La Petite Histoire

If you've ever done a group lesson here at Lingua Franca, you've probably come into contact with La Petite Histoire*. A tale with the very humblest of beginnings, it winds up becoming a rollicking schlockbuster as you move up the levels and your French improves enough to handle the outrageous (some would say impossible) turns of events of the six young friends.

La Petite Histoire is currently only available to our students, however La Préquelle is for everyone’s enjoyment. Below, the third instalment of this new series, which is written to an Absolute Beginner 3 level.

*The Little Story | *The Prequel

Bonjour! C'est le premier août, il fait beau et je suis en vacances! Je suis à Marrakech, au Maroc, avec ma femme, Leïla, et notre fille, Anouk. Je suis marocain et j'aime visiter mon pays*. J'habite en France, mais je passe* beaucoup de temps au Maroc avec ma famille. J'ai une grande famille. J'ai quatre sœurs et trois frères et tout le monde habite à Marrakech sauf moi. J'aime être avec ma famille. Nous parlons, nous faisons du sport ensemble, ma mère et mes sœurs cuisinent beaucoup et j'aime passer du temps avec mes cousins et cousines. Leïla aime le Maroc aussi. Elle adore les vacances ici. Elle aime aller au hammam avec mes sœurs et aller au marché pour faire les courses. Nous sommes très contents.

*my country | *I spend | *Moroccan bathhouse

Bonjour. Aujourd'hui il fait chaud et je suis à la maison des parents de Jean-Louis avec mon bébé, Anouk. Jean-Louis est au parc avec ses frères. Ils jouent au foot ensemble. La mère de Jean-Louis, Fatima, est très gentille. Je ne parle pas arabe, mais elle parle français (ouf!*) donc nous parlons beaucoup et cuisinons beaucoup aussi. Le matin, nous allons au marché ensemble pour choisir des légumes et de la viande pour le dîner. J'aime la cuisine marocaine et nous passons des heures et des heures à table. En France, nous sommes très occupés donc j'aime être un peu tranquille, mais de temps en temps je voudrais sortir* le soir!

*phew! | *around the table | *I would like to go out

Salut! Je suis en vacances avec ma femme Amina à Londres, en Angleterre. Aujourd'hui est jeudi et c'est le deuxième jour de nos vacances. Il fait froid donc nous allons à la Galerie Nationale. Ce soir, nous avons un dîner avec des amis anglais d'Amina, Robert et Beth. Leur fils, Michael, est un ami d'Amina. Robert et Beth habitent à Dorset mais ils sont à Londres pour le mariage de Michael. Nous allons au mariage samedi, alors* demain nous allons chez Harvey Nichols pour faire du shopping. Je cherche une cravate* et Amina cherche des chaussures*. J'aime beaucoup Londres, mais je n'aime pas beaucoup la cuisine anglaise.

*so | *so | *tie | *shoes

Bonjour. Je ne suis pas en vacances. Je suis à Londres, en Angleterre. Je suis anglais, et mes enfants habitent ici à Londres, mais je travaille à Paris. Alors, je suis à Londres et je passe du temps avec mes deux enfants. Ils sont très gentils, mais un peu tristes. C'est compliqué*. Ma fille, Sophie, aime les sports (elle joue au tennis et elle fait de la natation) mais elle n'aime pas beaucoup l'école. Mon fils, Timothy, est grand, blond (comme moi), il parle français et il voudrait être comptable. Il aime l'argent!. Mercredi, nous allons à Bath parce que mes parents y* habitent dans une maison en face de la cathédrale en ville.

*complicated | *like | *money | *there

Salut tout le monde! C'est l'été et il fait chaud ici à Deauville. Je suis à la maison de vacances de ma famille et je vais à la plage le matin, le restaurant le midi et le casino le soir. J'aime nager, j'aime manger et j'adore les femmes donc je suis très content. Nous avons une grande maison en face de l'hippodrome* avec un beau jardin. Mes amis arrivent demain et quand nous sommes ensemble, nous faisons la fête! En septembre, Deauville a un festival de film britannique donc* je reste ici pour ça. Je parle anglais bien et j’aime pratiquer avec des touristes. Je ne suis pas timide.

