rien-a-battre

[rien-a-battre]

[rien-a-battre]

“If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe.”

— Abraham Lincoln

[rien-a-battre]

@ Duolingo

Start👏 A 👏Course 👏For👏 ASL👏

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TOP 10 Basic ASL Signs For Beginners | Learn American Sign Language | Nyle DiMarco [x]

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Animal Vocabulary (By Type) 🦊 French to English <Part 1>

Water Creatures 🌊

a shark: un requin

a whale: une baleine

a mackerel: un maquereau

a squid: un calmar

a catfish: un poisson-chat

a swordfish: un espadon

a prawn: une crevette

a crab: un crabe

a starfish: une étoile de mer

a seal: un phoque

a turtle: une tortue marine

a salmon: un saumon

a trout: une truite

a perch: une perche

a tuna: un thon

an octopus: une pieuvre

a killer whale: un épaulard 

(or) an orca: une orque

an eel: une anguille

a lobster: un homard

a seahorse: un hippocampe

a monkfish: une lotte

a dolphin: un dauphin

a carp: une carpe

a sea bream: une dorade

a jellyfish: une méduse

a pike: un brochet

a stingray: une pastenague

a walrus: un morse

a manatee: un lamantin

a cod: une morue

a lamprey: une lamproie

Common Household Pets 🐩

a dog: un chien/une chienne

a cat: un chat/une chatte (*ahem* careful of this one in the feminine form, it can also means pussy… )

a goldfish: un poisson rouge

a turtle: une tortue

a tarantula: une tarantule

a lizard: un lézard

a parrot: un perroquet

a ferret: un furet

a Guinea pig: un cochon d'Inde

a parakeet: une perruche

a mouse: une souris

a rat: un rat

a hamster: un hamster

a horse: un cheval

a rabbit: un lapin

a goldfish: un poisson rouge

a snake : un serpent

Farm Animals 🐄

a cow: une vache

an ox: un bœuf

a sheep: un mouton

a lamb: un agneau

a donkey: un âne

a pig: un porc, un cochon

a sow: une truie

a calf: un veau

a horse: un cheval

a mare: une jument

a goat: une ch��vre

a goose: une oie

a chicken: un poulet

a hen: une poule

a chick: un poussin 

a bull: un taureau

a duck: un canard

Okay so I have no time to do any more but let me know if you want me to do a Part 2! 🦋

[rien-a-battre]

Bonjour! I really love your blog (very helpful and resourceful). I recently started studying french, and in reply to one ask you mentioned that it is very important to start practicing pronunciation even at the beginning stages. I wanted to ask you whether you have any phonology/pronunciation resources of french that you would recommend?

Salut ! I am so sorry for this late, late response…. :( 

I certainly have some great pronunciation resources for French!!

The Youtube channel French Sounds is brilliant for learning how to physically make a certain sound. I would know – the videos here taught me the French “r” sound and the “eu” sound (as  in “heures”)…très utile !

Another great resources is Forvo; here you can listen to native speakers pronouncing almost every word! I use it all the time :D

This website is a true gem for every French learner. It is indispensable, to take maybe an hour a week to work on pronunciation, especially on here.

These Youtube videos are basically repetition drills; you repeat after the native speaker and it really helps! I especially recommend spending a good amount of time on the middle video and record yourself repeating after the speaker. 

Enjoy! :D 

[rien-a-battre]

Discourir de/sur - to talk about

Pérorer - to yak on about smth

Sacrer - to crown, enthrone

Redresser - to straighten up, to stand up straight

Démêler - to sort out, untangle

Exécrer - to loathe, hate

S’esquiver - to slip away

Se détromper - to be mistaken

Enjamber - to step over

S’engouffrer - to dive into/ rush into

Grouiller - to mill about

Triller - to trounce, slaughter

Se frotter - to cross swords with

Gonfler - to blow up, inflate

Maudire - to curse

Ébahir - to astonish, astound

Répandre - to spread

Bourdonner - to buzz, to hum

Arpenter - to survey

Regaillardir - to perk up

Détaler - to run away

Frémir - to tremble

Modre - to bite

Se fourner - to get mixed up in

Radoucir - to moderate, mellow

Mander - to summon, to send for

S’empresser de faire - to hurry to do

Trépasser - to pass away

Fendre - to split, chop

[rien-a-battre]

100 Days of French

100 Days of French (2 out of 100):

Now that you know how to start a conversation, you need to keep it going with basic questions.

