Saturday, 31 May 2014

French words used in English

Bonjour amis! Today I was watching a old video of a program named rendez vous with Simmi Gerewal. These program name is combination of two language i.e English & French. Why they chose this kind of name for the program? May be to make it sound interesting. These days its a kinda trend to use french words in English. So in this lesson I am sharing some french works commonly used in English. So learn them and try next time in your English conversation.


À la carte
On the menu, with each dish priced.


À la mode
Fashionable; also, in the USA, with ice cream.

Art nouveau
'New art' - a style of art developed towards the end of the 19th century. It is characterized by ornamentation based on organic or foliate forms and by its asymmetric and curvaceous lines.

Au contraire
To the contrary. Often used with an arch or rather camp form of delivery.

Au revoir
Farewell for the time being. Sometimes given in English in the jokey au reservoir version.

Bon appétit 'Good appetite' 
"Enjoy your food".

Bon voyage 
Have a good trip.

Carte blanche
Having free rein to choose whatever course of action you want.

Coup d'état

An abrupt overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means, for example, by force, or by

Crème de la crème
The best of the best. Literally the cream of the cream.

Déjà vu
The feeling of having seen or experienced something before. Literally 'already seen'.

En route
On the way.

En suite
Part of a set, especially a series of rooms that adjoin each other forming a suite.

Esprit de corps

The regard entertained by the members of a group, especially a military unit, for the honour and interests of the group as a whole. Literally, 'spirit of the corps'.

Faux pas
A social blunder, causing embarrassment or loss of reputation. Literally, a 'false step'.
Film noir A bleak cinematographic style, usually dark visually and in storyline terms.

Haute cuisine

High class cooking. Literally, 'upper kitchen'.

Laissez-faire

The principle that government should not interfere with the action of individuals. Also, more generally, a policy of indulgence towards the actions of others. Literally, 'let (people) do (as they think best)'.

Merci beaucoup

Thank you very much.

Par excellence
Pre-eminently supreme - above all others.

Savoir-faire
Social grace; means know-how in French.

S'il vous plaît
Please. Literally, 'if it pleases you'.

Tête-à-tête
A private meeting between two people. Literally, 'head-to-head'.

Vis-à-vis
In a position facing another. Literally 'face to face'. Often now used in the sense of 'in relation to'.


Typing French Accents


Typing French Accents


Hello friends! If you find it difficult to type french accent on your key board then I have a solution. In this lesson we will learn how to type french accent.

a with grave accent
à ALT + 133 À ALT + 0192

a with circumflex
â ALT + 131 ALT + 0194
a with tréma
ä ALT + 132 Ä ALT + 142
a e ligature
æ ALT + 145 Æ ALT + 146
c with cedilla
ç ALT + 135 Ç ALT + 128
e with acute accent
é ALT + 130 É ALT + 144
e with grave accent
è ALT + 138 È ALT + 0200
e with circumflex
ê ALT + 136 Ê ALT + 0202
e with tréma
ë ALT + 137 Ë ALT + 0203
i with circumflex
î ALT + 140 Î ALT + 0206
i with tréma
ï ALT + 139 Ï ALT + 0207
o with circumflex
ô ALT + 147 Ô ALT + 0212
o e ligature
œ ALT + 0156 Œ ALT + 0140
u with grave accent
ù ALT + 151 Ù ALT + 0217
u with circumflex
û ALT + 150 Û ALT + 0219
u with tréma
ü ALT + 129 Ü ALT + 154
French quotation marks
« ALT + 174 » ALT + 175
Euro symbol
€ ALT + 0128

Keep practicing.


Worksheet on indefinite articles in French

Complétez avec les articles indéfinis.

(Complete with the definite articles.)

1. ........................................................................ forêt.

2. ....................................................................... salon.

3........................................................................’école.

4. ................................................................. patinoire.

5.................................................................... banques.

6. .............................................................’appartement.

7. ......................................................................... stylo.

8. .................................................................... voitures.

9. .......................................................................... gare.

10. ........................................................................ chat.