*racetrack | *so

Bonsoir. Je ne suis pas contente. Je suis ici à Paris et mes amis sont en vacances. Ce n'est pas normal*! Ils sont en Espagne, au Portugal et même* aux États-Unis. Je suis un peu jalouse*. Mon appartement est petit et il fait très chaud. Mon chat est ici avec moi, mais elle ne parle pas beaucoup, donc je suis un peu triste. Je voudrais être en vacances aussi, mais je n'ai pas beaucoup d'argent parce que je suis étudiante. Ma famille est en Australie et c'est très loin*. Heureusement*, ma voisine, Sandrine a un frère. Il est très beau et il habite avec elle maintenant. Il est très sportif donc demain, je vais au parc en face pour faire de l'exercice. L'appartement de Sandrine a de grandes fenêtres et j'ai un plan.

*It's not right! | *jealous | *far away | *thankfully

---

JEAN-LOUIS
Hello! It's the first of August, it is nice weather and I am on holidays! I am in Marrakesh, in Morocco, with my wife, Leïla, and our daughter, Anouk. I am Moroccan and I like to visit my country. I live in France, but I spend a lot of time in Morocco with my family. I have a large family. I have four sisters and three brothers and everyone lives in Marrakesh except me. I like to be with my family. We talk, we play sport together, my mother and my sisters cook a lot and I like to spend time with my cousins. Leïla likes Morocco as well. She loves holidays here. She likes to go to the hammam with my sisters and to the market to do the grocery shopping. We are very happy.

LEÏLA
Hello. Today it's hot and I am at Jean-Louis' parents' house with my baby, Anouk. Jean-Louis is at the park with his brothers. They're playing football together. Jean-Louis' mother, Fatima, is very kind. I don't speak Arabic, but she speaks French (phew!) so we speak a lot and we cook a lot as well. In the mornings, we go to the market together to choose the vegetables and meat for dinner. I like Moroccan cuisine and we spend hours and hours around the table. In France, we are very busy so I like being a bit quiet, but from time to time I'd like to go out at night!

HERVÉ
Hi! I'm on holidays with my wife Amina in London, in England. Today is Thursday and it's the second day of our holidays. It's cold so we're going to the National Gallery. This evening, we have a dinner with some English friends of Amina, Robert and Beth. Their son, Michael, is a friend of Amina. Robert and Beth live in Dorset but they are in London for Michael's wedding. We are going to the wedding on Saturday, so tomorrow we're going to Harvey Nichols to do some shopping. I am looking for a tie and Amina is looking for some shoes. I like London a lot, but I don't like English cuisine much.

SIMON
Hello. I am not on holidays. I am in London, in England. I am English, and my children live here in London, but i work in Paris. So, I am in London and I am spending time with my two children. They are very kind, but a bit sad. It's complicated. My daughter, Sophie, likes sports (she plays tennis and she swims) but she doesn't like school very much. My son, Timothy, is tall, blond (like me), he speaks French and he would like to be an accountant. He likes money! On Wednesday, we are going to Bath because my parents live there in a house opposite the cathedral in town.

ROGER
Hi everybody! It is summer and it's hot here in Deauville. I am at my family's holiday house and I go to the beach in the morning, the restaurant at midday and the casino at night. I like to swim, I like to eat and I like women so I am very happy. We have a big house opposite the racetrack with a beautiful garden. My friends are arriving tomorrow and when we are together we like to party! In September, Deauville has a British film festival so I am staying here for that. I speak English and I like to practise with the tourists. I am not shy.