How are you? = Comment allez-vous? (For older people or for a group of people; Comment vas-tu?, for a friend and people your age or younger than you. Comment ça va?, and Ca va? are more common.)

How do you say … in French? = Comment dites-vous … en Français? (If you’re pointing to something and forgot or don’t know what it’s called, you can say, Comment appelle-t-on ceci?, which translates to What is this called?)

What time is it? = Quelle heure est-il?

Where are you from? = D’où est-vous? or D’où venez-vous? (For older people or for a group of people; D’où es-tu?, or D’où viens-tu?, for a friend and people your age or younger than you.)

Where are you going? = Où allez-vous? (For older people or for a group of people; Où vas-tu?, for a friend and people your age or younger than you.)

Do you know where … is? = Savez-vous où est …? or Savez-vous où se trouve…? 

Do you know how I can get to …? = Savez-vous comment je peux me rendre à/au…? (The difference between à and au lies in the gender of the place you’re going to (i.e.: Savez-vous comment je peux me rendre à la boulangerie?; Female. Savez-vous comment je peux me rendre au poste de police?; Male.) or whether it’s directly followed by a name or not (i.e.: Savez-vous comment je peux me rendre à Pizza Hut?; It is. Savez-vous comment je peux me rendre au café Saint Regis?; It is not.)

Do you know if … is open? = Savez-vous si … est ouvert(e)?

How much is this …? = Combien coute cet/cette …? (The difference between cet and cette lies in the gender of the thing you’re holding/asking about. (i.e.: Combien coute cet objet?; Male. Combien coute cette montre?; Female.)

How much are these …? = Combien coutent ces …? (When the thing you’re asking about is plural (i.e.: fruits; pens.), the gender doesn’t make a difference.) 

[rien-a-battre]

for people trying to learn french and/or italian ! 🇫🇷🇮🇹

I speak fluently French and Italian so if you’re currently studying one or both of these languages you can ask me whatever you want! :) 

[rien-a-battre]

Favourite French Movies/Songs

For French learners who want to immerse themselves in the language

This is a collection of what’s on my French music playlist and a few of my favourite French movies. There’s a wide variety so hopefully you’ll find something that you like too!

MUSIC

(Hip Hop/House/Electronic) Stromae  –  Alors on Danse  –  Ave Cesaria  – Papaoutai 

(Pop) Louane –  Avenir (Radio Edit)

(Pop) Maître Gims   – Est-ce que tu m’aimes

(Reggae/R&B)  Keen’v   – Rien qu’une fois

(R&B/Rap) La Fouine ft. Zaho –  Ma Meilleure

(Rap) Bigflo & Oli –  Aujourd’hui  

(Pop) Kids United –  On écrit sur les murs

(Pop) Magic System – Magic In The Air (There’s French lyrics despite the title)

Honorable Mentions:

(Rap) MZ– Les princes ft. Nekfeu 

(Dance-pop) Kendji Girac  – Andalouse 

MOVIES

Nous trois ou rien (2015)

If you only watch one of the films on this list, please watch this one. It’s the most recent one that I’ve seen but I can’t even describe how much I love this movie. Best French movie I’ve ever watched.

Le Premier Jour du reste de ta vie (2008)

Really nice movie about a French family.

Les Intouchables (2011)

This movie is so popular and well known but it’s great and definitely not overrated. Most French learners have probably seen it, but if you haven’t I would highly recommend it.

 La Haine (1995)

This is an older film compared to the others on this list but it’s a classic. It is a lot darker than the other movies, though, so if you’re into more light hearted/comedic films then then skip this one.

