueuillies" s'accorde-t-il en genre et en nombre avec "fleurs" alors que "coûté" demeure invariable?

Le premier qui a la bonne réponse ne gagne rien.