NOËLLE
Good evening. I am not happy. I am here in Paris and my friends are on holidays. It's not right! They're in Spain, in Portugal and even in the United States. I am a bit jealous. My apartment is small and it's very hot. My cat is here with me but she doesn't speak much, so I am a bit sad. I would like to be on holidays, too, but I don't have a lot of money because I am a student. My family is in Australia and it's a long way away. Luckily, my neighbour, Sandrine, has a brother. He is very handsome and he lives with her now. He is very sporty so tomorrow, I am going to the park opposite to do some exercise. Sandrine's apartment has big windows and I have a plan.

Bouche

If you’re a person of un certain âge* who did some rudimentary French at school, we could almost guarantee you remember the phrase “Fermez la bouche*!”

Now we’re grown up, though, it’s time to expand our repertoire*, not only with a few more applications of the word bouche*, but with the real way to tell someone to shut it: ta gueule!*

*a certain age | *Close your mouth | *repertoire | *mouth | *shut your face

Ultimate French Resources #4

On the very odd occasion Word Reference fails me (see Ultimate French Resources #3), I turn to Linguee.com as a last resort.

Established in Cologne, Germany in 2008, Linguee is what is called an online bilingual concordance. That turns out to be a very fancy way of saying that the site trawls the web to find authentic documents that have been written in both French and English and places them side-by-side on the webpage. This is très pratique* when you want to see words used in their true context, not just in isolation as they often are in a dictionary.

WHAT:

A website of parallel texts, showing authentic, real-world uses of words along with how they’re translated in that particular context.

POINTS FORTS*:

It is the very best place to find new words or néologismes, as they are called in French.

The example of social distancing below is a good one. Though Word Reference has now caught up, when I wrote about it in last month’s newsletter, it did not yet have its own entry. It was only contained in the forum, where members of the public had asked about it. Linguee, on the other hand, had examples months ago, as they use web-crawlers to find examples of the phrase being used in real documents across the internet.

POINT FAIBLE*:

There are two main things to watch out for:

1) Linguee’s review process is less stringent than a traditional dictionary’s. A human-trained learning algorithm is used to assess the quality of the translations so don’t stake your life on their accuracy, though generally they are more than good enough for learners like us.

2) Many of the bilingual documents are sourced from EU protocol papers and other government documents, so the examples do not make for the most scintillating of reading, though I guess that very much depends on your intérêts*.

The top section of the website functions as a simple dictionary, but it’s further down that you get to le bon matos*.

Et voilà*! Seeing the phrase in context really helps you to see how it is used.

*very handy | *pros | *cons | *interests | *the good stuff | *And there you go!

La Petite Histoire

If you've ever done a group lesson here at Lingua Franca, you've probably come into contact with La Petite Histoire*. A tale with the very humblest of beginnings, it winds up becoming a rollicking schlockbuster as you move up the levels and your French improves enough to handle the outrageous (some would say impossible) turns of events of the six young friends.

La Petite Histoire is currently only available to our students, however La Préquelle is for everyone’s enjoyment. Below, the second instalment of this new series, which is written to an Absolute Beginner 2 level.

*The Little Story | *The Prequel

Bonjour. Je m'appelle Jean-Louis. Je suis de Marrakech mais j'habite à Paris avec ma femme, Leïla. Nous avons un petit appartement dans le 18ème arrondissement. Je suis agent d'entretien* à l'hôtel en face du Musée du Louvre dans le premier arrondissement. Nous avons une petite fille et elle s'appelle Anouk. Elle est adorable. Je suis de taille moyenne avec les cheveux bruns et les yeux verts. Je suis fort, habile et déterminé.

Bonjour, je m'appelle Leïla et je suis mère au foyer*. J'ai 22 ans et j'ai une petite fille, Anouk. Elle a un an. Elle est jolie et contente mais je suis fatiguée! Nous avons un petit appartement près du métro Abbesses dans le 18ème arrondissement. J'ai un frère, Hervé, et une sœur, Amandine. Amandine a 17 ans et elle est étudiante à l'école. Mon frère a 24 ans et il est étudiant aussi, mais à l'université. Sa femme s'appelle Amina et elle est marocaine.

