No apples in je m'appelle

After you have said hello, probably the next thing to say is your name. The way the French say this is with a reflexive verb. A reflexive verb is one in which the person or thing doing the action directs that action against themselves. I scratched myself, you washed yourself, and he shaved himself are all examples of reflexive verbs. In French they don't say I am called... but I call myself...

The verb to call oneself is s'appeler and you have to be careful with this because it is slightly different from the usual regular verbs. When you say I call myself you add an extra 'l', je m'appelle. It's the same with tu t'appelles and with il s'appelle. When you get to nous nous appelons you are back to one 'l' and it's the same with vous vous appelez, but you return to the extra 'l' for ils s'appellent.

It is a lot easier to say je m'appelle because nobody is checking your spelling. If you are writing it then it may help to remember that there is no apple in je m'appelle.

A bientôt

Répétez s’il vous plaît

Very often you can repeat words that are spoken to you in French. The French do this and we also do this in English. Qu'est-ce que tu as fait le week-end dernier? Le week-end dernier j'ai...

This gives you chance to think about what you are going to say, it allows you to repeat some words that you have just heard, and it allows that peron to hear that you have understood the question and that you can say something in French.

You can repeat the question entirely. Il y a ...près d’ici? It still gives you time to think and if there are lots of them you can say il y en a beaucoup. Don’t use repetition too much just as you wouldn’t in English. It is nice to have an answer.

A bientôt

Reims sounds like rance not reems

The Champagne region is most famous its sparkling wine. The main reason I am writing about Champagne is not because it is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. I am not writing about Champagne because the region struggles to produce a good still wine. I am writing so that you know how to pronounce Reims. I am sure that you know that the name champagne is protected by law, so that only the sparkling wine produced in this region can take that name. Well you may not know that some producers in America have managed to get round the law and produce their own champagne.

I want to mention Reims which is the centre of the champagne industry. The city is full of history and has a stunning Gothic cathedral. Coronations have traditionally taken place in Reims from the time of Clovis I's baptism to 1825. The main reason that I am writing this blog is to get you to pronounce the word Reims. I have a friend from this city who taught me hpw to say it correctly otherwise I would never know. Google Reims and you still will not know because there are so many variations. It is pronounced quite nasally, and sounds like rance, and rhymes with the French way of saying prince, though the English have traditionally spelt it Rheims and pronounce it reems.

A bientôt

A mon avis

I like the expression ‘à mon avis’ because a lot of the things we say are our opinions so we can use this phrase in many circumstances. In fact the French have many ways of introducing their opinion. You can say ‘selon moi’ ‘d’après moi’, ‘quant à moi’ or ‘pour moi’ and there are many other ways of telling someone that this is your opinion. You can even tell people why you have this opinion simply by using parce que. You could use another conjonction, mais if you want to give a réservation about your opinion. Why not look at more conjonctions and you can really extend your sentences.

The good news is that it is fairly easy to learn one or two of these expressions that give an opinion and it is easy to use them. The very good news is that you have developed your speaking en français. You have given an extended sentence with a conjonction and you are starting to talk in French.

A bientôt

Who or whom?

Earlier today I read something in English and the author had incorrectly use the word 'whom'. This is not a problem for the French as they automatically use qui for who and que for whom. The good news is that if you learn the difference between these two French words then you will learn the difference between the English words who and whom.

Who or whom are relative pronouns. This means that they introduce another part of the sentence that links to a previously mentioned noun from the first part. If this noun is a person we use 'who' or 'whom'. The first noun is called the antecedent because it comes before the relative pronoun, and the second part is called the subordinate clause. The pronouns link two related ideas and combine two sentences to make one. This is why they are called relative pronouns and it saves repeating the noun. This may sound complicated but is easy if you see an example.

First sentence: voici une photo de Nicolas Sarkozy. Second sentence: Nicolas Sarkozy est le président de la France. It sounds so much better if you write one sentence. Voici une photo de Nicolas Sarkozy qui est le président de la France. