I’ll Be Honest: Texting In French Is Somewhat Of A Nightmare. Things Are Often Written Phonetically

1/100. Monday, 08.03.20 — Français

Started a new notebook for my French study notes. Today was mostly a review for me. I struggle sometimes with remembering the grammar rules for French prepositions.

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RESOURCE FOR (major) AP TESTS

Yo!! for those of you students (or not) who’re taking AP tests, there’s this channel called Crash Course that has a bunch of AP-related series. each video’s between 10-15 minutes long and a lot of students use them as review or catch-up on stuff that their class skimmed over/stuff they didn’t understand or missed. Here are the ones that I know are for sure AP courses:

AP World History (also, if you want a more in-depth look at a lot of these topics, check out World History 2 as well)

AP US History

AP Ecology

AP Biology

AP Chemistry

AP English Literature (in terms of analysis and close reading, not so much about paragraph and essay styles…sorry, if anyone’s got a good source for that, please reblog and add some sources)

AP Psychology (helped me get a 5 on the ap psych test, no joke!!)

AP United States Government and Politics

AP Micro- and Macro-economics* (I believe, feel free to contest this)

AP Physics* (not sure which specific tests these videos cover) - (MinutePhysics is also a good source for specific topic in physics)

* indicates series that are, as of May 3rd 2016, still running/incomplete

If anyone has any other AP-related testing help (in terms of subject matter, not how to take the test), please reblog and add more. I hope y’all pass your tests!!

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Teen French expressions

For if you want to make hip young friends.

Disclaimer: French people complain a lot. A lot. Don’t be surprised if 90% of these expressions are complaining.

Non mais oh - say this if someone does something mildly annoying and you want to express your shock and distaste.

Tu me fais chier - (alt. tu me fais chier, là.) literally ‘you make me shit’. means you’re pissing me off.

Carrément - translates to ‘squarely’. Means ‘literally’. If someone tells you something surprising or annoying, you can answer simply “ah carrément.” see: tu me fais carrément chier.

J’hallucine / je rêve - are you annoyed by something? say these.

C’est pas possible - a classic. anything bad happens - c’est pas possible. There is no cheese left? It’s not possible. I’m hallucinating. This is a burden on me that solely I can bear I cannot believe this is happening.

Ça commence à me gaver - I’m starting to get real sick of this. see: Ça commence carrément a me gaver là, putain.

T’es relou - verlan slang for ‘lourd’ meaning someone’s heavy, personality-wise. They’re tedious.

Ça me saoûle / ça me gonfle - similar to gaver, means something’s pissing you off, you’re sick of it.

Grave - totally.

C’est clair - totally/that’s clear. Like ‘claro’ in spanish. “Justine elle est trop relou” “C’est clair. Elle me fait chier.”

J’en ai marre - I’m sick of this.

J’en ai ras le bol - I’m sick of this.

J’en ai ras le cul - I’m sick of this (vulgar).

(J’en ai) Rien à battre - I don’t give a damn.

(J’en ai) Rien à foutre - I don’t give a fuck.

C’est bon, là. -  That’s enough.

Perso, euh, - “Personally,” generally used at the start of a complaining sentence, to express how personal the matter is to you. Perso, euh, c’est bon là. J’en ai ras le cul.

Rôh là - general expression of distaste. Le longer the rôh, the more annoyed you are. Rôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôh, c’est quoi ce bordel.

C’est quoi ce bordel ? - translates to “what’s this brothel”, means “what’s this shit?!”

C’est de la merde - It’s shit.

C’est une blague ? - Is this a joke?

Idem - ditto

J’ai la dal - I’m hungry

Ça caille - It’s freezing

Ouf - two meanings 1. phew or 2. verlan for “fou”, meaning crazy (as a noun or adjective). “Kévin, c’est un ouf! Il fait du vélo sans casque!” “Ouais carrément, c’était un truc de ouf!”

Kévin - there’s a running joke that all the young delinquents seem to be called Kévin.

Crever - slang for “to die”. Va crever, connard!

Connard/Connasse - c*nt, but a lot less vulgar in french peoples eyes

And finally,

T’es con. No English translation can express the power behind the words “t’es con”. While it may sort of translate to “you’re a c*nt/idiot”, it expresses something much deeper. You really are a god damn fool.