Salut ! Je suis Hervé. Je suis le frère de Leïla et l'oncle d'Anouk et j'ai 24 ans. Anouk est très petite et jolie aussi. Ma sœur est jolie mais en ce moment elle est très fatiguée. Jean-Louis travaille* beaucoup et Leïla est à l’appartement avec le bébé. C'est difficile, mais elle est contente. Anouk a les yeux verts et les cheveux noirs. Je suis marié. Ma femme s'appelle Amina et elle est marocaine. Nous habitons à Paris, près de la Seine, dans le sixième arrondissement.

Bonjour, je suis Simon et je suis professeur à l'université de la Sorbonne à Paris. Je suis anglais et je parle français, anglais et un peu d'arabe. J'habite dans un appartement près du Jardin du Luxembourg dans le sixième arrondissement. J'ai deux enfants, Sophie et Timothy. Ils habitent à Londres mais en ce moment ils sont avec moi ici à Paris pour les vacances. Sophie et grande et blonde et Timothy et petit et brun. Ils sont très différents mais très gentils aussi.

Salut ! Je m'appelle Roger et je suis étudiant à l'université de la Sorbonne. J'ai 30 ans et je ne suis pas marié. Je suis fils unique et je suis de Honfleur, en Normandie, mais j'habite à Paris. Je suis grand avec les cheveux blonds et les yeux marrons. J'aime les langues, les films et les femmes. Je suis beau et je ne suis pas timide. J'ai une copine...ou deux. Bon, j'ai trois copines mais c'est tout!

Bonjour tout le monde. Je m'appelle Noëlle et je suis australienne mais j'habite à Paris. Je suis étudiante à l'Université de la Sorbonne. J'habite dans un petit appartement dans le 10ème arrondissement. Je n'ai pas de copain en ce moment mais j'adore les hommes, particulièrement les hommes français. Ils sont très sexy. Je suis grande et jolie avec les cheveux roux et les yeux verts. J'ai un petit accent australien et les hommes français adorent ça, donc je suis très contente!

*a cleaner | *stay at home mother | *works

---

1. Hello. My name is Jean-Louis. I am from Marrakech but I live in Paris with my wife, Leïla. We have a small apartment in the 18th arrondissement. I am a cleaner at the hotel opposite the Louvre Museum in the first arrondissement. We have a little girl and her name is Anouk. She is adorable. I am of medium height with brown hair and green eyes. I am strong, practical and determined.

2. Hello. My name is Leïla and I am a stay at home mother. I am 22 years old and I have a little daughter, Anouk. She is one year old. She is pretty and happy but I’m tired! We have a little apartment close to the Abbesses métro in the 18th arrondissement. I have a brother, Hervé, and a sister, Amandine. Amandine is 17 years old and she is a student at school. My brother is 24 years old and he is a student as well, but at university. His wife is called Amina and she is Moroccan.

3. Hi! I am Hervé. I am Leïla’s brother and Anouk’s uncle and I am 24 years of age. Anouk is very small and pretty as well. My sister is pretty but at the moment she is very tired. Jean-Louis works a lot and Leïla is at the apartment with the baby. It’s difficult, but she is happy. Anouk has green eyes and black hair. I’m married. My wife’s name is Amina and she is Moroccan. We live in Paris, close to the Seine, in the 6th arrondissement.

4. Hello, I am Simon and I am a professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris. I am English and I speak French, English and a bit of Arabic. I live in an apartment close the Jardin du Luxembourg in the sixth arrondissement. I have two children, Sophie and Timothy. They live in London but at the moment they are with me here in Paris for the holidays. Sophie is tall and blonde and Timothy is short and has brown hair. They are very different but very kind as well.