Sorry that this list is so short but here is a great masterpost with a lot more movie suggestions

Gif Credits: Louane - Stromae 

[rien-a-battre]

places

Le café - The Coffee Shop

le musée - The Museum

le cinéma - The Movies

le zoo - The Zoo

le parc - The Park

le magasin -Shop

le centre commercial - The Mall

la plage - The Beach 

l’église- Church

les montagnes- The mountains 

la piscine- pool

le métro - The subway

centre-ville - downtown 

le parc d’attractions - The Amusement Park

{tell me if you see any mistakes! sorry about them :) i too am still learning}

[rien-a-battre]

Just in case France win the world cup - here’s more useful French phrases as presented by the cat:

“I bought my new bow tie in the city.“ "I love my box.” “What do you think of my new glasses?” “Paws and whiskers…paws and whiskers.” “This is my favourite place in the garden.” “I am a beautiful butterfly." 

#Matou en Peluche

[rien-a-battre]

Laughing in french 🇫🇷😂

Ahahaha = we put “a” before “h” when typing

Trop drôle = too funny // C’est drôle =it’s funny

Trop marrant = too funny // C’est marrant

(you can really use any of the two they’re both commonly used!)

Mdr = Mort de rire (you can say it and type it though we type it more)

Je suis mort/morte = I’m dead (something you say when you’re dead of laughter)

Tu m’as tué = you killed me (when someone made you laugh a lot)

[rien-a-battre]

teaching yourself a language

i’ve gotten questions multiple times about how to start learning swedish and how to go about when starting learning a new language, so i thought i’d make a masterpost about it. obviously learning differs from person to person, especially with languages, but this is what i do to study french, and what i’ve found best works for me

apps to get started: 

if you know nothing about a language a good place to get started is with basic words and basic grammar. there are a lot of apps / websites to choose from, some of the most popular are

Duolingo, has the benefit of being free, and has 27 languages to choose from. with Duolingo you start with the basics of “hello”, “my name is” “i am” and it gradually gets harder the better you get. make sure you don’t only use it as an app though, because then you’ll miss the grammar explanations available on the website

Babbel, unlike Duolingo Babbel isn’t free, and Babbel only has 14 languages to choose from. starts off similar to Duolingo but with Babbel you get more detailed grammar explanations and you don’t fall into the trap of having to learn long lists of words relating to one very specific subject before learning basic grammar, as you do with Duolingo. In Babbel you can also choose the courses that feel relevant to you, and don’t have to clear a certain course to move on to the next one

Memrise, works similarly to the two above. there is a free version but you have to pay to get to PRO level

this type of course is a great foundation for learning a language, and almost vital when first starting out (if you’re learning on your own), but make sure it’s not your only source, and that you’re continuously talking to native speakers, reading, watching movies, listening to the radio and so on to get a grip on what the language is like when spoken naturally

hearing the language:

watching tv and movies

when watching tv and movies you could either do it in two different ways, with different benefits

with subtitles (in language spoken), the benefit with this is that you can read a word or sentence and directly see how it’s pronounced, and vice versa. the downside is that this way easily draws attention away from the speech, it’s easy to get carried away focusing on the subtitles

without subtitles, the benefit with this is that you have to really focus on what is being said and how it’s pronounced, and you learn to understand the language spoken, rather than just written as in the subtitles

watching documentaries

watching documentaries is a great way to learn how to understand the language spoken. the language used is natural and not simplified for people trying to learn it, but it has a naturally slow tempo which makes it easy to keep up with

listening to the radio

even if you don’t understand a single word of what is being said when starting, listening to the radio is always a great way to pick up pronunciation. after a while as you get better you’ll start recognizing words and sentences, and you start understanding more and more. listening to the radio is also good as you get to hear how native speakers actually talk, including slang, idioms, buffer noises and other things

listening to music

listening to music works in the same way as listening to the radio, but is often a lot more fun! you learn the pronunciation and can sing along. disney songs are usually quite simple and offer written lyrics, so i’d say that’s a good way to start!