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Expressing Your Opinion IN FRENCH - update with indications of subjunctive use

Expressing thoughts…

Je pense que + indicative – I think that

Je ne pense pas que + subjonctif - I don’t think that

Je crois que + indicatif – I think that

Je ne crois pas que + subjonctif - I don’t think that

À mon avis – in my opinion

D’après moi – in my view

J’ai l’impression que + indicatif (in the negative [je n’ai pas l’impression que] it uses the subjunctive) – I have the feeling that

Il me semble que + indicatif (in the negative it uses the subjunctive) – it seems to me that

Je suis d’avis que + indicatif (mostly) – I’m of the opinion that

Je trouve que + indicatif (in the negative it uses the subjunctive) – I find that

Personnellement – personally

Pour ma part – for my part

Pour moi – for me

Supporting an opinion

On dit que + indicatif (in the negative it uses the subjunctive) – they say that

J’ai entendu dire que + indicatif – I heard that

J’ai entendu parler de + nom – I heard about

Par exemple – for example

Staying neutral

Cela dépend de + indicatif (unless que is used) – that depends on

C'est une question de point de vue – It all depends on your point of view.

Il est / C'est difficile de – It’s hard to

Il m'est impossible de donner un avis (définitif) sur – I can’t express a (definite) opinion on

Je n'ai jamais vraiment réfléchi à – I have never really thought about

Je n'ai pas d'opinion bien précise à / arrêtée sur – I don’t have strong feelings about

Je ne me le suis jamais demandé – I’ve never wondered about it

J’ignore tout de – I don’t know anything about

I think I got a lot of these from a particular website, maybe about.com, I can’t remember because I got it from a sheet I made for a student a while ago.

-If there are any questions or corrections lemme know:)

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i was struggling with the agreement of prepositions, so i made these reference sheets with the help of my french teacher! Let me know if there’s anything I need to correct, grammatically or visually!

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cuire, faire cuire (au four)  to bake mélanger, remuer  to mix, stir tamiser  to sift lever  to prove, to rise (dough) préchauffer  to preheat

la levure  yeast le levure chimique  baking powder la levure de boulanger baker’s yeast le levain  sourdough starter le bicarbonate (de soude/sodium)  baking soda la sucre  sugar le sel  salt la pépite de chocolat  chocolate chip la farine  flour la farine complète  whole grain flour la pâte  dough la canelle  cinnamon  la (noix de) muscade  nutmeg

le pain au levain  sourdough bread le pain complet  whole grain bread le pain de seigle  rye bread le gâteau  cake le petit gâteau  cupcake, cookie la tourte  a savory pie la tarte  a sweet pie, tart, or torte le quatre-quarts  poundcake le biscuit  cookie le brownie  brownie le petit pain  roll, bun

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Language learning recommendation

Let me tell you about I website I just found. It's called mamalisa.com and it has lullabies and children's songs in every language. Here are just some of the languages;

Arabic

Ukrainian

Korean

Welsh

Swedish

Romanian

Spanish

Danish

Next to the lyrics of the song, it also has;

the English translation

if it is part of a game, the explanation of the game and its instructions

any relevant context/history

whether the same song exists in another language

the mp3 download

relevant youtube clip

sheet music

You can sort the songs by language, continent, country or type of song!

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How to easily tell if a word is feminine or masculine in French?

Depending on the word category or it's ending? You can guess whether it is masculine or feminine. However there are exceptions but knowing the strategies will help you identify French nouns gender with about 90% accuracy.

👉Check out my latest post to find out more about these strategies that will help you learn easily French nouns gender. Click here.

If you are also looking to learn French and are having a tight budget, check out our language learnings discounts and deals page, it might be of help.

À bientôt

LEARN FRENCH WITH CHANTY

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french news vocabulary 🇫🇷

à la une   on the front page

les achats de précaution   panic buying

l'actualité, les actualités   news

affolé (adj)   panic-stricken

allégué (adj)   alleged

un appel   appeal, call

une arme   weapon, gun

une arme blanche   knife

les armes de destruction weapons of mass destruction

assassiner   to murder

un assaut attack un attentat   attack

un attentat-suicide   suicide bombing

l'avortement   abortion

la banlieue   suburb

un bilan   death toll

blanchir exonerate

blessé (adj)   injured, wounded

une bombe   bomb

un bouchon traffic jam

braquer to hold up, point a gun at

la canicule   heat wave

un cas de force majeure   disaster (natural or man-made)

les Casques bleus   UN peacekeeping forces

un casseur   rioter

une catastrophe aérienne   air disaster

une catastrophe écologique   environmental disaster

une catastrophe naturelle   natural disaster

censurer to censure

un cessez-le-feu   cease-fire

un cible - target

le chômage   unemployment

un collecte au profit des sinistrés   disaster fund

coupable guilty

un coup d'état   overthrow

une coupure de courant   power outage

le crime   crime

un criminel, une criminelle   criminal

une crise   crisis

un cyclone   cyclone, hurricane

se déclarer - to break out (eg. a fire) 