5. Hi! My name is Roger and I am a student at the Sorbonne University. I am 30 years of age and I’m not married. I am an only child and I am from Honfleur, in Normandy, but I live in Paris. I am tall with blond hair and brown eyes. I like languages, movies and women. I am handsome and I’m not shy. I have a girlfriend…or two. Okay, I have three girlfriends but that’s all!

6. Hello everybody. My name is Noëlle and I am Australian but I live in Paris. I am a student at the Sorbonne University. I live in a small apartment in the 10th arrondissement. I don’t have a boyfriend at the moment but I love men, particularly French men. They are very sexy. I am tall and pretty with red hair and green eyes. I have a little Australian accent and men love that, so I am very happy!

Ultimate French Resources #3

The very first tab I open on my browser when I arrive at work each day is without fail Wordreference.com. It stays open all day and I would jump onto it at least ten times before I pack up my computer to go home. While not exactly a technophobe, I do tend to favour paper over a screen, but in the case of this fantastic online dictionary I have to admit that the digital version is simply supérieure*.

Unlike a hard copy dictionary, Word Reference is not constrained for space, and it therefore offers so much more than translations. Once you've typed in the word you're looking for and the 'direction' of the translation (English to français* or vice versa), you'll see the most obvious translations at the top (principales traductions). Next, you'll see some further translations (traductions supplémentaires), followed by compound forms (formes composées). Don't stop there though, for if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the entry, this is where things become really interesting: a forum where users can ask questions that have not been answered above. It's here you'll find some very recent developments in the language. For instance, in March when we all started talking about la distanciation sociale*, there were several people who had already asked what I wanted to know in the forum, though the translation had not made it into the top part of the entry. Let's hope that's a sign that this concept will one day become 'très 2020*'.

WHAT:

The best online dictionary we've found.

WHO:

From students in need of a simple translation, to those on the cutting edge of the language who want to be able to speak of the very latest concepts en français*. Also really great for great big nerds, like me, who just loving poring over French words.

POINTS FORTS*:

So up-to-date and comprehensive, it really is a credit to the developers. Also, for some of the more common words, you'll see a little speaker icon right at the top which allows you to access the pronunciation.

POINT FAIBLE*:

The quality of the advice given by the posters in the forum can vary. If you're able to, give preference to the senior members (Pie-Anne is a personal favourite - that woman 's knowledge of both French and English is époustouflant*).

*superior | *French | *social distancing | *very 2020 | *in French | *best bits | *weak points | *astounding

Petit Poulet

We often have beginner students ask us if we know of any children's books that would be suited to their level. It makes sense - as a beginner you're really starting from scratch, as you do as a bébé*. What we tend to forget, though, is that before we start reading in our native language, we've already had years of exposure to words and sounds and our comprehension of the spoken word is almost perfect. Therefore, picking up a children's book in French is not as easy as it may sound.

This is why we were so delighted to discover this lovely little site. If you're a current Chouchou*, you may have seen a post about this great little site last week in the group Slack channel. In case you missed it, or for those who are not yet doing lessons chez Lingua Franca*, we thought you might enjoy it, too.

The French Experiment is a site dedicated to learning the French language. It's small but very well done, and when we saw the list of French contes* available, we knew we had to faire passer la parole*.

Though there are several tales available (there’s even an original love story between a whale and a bird), the one below is the only one to have been animated (so far). Though this is a high intermediate level, it is suitable for everyone as you can choose to have English subtitles, French subtitles or no subtitles at all. For the others, you'll find the story in French accompanied by lovely illustrations as well as the option to translate the text into English.

NB: Be sure to click on the red text “Watch the video” to see the animated version. If you click only on the play button, you’ll just hear the audio.

Alors, lancez-vous!* Les Trois Petits Cochons*, Boucle d'Or* and Le Petit Chaperon Rouge* are waiting for you.

