French: days of the week, part0
Self-tutoring about French: the tutor mentions days of the week in terms of gender. In French, the days of the week are all masculine. Source: reverso.net
Category: french
French: déjeuner
Self-tutoring about French: the tutor mentions a question. I was taught, as a kid, that “déjeuner” means lunch, while “petit-déjeuner” means breakfast. However, whenever I mention “déjeuner” as lunch, I’m corrected: “Lunch is dîner,” I’m told. Who is right? Well, …
French: words spelled the same as in English, but mean something different: part0
Self-tutoring about French: the tutor mentions a word in it one might seem to recognize from English, but isn’t the same. averse (English, adj): repelled by; wanting to avoid. averse (French, noun): shower, rainfall. Source: reverso.net
French: streets and alleys
Self-tutoring about French: the tutor mentions a connection between it and English. Shoveling the driveway one of numerous times recently, I came to wonder what “driveway” is in French. Curiously, I can’t remember it from the French I learned through …
French: homonyms: espèce, espèces
Self-tutoring about French: the tutor notices a pair of French homonyms. I’m not even sure if French includes the concept of homonyms. If it does, however, I think it’s got a lot. I’m not French, but my wife and high-school-aged …
French: verbs: how to form the imparfait
The tutor shows the easy trick to form the imparfait. Way back in my post from Aug 24, 2012, I mentioned when to use the imparfait vs passé composé vs plus-que-parfait. Today, it’s been brought to my attention that many …
French education: the challenge of exogamy
In BC, 75% of francophone families are exogamous. Exogamy refers to the marriage of someone from a certain culture, to a spouse from outside that culture. From the francophone perspective, an exogamous family has one parent with French as the …
French: practical hints for typing accents
When you tutor French, a student might ask how to produce the accents on an English keyboard. Here are a couple of options: On a Microsoft product, every French accent has its own Alt+(4 digit code). For instance, this ç …
French: present tense of avoir and être
Whether tutoring French or learning it, these verb conjugations are critically important. The French verb to be is être. Its present tense conjugation is as follows: je suis (I am) nous sommes (we are) tu es (you [singular] are) vous êtes …
French: passé composé, imparfait, and plus-que-parfait: when to use them.
Hello: Well, today I thought we’d discuss some French: specifically, the passé composé, the imparfait, and the plus-que-parfait. In what situation do you use each? The passé composé is the first way to express the past tense that I learned in high school. It …
French: passé composé, imparfait, and plus-que-parfait: when to use them. Read more »