Christine Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I have been thinking of taking conversational German just because the Goethe Institut is in my office building. I prefer French but it's far away and I am lazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) I have been thinking of taking conversational German just because the Goethe Institut is in my office building. I prefer French but it's far away and I am lazy It's hard to compare learning a language in my teens for exams etc with learning for pleasure as an Oldling, but German seems to me to be very much easier. Maybe at the simple level it's not too bad and it may get worse. But I'm coping with genders and putting verbs at the end of sentences. In French it's the accent as well as the grammar and vocabulary. I bought an audio (audible) book called Earworms which I highly recommend. I've had it in my car for weeks and play it all the time, the German goes in like the words of songs. Anyway, we warned our prof that we'd have forgotten everything by October and she said she was used to it! De toute façon,- ou quand même (?) ou d'ailleurs (?) - nous avons averti notre prof que nous avions tout oublié par Octobre et elle a dit qu'elle le savait bien ! Edited March 22, 2012 by Ruth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Thanks Ruth, I'll have a look out for Earworms. I've got some good conversational French "tapes" on my iPad, but can't remember the name offhand. I started learning French when I was 11 so I don't have too many problems with accents and pronunciations. It's all grammar and trying to construct sentences because I didn't study it long enough academically. German is completely foreign to me. I only coped on my short trips to Germany because I was married to a German. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 When I was at school the French we studied was too academic & grammatical, too based on reading and especially writing correctly, so the important bit - the accent - didn't feature enough. I wasn't told, to the best of my recollection, about stressing the last (sounded) syllable. I heard that on a Michel Thomas CD and it's been very helpful. There is an EarWorms for French too which we bought but I haven't listened to; it's probably a bit basic for me in as much as I am rubbish at French but I have studied it for many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikahepburn Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 are there any rules about "la" and "le"? it doesn't seem to have an order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingkites Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 are there any rules about "la" and "le"? it doesn't seem to have an order "Le" is used for words that are masculine and "la" for those that are feminine. I think this site explains it pretty well. http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/le_or_la_in_french.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macboll Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 "Le" is used for words that are masculine and "la" for those that are feminine. I think this site explains it pretty well. http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/le_or_la_in_french.shtml There's also l' . It's used to avoid le (or la)+ word beginning with a vowel or a h that is silent. For instance: l'école (we can't say la école, and have to use l' instead but we can say une école ), l'herbe/une herbe, l'animal/ un animal. There is no particular rule to know if a word is masculine or femine. I remember fleur is a French feminine word but is masculine for the Italians (il fiore) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 "Le" is used for words that are masculine and "la" for those that are feminine. I think this site explains it pretty well. http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/le_or_la_in_french.shtml There's also l' . It's used to avoid le (or la)+ word beginning with a vowel or a h that is silent. For instance: l'école (we can't say la école, and have to use l' instead but we can say une école ), l'herbe/une herbe, l'animal/ un animal. There is no particular rule to know if a word is masculine or femine. I remember fleur is a French feminine word but is masculine for the Italians (il fiore) It's always seemed bizarre to me, the allocation of gender to nouns. French speakers just 'get it' like breathing, but it's tricky to learn. I wish I'd always had to connect the correct le/la to any noun I used as it might have stuck better. I was wondering if masculine for French nouns would be masculine in German but if it isn't the same in Italian as French then there's no chance. And that's before popping neuter into the mix! The simple 'a' and 'the' are, apparently, one of the reasons for the ascendancy of the English language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikaMan Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Id love to join up as id love to learn french so if anyone could explain to me how it works thatd be great thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DareToBeGolden Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I've done french to GCSE and am doing A level so if anyone could help me out with any of it I would very much appreciate it Ma français n'est pas mal mais je voudrais un peu d'assistance s'il vous plait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloise.shaw Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Oooh, I haven't seen this thread before. *stalks* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelodicFreak Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I can't believe I never noticed this thread before... CAN I BE ONE OF THE STUDENTS? Like seriously, learning French is probably one of the things I wanna accomplish in my life. I'm in love with the language and the country itself. Will be stalking this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I can't believe I never noticed this thread before... CAN I BE ONE OF THE STUDENTS? Like seriously, learning French is probably one of the things I wanna accomplish in my life. I'm in love with the language and the country itself. Will be stalking this Tu peux dire et écrire en français et quelqu'un gentil va t'aider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Ah! A deserted thread. Still, someone might see it. . . . I'm looking for a link to a photo of something. In France, a wedding photographer often tows a contraption behind his