Did you know that French accents are important to the pronunciation of words in French? You may think that you can get away with not using the accents, but you would be wrong about that. It’s important to at least try to get the pronunciation correct. The French will appreciate that you are trying. The […]
Did you know that this week has three holidays in France? Friday, April 18th is Good Friday, which is observed as a public holiday in Alsace and Moselle. As a holy day for practicing Catholics, Good Friday is typically honored with a day off work in France. The bells of churches are tied so they […]
Did you know that, as expected (as usual with la langue française), there is an exception when it comes to typing French quotation marks ( « » )? As indicated a few weeks ago, French quotation marks need a space before and after when typing… except, when followed by a period or a comma… in […]
Did you know that today is Poisson d’avril (April Fool’s Day) in France? Poisson d’avril literally translates to “April Fish.” In North America, we know to be on the look out for pranks on April Fool’s Day. Although France has adopted more western prank traditions, a historic prank is to stick a paper fish on […]
Did you know that although one-part punctuation marks (like the period and the comma) are used identically in English and in French when writing a sentence, two-part punctuation marks (like the semi-colon, colon, question mark, and exclamation mark) need a space before and after? This convention is intended to enhance readability and visually separate the […]
Did you know that French punctuation is just similar enough to English to make you think “this is going to be easy,” but just different enough to throw you off? French considers punctuation marks in two categories: one-part punctuation marks (like the period and the comma); and two-part punctuation marks (like the question mark and […]
Did you know that « S’il vous plaît », « Merci », and « Merci beaucoup » are the second most important words in French? Just as « Bonjour » (Hello) is the most important word, using « S’il vous plaît » (Please) and « Merci » (Thank you) or « Merci beaucoup » (Thanks […]
Did you know that today is Mardi Gras in France? Mardi Gras is among the most exported French holiday traditions. Most North Americans associate it with New Orleans, while Latin Americans think of Rio de Janeiro’s celebration and carnaval. Although it is not a public holiday, Mardi Gras is a popular holiday in Metropolitan France, […]
Did you know that « Bonjour » is the most important word in French? In fact, it is magical! If you are hoping for the best possible outcome, always begin with « Bonjour ». It is always the right thing to do, to say « Bonjour » or « Bonsoir » when entering a shop, […]
Did you know that 30% of English comes from French? Funny thing … that may be the reason it was the perfect language for me to learn, just makes it a tiny bit easier! If you look at the leveled vocabulary / phrase pages (Your Level) that I have created for you, you may notice […]
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