*baby | *Teacher's Pet | *at Lingua Franca | *fairytales | *spread the word | *So, give it a go! | *The Three Little Pigs | *Goldilocks | *Little Red Riding Hood

La Petite Histoire

If you've ever done a group lesson here at Lingua Franca, you've probably come into contact with La Petite Histoire*. A tale with the very humblest of beginnings, it winds up becoming a rollicking schlockbuster as you move up the levels and your French improves enough to handle the outrageous (some would say impossible) turns of events of the six young friends. Far-fetched though the plot may be, La Petite Histoire nonetheless brings out some heated interpretations of the characters from our Chouchous*. Is Nicole really as naïve* as some say? Is Charles le rat* he appears to be and most importantly, is it possible that Stephanie is that much of a mégère*? Is anyone?

With our Chouchous crying out for more tales from La Petite Histoire we were very tempted to produce la suite* before realising of course that it would be the biggest spoiler ever for those who had not finished the first story. Instead, we're delving back into the past, to 1968, a time of revolution, passion and high drama in the streets of Paris and to the genesis of La Petite Histoire.

Here below, the very first instalment of La Petite Histoire - La Préquelle*. Enjoy!

As mentioned above, La Petite Histoire develops along with our students' skills. Starting at a level suitable for absolute beginners, each instalment becomes progressively more difficult, testing their comprehension at every plot twist.

Bonjour. Je m'appelle Jean-Louis et je suis marocain et français. J'habite à Paris avec ma femme, Leïla.

Bonjour, je m'appelle Leïla et je suis étudiante. J'habite à Paris et je suis mariée à Jean-Louis.

Salut ! Je suis Hervé. Je suis le frère de Leïla et je suis fort mais timide.

Bonjour, je suis Simon et je suis professeur à l'université de la Sorbonne à Paris. Je suis anglais et je parle français, anglais et un peu d'arabe.

Salut ! Je m'appelle Roger et je suis étudiant à l'université de la Sorbonne. Je suis français et j'aime la littérature et les femmes intelligentes.

Bonjour tout le monde. Je m'appelle Noëlle et je suis australienne mais j'habite à Paris. J’aime la littérature française. Je suis intelligente, passionnée et j'adore les hommes français.

---

1. Hello. My name is Jean-Louis and I am Moroccan and French. I live in Paris with my wife, Leïla.

2. Hello, my name is Leïla and I am a student. I live in Paris and I am married to Jean-Louis.

3. Hi! I'm Hervé. I am Leïla's brother and I am strong but shy.

4. Hello, I am Simon and I am a professor at Sorbonne University in Paris. I am English and I speak French, English and a bit of Arabic.

5. Hi! I'm Roger and I'm a student at the Sorbonne. I am French and I like literature and intelligent women.

6. Hello everyone. My name is Noëlle and I am Australian but I live in Paris. I like French literature. I am intelligent, passionate and I love French men.

*The Little Story | *Teacher's Pets | *naive | *the rat | *shrew | *The Little Story - The Prequel

Ultimate French Resources #2

As a long-term French learner, you'll likely find there are certain resources you use once and immediately forget, others you use for a period of time and then put to the side, and still others to which you return time and again to answer your trickiest questions.

Much like the old adage about people entering your life for a reason, season or a lifetime, we could say the same about French references. In my life, Schaum's French Grammar has certainly earned its place as a 'lifetimer'.

WHAT:

A combined French grammar and exercise book.

WHO:

While the Schaum Outline Series covers topics as diverse as macroeconomics, topology and reinforced concrete design, if you're content to just stick to French for now, the French Grammar edition has clear explanations, illustrative examples and a large number of practice exercises.

POINTS FORTS*:

As above, it's the repetition that's the key. Hundreds and hundreds of exercises give you the chance to practise until you get it right. Also, while the explanations are simple and clear, they are very broad in their scope, so this is a book you'll hang onto for years as the ultimate reference.

POINT FAIBLE*:

Though there have been five updates since my trusty 2nd edition hit the shelves (and even mine was bought second-hand!), the interior pages have stayed much the same. So not an inspiring layout, but highly, highly effective.

