Ultimate French Resources #5
I remember doing a translation for a mining company several years ago. The job involved translating an instruction manual for some mining software. Since I wasn’t (and am still not) au fait* with either of these domains, I asked a French friend to help me out.
We met in a café in the city. He’d been in town all day, and didn’t know we were going to meet up. When he arrived, he was carrying a tiny backpack with him. We ordered coffees and got to work.
We struck our first problème* a few minutes in, and I was astonished when he reached down into his backpack and pulled out a battered copy of Le Bescherelle to check a conjugation. The fact that he had prioritised his verb book, along with a bottle of water and his wallet, spoke volumes about the value the French place on this resource. It’s also the reason why you should consider getting one if you’re serious about your French.
WHAT:
A little red book of verb conjugations, given to all French schoolchildren at the age of 10.
POINT FORT*:
The design. It has the conjugations for over 12 000 French verbs, yet the book is compact and slimline. The secret? All 12 000 verbs are divided into categories according to how they are conjugated and then one very common verb from each group is chosen to be conjugated in full. That is, it is conjugated for all ‘persons’ (je, tu, il, elle, etc.) and in all tenses (don’t freak out when you see them all - there are a lot). The rest are found in the index along with the category number for easy reference.
POINT FAIBLE*:
It takes a little while to work out how to use it and it’s easy to mix up the page number and category number (see above). Once you’ve got the hang of it, though, you’ll wonder how you ever did without it. I know there are fantastic apps for French verbs on the market and I use one myself, but there’s something about the seriousness and accuracy of Le Bescherelle that I really enjoy. Plus, being able to look at all the tenses at once without having to move a screen around is a relief, franchement*.
PS:
There’s also a Bescherelle for very young children called Mon Premier Bescherelle Illustré* which is absolutely beautiful as well as a great way to improve your vocabulary!
*knowledgeable | *problem | *pro | *con | *frankly | *My First Illustrated Bescherelle