car, which opens and lifts up to make 5 levels for the guests to stand on for photos. I can't seem to find a picture because my French isn't good enough for google.fr Can anyone help please? Or, as I said in the French speaking thread . . . Bonjour, je cherche un photo de quelque chose. Aidez-moi s'il vous plait. Il y a un contraption, un bidule, apporté par le photographe. Ceci est remorqué derrière sa voiture et élargit vers le haut pour offrir jusqu'à cinq niveaux sur lesquels toute la noce se tiennent dans un groupe. Le savez-vous? Pourriez-vous me trouver un lien Web vers une image svp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macboll Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I'm sorry Ruth but I've never heard of anything like this. I hope other French girls can help you. You should ask CrazyaboutMika (Anne) or Camille Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerMoment1608 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Hello! I'm just starting to learn French and have a question about your interrogative particles for "what?", "que?" and "quoi?". When do you use which one? It seems totally random for me at the moment. For example there are those two sentences and I see not difference between them: Qu´est-ce que c´est? C´est une affiche. C´est quoi? C´est un tableau. And are there any interrogative particles that you can't 'combine' with est-ce que? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowli Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 why am i here until today?knew nothing about this thread before!thank god that i found you.well im just a new learner and don't have much time online,mom doesn't let me learn French cuz my english is still not working well,anyway it's time and piss off my lovely mother,can you guys start with the basic vocabulay like numbers?(forgive me if im seem to be stupid) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areyouG Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 can I be added too? I am learning advanced French right now, so I can be both a student and a teacher? haha. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areyouG Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I think you use 'est-ce que' to a question that answers to yes or no. as in, est-ce que vous avez..? (is it that you have..?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilasko Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 why am i here until today?knew nothing about this thread before!thank god that i found you.well im just a new learner and don't have much time online,mom doesn't let me learn French cuz my english is still not working well,anyway it's time and piss off my lovely mother,can you guys start with the basic vocabulay like numbers?(forgive me if im seem to be stupid) Well I'm not that good at french, but I know the numbers 1 - un 2- deux 3 - trois 4- quatre 5 - cinq 6 - six 7 - sept 8 - huit 9 - neuf 10 - dix http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/ss/numbers.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areyouG Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Well I'm not that good at french, but I know the numbers 1 - un 2- deux 3 - trois 4- quatre 5 - cinq 6 - six 7 - sept 8 - huit 9 - neuf 10 - dix http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/ss/numbers.htm 11 - onze 12 - douze 13 - treize 14 - quatorze 15 - quinze 16 - seize 17 - dix-sept (like 10 +7) 18 - dix-huit 19 - dix-neuf 20 - vingt 21 - vingt et un (like 20 and 1) 30 - trente 40 - quarante 50 - cinquante 60 - soixante 70 - soixante-dix (like 60 + 10) 71 - soixante-onze (60 + 11) 80 - quatre-vingt (4 x 20) 90 - quatre-vingt dix 91 - quatre-vingt onze (90 + 11) 100 - cent 1000 - mille 1000000 - milllion 1000000000 - milliard (not really sure. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macboll Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 11 - onze12 - douze 13 - treize 14 - quatorze 15 - quinze 16 - seize 17 - dix-sept (like 10 +7) 18 - dix-huit 19 - dix-neuf 20 - vingt 21 - vingt et un (like 20 and 1) 30 - trente 40 - quarante 50 - cinquante 60 - soixante 70 - soixante-dix (like 60 + 10) 71 - soixante-onze (60 + 11) 80 - quatre-vingts (4 x 20) but quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-deux, etc 90 - quatre-vingt dix 91 - quatre-vingt onze (90 + 11) 100 - cent 1000 - mille 2000- deux mille (no 's' at the end of mille) 1000000 - milllion 1000000000 - milliard (not really sure. ) That's it! Now about qu'est-ce que c'est? and c'est quoi: They are both interrogative sentences. "qu'est-ce que c'est?" is less informal and familiar than "c'est quoi?". It means "what is it?". You can't answer "yes" or "no". On the other hand, "est-ce que (tu aimes les chansons de Mika)?"can be answered by "yes" or "no" or "a litle". "est-ce que...?" is a correct, less formal question than "aimes-tu (les chansons de Mika)?" but these questions have the same meaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerMoment1608 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 So it depends only on how formal the question is. But I want to ask about est-ce que in combination with interrogation particles again. I've seen it with "qu'est-ce que" (= que est-ce que) or "ou est-ce que" some times. But can I do that with all interrogation particles? Is it possible to say 'Pourquoi est-ce que tu gâche ta vie?' for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathouzouf Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 So it depends only on how formal the question is. But I want to ask about est-ce que in combination with interrogation particles again. I've seen it with "qu'est-ce que" (= que est-ce que) or "ou est-ce que" some times. But can I do that with all interrogation particles? Is it possible to say 'Pourquoi est-ce que tu gâche ta vie?' for example? The most grammatical correct way to say it would be "Pourquoi gâches-tu ta vie?" but your example is just find and plenty of people use it:thumb_yello: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I am finding the biggest problem with learning a second language is just learning to think in a different language rather than remembering vocabulary or specific rules. It would be so much easier to learn to think in French by using English words but French grammar. I think it would sink in a lot faster and people wouldn't make the mistakes that they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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