*best bits | *weak point

Les arbres fruitiers

All of the tutors here at Lingua Franca are French, with the exception of votre humble serviteur*. The team often comments on how practical the English language is, something that had never occurred to me before starting this job. They claim that things are often called exactly what they are in English, whereas in French the 'thing' has a totally different name.

For example:

C'est logique, non?*

So it's always a great feeling when you stumble across instances where French shows a logic that English lacks. It allows you to expand your vocabulary quickly and with a minimum of effort. So what is cette petite astuce*?

By adding the suffix -ier to almost any fruit, you will uncover the word for the tree that bears it. It's a great little hack and it works almost every time.

Note that while many of the fruits are feminine in gender, the trees are all masculine. We couldn't make it too easy now, could we?

*yours truly | It's logical, isn't it? | *this little trick

Cahier de Vacances

We are excited to announce the publication of our very first Lingua Franca Cahier de Vacances*.

While for some, doing extra French practice will sound the exact opposite of being on holidays, for others (most likely the true Chouchous*), there is nothing quite like sitting down with a brand new workbook to practise your skills.

The first in a series of sixteen, so you'll soon be able to buy a companion workbook for each Lingua Franca text, from Absolute Beginner 1 to Advanced Revision. We started with the Beginner 1 title as it is an area where many of our students struggle - those pesky slightly irregular verbs. As many of you will know, if you don't learn them properly as a beginner, they will come back to haunt you as an intermediate learner (l'imparfait*, anyone?).

Fear not, though, there is more than just grammar that is covered:

• asking closed questions

• the close future

• un tas de* useful vocab.

• sentence builders

• throwback exercises and much more.
  
  Best of all, the inside front and back covers are home to the most delightful (and useful) grammar summaries to help you ace your holiday homework. Bon courage!*

*Holiday Workbook | *Teacher's Pets | *the imperfect | *a heap of | *Good luck!

Nasal vowels

The sounds that make French sound just...well...so French! Master these and you'll be well on your way to perfecting your French accent.

Katrina takes us through the four nasal vowels, which make the French language sound just so....French!

La Petite Boutique

If you haven't done so already, we'd encourage you to check out the newest addition to our "French with Benefits" programme: La Petite Boutique by Lingua Franca.

Why is it of benefit to your French? La Petite Boutique is where we stock our newest and most helpful workbooks as well as a bespoke range of French diaries, cheat sheets, stationery items and aide-mémoires*.

Très tendance* are the Challenge Series workbooks, designed to clean up your French by focusing or common pièges* such as pronouns and prepositions. Filling in these gaps helps your spoken French as well, since you’ll no longer stumble as you approach them and instead will breeze through them like a pro. Interestingly, though we designed these workbooks with our advanced students in mind, many upper beginner and intermediate students are snapping them up and are finding them really helpful to clarify the learning they’ve already done, as well as get a sneak peek into the future.

More of a real beginner? We haven’t forgotten about you either. Keep your eyes peeled for a beginner exercise book which covers the basics such as asking questions, present tense verbs, simple prepositions and really helpful vocabulary.

*memory joggers | *Very popular | *traps

Ultimate French Resources #1

At the start of my career tutoring French, I was a huge consumer of French grammar books. In fact, French language books of all kinds - I wanted them all. As befitting my personality (and that of many of our students, I hear), each book has two or three pages completed and the rest of the book is entirely blank. A true addict, once I'd realised a particular book was not going to magically make me speak French fluently, I discarded it and went looking for my next dose*. So the books piled up until I nearly ran out of new ones to buy. Sounding familiar?

Over the years, though, I've noticed there are a couple I return to time and again and along with a couple of websites, they have really become my French bibles.

In the next few newsletters, we'll cover my top five. Let's start with a fantastique* website: Lawless French.

WHAT:

A website for learners of all levels

WHO:

Laura K. Lawless, an American woman, fluent in French, based in Guadeloupe, who is also responsible for the French for Dummies book, which is actually very good.