reading: 

reading is one of the most important things to do when learning a language, and has the added benefit of learning about the culture of the language if you read literature from that country (which i recommend you do). i recommend starting with children’s books and cartoons and then moving on to more advanced literature the better you get. you can go about reading in your target language in two ways

reading continuously without pausing and trying to understand the words you don’t know based on the context. it’s also good to go back and reread, if you do this chances are you’ll pick up things that you didn’t understand the first time

pausing and looking up every word you don’t recognize. doing this won’t really increase your ability to read in your target language, but it can be a good way to build up a vocabulary

writing: 

writing a diary

writing in your target language is a good way to learn to think in your target language and to use it naturally. i write a diary in french every day, and it’s been incredibly rewarding! but make sure this isn’t your only source, as that could make your language sound quite alien and unnatural. i made a more detailed post about the benefits of writing a diary in your target language which you can find here x

chatting online

chatting with native speakers online is a good complement to writing a diary. it has the same effects of learning to think in the language and using it daily, but when chatting with someone else you’ll be corrected, which stops you from developing bad and unnatural habits in your target language. you’ll also see how the native speakers use the language and which formulations they use. there are two apps, that i know about, designed to let you talk to native speakers

HelloTalk

Tandem

they both work pretty much the same, you enter your native language and other languages that you may speak fluently, and which language you’d like to learn. then you’ll be matched with people who want to learn your language and who speaks the language that you want to learn

talking:

talking is the most essential, and hardest part of learning a language. i practice talking by repeating words from Duolingo and Babbel and reading out loud from books. if you’re using Tandem or HelloTalk you can also video chat and send audio messages back and forth. there’s always the classic way of practicing by talking in the shower or with your pet! the best way to learn how to speak in your target language though would be to go to the country where the language is spoken

i think the most important thing to think about when starting a new language is to emerge yourself in it as much as you possibly can, and making the language a natural part of your day

[rien-a-battre]

French Vocabulary #1

[currently binge-watching Sense8 in French: these are my notes for the first half of 1x04] NOUNS / ADJECTIVES

baratin (m) smooth talk brut (m) gross casse (f) breakage, robbery, heist connard (m) connasse (f) dickhead connerie (f) bullshit défi (m) challenge diamant (m) diamond ivrogne (f/m) drunkard médoc (m) medication menotte (f) handcuff net (m) net poche (f) pocket pompe (f) pump, (fam) chaussure puéril childish

VERBS

s’accrocher avec qqn fight with sb dépouiller qqn de qqch strip sb of smth fouetter qqch/qqn whip smth, flog sb menotter qqn handcuff sb remplacer qqch/qqn replace smth/sb se taper qqun (vulg) have sex with sb voler qqch steal smth

IDIOMS AND PHRASES

à jamais forever à mon avis in my opinion aucun problème no problem bonne santé! cheers! en bonne santé in good health rendre un service / des services à qqn help sb, do sb a favour sans (même) le savoir without (even) knowing it selon moi in my opinion tremper son biscuit dip one’s wick en valoir la peine be worth it valoir la peine de faire qqch be worth doing smth

[rien-a-battre]

I even made a cute graphic for you. 

Anyway. Here, this explanation is done after an occurance which kinda pushed me to this, so expect personal views and context rather than 100% french grammar.  And frankly, this is more a matter being polite in France rather than a grammar lesson to begin with. Just a heads up! 

‘Tu’ and ‘Vous’ both mean ‘You’. ‘Tu’ is always singular but ‘Vous’ can be both plural and singular depending on context. 

It’s a common misconception I hear from people who are learning french that ‘Tu’ is informal and ‘Vous’ is formal. This isn’t entirely false but that’s just the quick way of putting it, which leads to misunderstanding.  It’s less a matter of ‘formality vs informality’ and more ‘people you are closeand casual to’ vs ‘everybody else whom you respect as you should anybody given you’re polite’. 

What happened that spurred me to write this was a small, kind of irrelevant thing. I ordered a pizza and the delivery guy called me ‘tu’ every time he referred to me. This was a problem to me for two reasons. Slightly because I’m a client, but mostly because I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me on a personal basis (and I could also add that he was generally off-puttingly casual but that’s another can of worms). Me being a client was just a smaller problem stacked on top of the obvious ‘we’re not close’ one, but allow me to explain why that’s still relevant. 

‘Tu’ is used for family members, friends, classmates (when you’re younger) and children. It’s casual, often in a setting where there aren’t many social rules to follow. ‘Vous’ is for literally anybody else. It’s polite to call everybody ‘vous’. It isn’t ‘I respect you as a higher-up’ so much as it’s ‘You are a fellow human being I am treating decently’. 