déclencher to launch 

décréter to declare 

des dégâts   damage

le deuil   bereavement, mourning

un désastre financier   financial disaster

un désastre politique   political disaster

les drogues (fem)   drugs

un éboulement   rockslide

une élection   election

une émeute   riot

une enquête   investigation

une épidémie   epidemic

extrader   to extradite

un feu   fire

un flic (informal)   cop

flotter le drapeau en berne to fly flag at half mast

la garde à vue   police custody

être mis/placé en garde à vue   to be kept in custody, held for questioning

le gaz lacrymogène   tear gas

un glissement de terrain   landslide

une grève (faire la grève)   strike (to be on strike)

la guerre   war

la grippe aviaire   bird flu

la grippe porcine   swine flu

hexagonal   French

l'Hexagone   France

un immigrant, un immigré   immigrant

les impôts (masc)   taxes

un incendie   fire

une inondation   flood

inonder   to flood

un insurgé   insurgent

des intempéries   bad weather

IVG   abortion 

le kamikaze   suicide bomber

la loi   law

la lutte (literal/figurative)   struggle, fight

une manifestation   demonstration

le meurtre   murder

la mondialisation   globalization

une navette spatiale   space shuttle

un obus   explosive shell

opération escargot   rolling blockade

un ouragan   hurricane

une panne d'électricité   blackout, power cut

la peine de mort   death penalty

la pénurie   shortage, lack

la police   police

un policier   police officer

la politique   politics, policy

le politique   politician

poursuivre en justice   to sue

le pouvoir d'achat   buying power

présumé (adj)   alleged

un procès   trial

le réchauffement de la planète   global warming

la région sinistrée   disaster area

une réplique   after-shock, counter-attack

la retraite   retirement

un scrutin   ballot, election

un séisme   earthquake, upheaval

selon (prep)   according to

un sinistré, une sinistrée   disaster victim

un soldat   soldier

un sommaire summary

un sondage   poll

soupçonner to suspect

le suicide assisté   assisted suicide

les suites aftermath

un syndicat   union

le système de santé publique   health care system

un témoin   witness

une tempête   storm

le terrorisme   terrorism

tirer (sur)   to shoot (at)

les titres   headlines, headline news

une tornade   tornado

les transports en commun   public transit

un tremblement de terre   earthquake

une trêve   truce

tuer   to kill

un vaccin   vaccine

une victime   victim  (Note that this word is always feminine, even when referring to a man)

viser  to target

voter   to vote

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Learning to read in your target language !

Learning to read in any language is difficult!  There’s nothing more frustrating than picking up a book you’ve read in your mother tongue and not understanding a word in your target language. Luckily, it’s a matter of vocabulary ! 

You won’t understand everything

 Even in your native language, you still don’t understand EVERY WORD, you use context to try to figure out something you don’t know. But you’ll find that if you keep at it, you will get visibly better.

I read Harry Potter as my first long text in French and I high lighted every single word that I didn’t know. Looking back, about 35% of the words on the first page are high lighted vs. about 5% on the last page.

To get the most our of language learning, you should start trying to read as soon as possible !

You get so much passive input out of reading comprehension. It’s easy to subconsciously pick up commonly used phrases and putting grammar points and vocabulary into application.

So, what methods can I use to get the most out my reading?

A.) Read a paragraph through and look up the words and their definitions, then read it again and really try to find the meaning of each sentence. This might be the most taxing method and easy to lose focus or motivation, but honestly it’s the best for learning. 

B.) Stop at every word you don’t know and look up the meaning. I personally don’t like this method. I find myself looking more for words I don’t know than the meaning behind the whole sentence. I also don’t like stopping and starting and stopping and starting. 

C.) Skim the paragraph or page for words you don’t know, highlight them, define them first, THEN read the whole piece of text. This is my favorite method. I like looking back at the beginning of the book and seeing all the words I didn’t know then but I know now.

D.) Try to gather context of sentence without looking up any words. This is what native speakers do, and it is, of course, the best method but it requires a deeper meaning of the context that most A1/A2 learners have yet to understand.

You might be struggling learning through textbooks because the vocab lists prioritize subjects like “body parts” and “animals” over giving you basic tools to describe things. It’s great to know words like “knee” and “candle” but how often do those really come up in conversation? Instead of finding random lists that might be useful one day, I suggest creating a list of vocab based on your reading content! When you see a word that has come up a few times and you still can’t gather from context what it means, look it up, then every time you see it in the text from now on, it’ll enforce that knowledge in your brain.

If you aren’t sure what kind of texts you should be reading or want more information and tips, check out my other post.

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