POINTS FORTS*:

Very, very thorough, you can sign up for a weekly newsletter with helpful tips and for more advanced levels, her 'Subjunctivisor" will tell you whether your sentence requires the subjunctive or not. Very useful.

POINT FAIBLE*:

It's not a particularly beautiful site, but it is nonetheless very, very good.

*fix | *fantastic | *best bits | *weak point

Vrais amis

In the very first lesson of our Absolute Beginner 1 course, we introduce you to the idea of cognates: words shared between languages. English has more than 7 500 of these words from French, and c'est garanti* you'd use at least one a day (think 'garage', 'entrepreneur', 'ballet' 'finance' and 'au pair').

As your learning progresses, we also admit there is another phenomenon at play, that of 'faux amis', or false friends (one of our tutors, Josephine prefers to call them 'bad friends' and she's not wrong!) These are words that look like English words, but have a different meaning (attention!*: attendre, journée and préservatifs may not mean what you think they do). But let's focus on the positive and return to the vrais amis*, which offer what all good friendships do - help and support when you need it.

Take a couple of minutes to regarder la liste* which is helpfully categorised into useful adjectives, nouns and verbs.

Be sure to remind yourself that you're reading French as you run your eye down the list. It can be quite a mind-bending exercise. Bonne lecture*!

*it’s guaranteed | *Be careful! | *true friends/cognates | *look at the list | *Happy reading!

La cédille

Undoubtedly the cutest of the French accents, this little squiggle looks a lot like a number 5 without its lid and descends from the middle of the bottom of the letter 'c'. So what does it do? It changes a hard 'c' sound to a soft one.

French works very similarly to English when the letter 'c' is followed by a vowel.

The cedilla (or c cédille in French) changes a hard 'c' to a soft one. Even our most débutant* students will have seen this at work in 'ça va', which, if not for the accent, would sound like 'ka va'.

*beginner

Coup

If you've been learning French for a little while, you may have come across the word 'coup'. Perhaps you've seen un coup de téléphone or un coup de fil (both used for phone call). Even before French came into your life, you were probably familiar with a coup d’état* (even if we Anglophones tend to pronounce it something like 'koo day tar' rather than the more sonorous way it should be said).

What you may not know, though, is that coup has a huge range of translations, from 'blow' or 'knock', to 'attack' or even 'drink' and all the way to Vulgarville with 'f*ck'. So, a multi-dimensional word at the very least!

Where it really comes into its own, though, is in les formes composées*

Jetez un œil!*

L'accent circonflexe

Savez-vous que* the circumflex accent in French was originally a combination of the acute and grave accents? Neither did we until very recently and though its effect on pronunciation these days is fairly negligible, it can be a real help in working out the meaning of the word it appears in. Regardez* the video below for a fuller explanation.

*Did you know that... | *Watch

L'accent grave

Katrina explains the effect of the accent grave* on pronunciation. If you think of it making the sound of the letter 'e' in the English words 'bed' or 'egg' you'll be very close indeed.

*grave accent.

Les essentiels

Ne quittez pas la maison* without learning these extremely useful words. Not sure of the meaning of one or two? We couldn’t live without www.wordreference.com here at Lingua Franca. It is always the first tab I open in the morning on my computer and in ten years, I could count on one hand the number of times it has not had a word I was looking for.

*Do not leave home

Masculin ou féminin

We know, we know! When we first start teaching you here at Lingua Franca, we break the bad news that every single noun in French is either masculine or feminine (that’s why some words start with le* and others with la* and others with l’*…but that’s another story…).

We also tell you just to accept that there is no rhyme or reason as to which category they fall into. Now though, with possibly a bit more time on your hands than d’habitude*, we feel it’s time to let you in on a couple of little secrets as to how you can make an educated guess.

Bonus points for anyone who can identify the person in the background, going about her day at le nid*.

*the | *the | *the | *usual | *the nest