On the subject of pizza guy, I wasn’t expecting him to call me ‘vous’ because I was a client and therefore supposedly higher than he is but because not only was I a client but we weren’t supposed to be casual in this setting. I call him ‘vous’ as I call everybody who isn’t a close friend/family ‘vous’. Lemme give a few examples. 

Waitress? ‘Vous’ Teacher? ‘Vous’ Homeless person? ‘Vous’ Bus driver? ‘Vous’ Random person on the street you’re asking for directions? ‘Vous’ The President of France? ‘Vous’ Nurse? ‘Vous’ That one guy who crashed into your car? ‘Vous’ (you can still be angry and insult them without using ‘tu’, which will be more efficient, trust me) Your psychiatrist? ‘Vous’ A client? ‘Vous’  Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte, master strategist and military leader, France’s darling child, first man to have almost managed to conquer Russia though failed miserably? ‘Vous’. 

Literally anybody who isn’t someone you know personally is ‘vous’. 

I must add that refusing to abide fo this rule gives others a bad image of yourself more than it insults them. People who call everybody ‘Tu’ are considered rude and generally unpleasant, which is looked down upon. If you see someone calling a waiter or retail worker ‘tu’ can generally be labeled an asshole and you’ll likely be right about it, for example. Young children are exempt from this rule because they aren’t expected to know the rule well. The best example I can think of this is in Le Petit Prince where the Prince asks the narrator to draw him a sheep. 

“S’il vous pla��t, dessine-moi un mouton.”

He’s using ‘vous’ in ‘s’il vous plaît’(please) but the ‘tu’ imperative form of the verb ‘dessiner’ (to draw) in the same sentence. If this sentence was in correct french it would be

“S’il te plaît, dessine-moi un mouton.” or “S’il vous plaît, dessinez-moi un mouton.”

Non-native speakers will often be excused if they mess up, though! Don’t worry about that, even we know it’s hard because it’s sometimes  awkward to know whether to use ‘Tu’ or ‘Vous’ if it’s somebody you see every day but aren’t really close to (a co-worker, for example!). So yeah, if you’re generally polite and they understand you’re doing your best, it’s all good!  In the case explained earlier, with pizza guy, is that he wasn’t a non-native speaker and he wasn’t making a mistake. He was just being overly casual, perhaps on the basis that I order at that pizza place often and he delivered it two or three times already and pressured for a tip (rather than asked, in which case I would have given it willingly instead of awkwardly). It’s a mild annoyance but still enough to piss me (and others) off. 

Ehhh I could go on but that’s all I got for now, if anybody wants to add to this or ask a question or whatever, feel free! I hope this cleared stuff up and gave you some incentive! I hear there are similar things in other languages such Spanish, Italian and German, among many others! I’d love to hear how it works in other languages!

That’s all for now! Happy french learning, friends! 

[rien-a-battre]

mourir  to die déceder  to pass away déceder de cause naturelle, mourir sa belle mort  to die a natural death s’éteindre  to pass away (usually of old age) trouver la mort  to die (by an accident) passer l’arme à gauche  to kick the bucket (lit. to pass the weapon to the left) casser sa pipe  to die (lit. to break your pipe) la mort  death le décès  death (more polite) le mort, le défunt  the dead person le corps, le cadavre  the corpse, the body le cercueil  the casket, the coffin la bière  the coffin (more polite) le porteur de cercueil  pallbearer le deuil  mourning être en deuil  to mourn, to be in mourning faire le deuil de qqn, faire son deuil  to grieve for something or someonee déplorer la perte de  to mourn the loss of  pleurer la morte de qqn to mourn the death of someone le cortège funèbre  a funeral procession le corbillard  hearse les funerailles  funeral l’organisation des funérailles  funeral arrangements l’enterrement  burial la chapelle funéraire, la maison funéraire  funeral home les obsèques, le service funèbre  funeral service la crémation  cremation le bûcher funéraire  funeral pyre le cimitière  cemetery le lieu de sépulture  burial site la pierre tombale  tombstone la tombe, le tombeau  tomb, grave le caveau  plot l’épitaphe (f.)  epitaph