Indefinite articles in French

Bonjour! In this lesson we will study about indefinite articles in French. As we know an indefinite article indicates that its noun is not a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be something that the speaker is mentioning for the first time, or its precise identity may be irrelevant or hypothetical, or the speaker may be making a general statement about any such thing.

In French indefinite articles correspond to "a," "an," or "one" in English, while the plural corresponds to "some." There are three forms of the French indefinite article.


un masculine

une feminine

des masculine or feminine plural


Exemple:


Un crayon, here I have written un crayon because pencil is masculine in French.




Une gomme, here I have written une gomme because eraser is feminine in French.



Des crayons, here I have written des crayons because pencils are plural.



Hope now the concept of indefinite articles is clear to all of you :).. Keep practicing and don't forget to complete or finish worksheet.

Friday, 30 May 2014

Clothes in french

In this lesson we will learn some new words related to the clothes.Remember we have to not only learn new word along with that we have to also learn gender of that particular word. So learn these words so that next time you will visit in any french speaking country, you can easily do shopping of clothes :)



Thursday, 29 May 2014

Worksheet on definite articles

Complétez avec les articles définis.

  (Complete with the definite articles.)

1. ........................................................................ forêt.

2. ....................................................................... salon.

3........................................................................’école.

4. ................................................................. patinoire.

5.................................................................... banques.

6. .............................................................’appartement.

7. ......................................................................... stylo.

8. .................................................................... voitures.

9. .......................................................................... gare.

10. ........................................................................ chat.

Definite articles in French

Bonjour! In this lesson we will study about definite articles in French. So what exactly definite article is?

A definite article indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be something that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may be something uniquely specified. The definite article in English, for both singular and plural nouns, is the.

Example:

Give me the book.

The students are intelligent.


Similarly in French  the is definite article but it has different forms according to the subject.

1. Le is used before a masculine singular noun beginning with a consonant.

2. La is used before a feminine singular noun beginning with a consonant.

3. L' is used before a singular noun beginning with a vowel and a silent “h”.

4. Les is used before all plural nouns.



Exemple: 

Le livre ( The book). Here I have written le livre because book is masculine singular noun.



La table ( The table). Here I have written la table because table is  singular noun feminine singular noun.



L'homme ( The men). Here I have written l'homme because man is beginning with  a silent “h”.




Les filles ( The girls). Here I have written les filles because girls plural nouns.



Hope now the concept of definite articles is clear to all of you :)

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Months in French

As we all know their are 12 months in a years. In this post we will learn how to write these months in french.
In french months or month is written as mois where as year as année.


                               Les mois                       Months

                                        Janvier                                   January
                                        Février                                   February
                                        Mars                                      March
                                        Avril                                      April
                                        Mai                                        May
                                        Juin                                        June
                                        Juillet                                     July
                                        Août                                      August
                                        Septembre                             September
                                       Octobre                                 October
                                       Novembre                             November

                                       Décembre                              December



Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Gender in French

In french it is very important to pay attention towards gender as we do in Hindi language. Like if I ask you what is the gender of truck or pen in Hindi? Your answer will be masculine. On the other hand if I ask you what is the gender of table? then your answer will be feminine. Here the point is each and every thing has it gender. In English we have three gender masculine, feminine and neuter gender but in French we have two gender i.e masculine and feminine.



English                                                                                            French


Masculine                                                                                       Masculin

Feminine                                                                                         Féminin




Example: In french book, pen are masculine whereas chair, chalk are feminine.

French alphabets & their pronunciation

Bonjour amis! Today we will start our first lesson . Alphabets are base of any language without knowing them we cannot learn any language. So in this post I will discuss about alphabets in french.

The French alphabets are same as the English alphabets but the pronunciation is different. The alphabets and their respective pronunciation follows: 

                                      
A
aa
N
n
B
bey
O
o
C
sey
P
pay
D
they
Q
cue
E
eu

R
air
F
ef
S
ess
G
zheh

T
tay
H
ash
U

iu
I
ee
V
vay
J
zee
W
dooble vay
K
ka
X
eeks
L
elle
Y
ee- grek
M
m
Z
zed


But in french their are six vowels (a, e, i, o, u and y)