French Blog

A lot of people enjoy visiting Paris during the Summer. Others prefer to do it when it’s “less touristy”, in the Winter.  But nearly all agree that it is at its best in late Spring: Precisely au mois de mai (in May)… Now, if you have never experienced it yet, wouldn’t you like to go and find that out [...]

 Since the month of May is not over yet, may I offer you an old popular French poem? Drôle de coïncidence (funny coincidence) perhaps, this poem happens to be precisely about offering presents during the month of May.  QUE DONNERAI-JE À MON AMIE EN MAI? (WHAT SHALL I GIVE TO MY FRIEND IN MAY?) Que donnerai-je [...]

Ever noticed that if you just add the letter “u” to the French pronoun “je“, it becomes a noun: “jeu” (“game”)! If you enjoy this kind of little tricks, that means that you like the corresponding verb of “jeu“: “jouer” (“to play.”) For example, you can say: “Charlie Chaplin aimait bien jouer au chat et à [...]

In proper French, if you want to announce that you are leaving, that you’re about to be gone, then you can say: “je pars“, “je m’en vais“, “je quitte les lieux“, etc. If you feel like saying it informally, however, or rather in French slang, then you have the choice between expressions (not to be used [...]

Today is, of course, la fête du travail (International Workers’ Day), a celebration that takes place in almost every country in the world… But did you know that le premier mai (the First of May) is also the special date of another celebration in France? It’s la fête du Muguet (the Lily of the Valley Celebration), which is at least 450 years old! [...]

Today’s post is plein à craquer (chock-full) of French idiomatic expressions which -surprise surprise- use the word “plein” (full.) Open up your note-books, and make sure you memorize as many as you can! * Top 10 French Expressions with the Word “PLEIN” (Full) 10- Plein de (full of) This is the most obvious expression using the [...]

Did you know that the cultural and ethnic origins of France are technically not “French” per se, but rather celtiques? Before the invasions of the Germanic tribes called les Francs (the “Franks“), who coined the name of the land we know today as  ”France“, that territory was known as la Gaule, and its inhabitants were [...]

One of the trickiest verbs to conjugate for the new learners of French language is hands-down ALLER (To Go) Unlike other verbs, aller can in some cases transform itself in a seemingly different verb, as in “il va” or “j‘irai.” Obviously, the best way not to make any mistake with this verb is to simply memorize its [...]

Unlike what their name may suggest to some at first, the French group “Louise Attack“ is no heavy metal band à-la-Rammstein. In fact, their songs are for the most part relaxées (chill) and rather mellow. One of such songs is “la Plume“, meaning “The Quill Pen“, which we feature today, together with an exclusive translation of its [...]

You want to be FORT (strong) in French? Well, then there is nothing better than learning new French idiomatic expressions… À plus forte raison (especially) if the said expressions contain the word FORT (strong.) * * * TOP 10 French Expressions Using the Word FORT (Strong): 10 – Fort en… The most obvious of all 10 expressions [...]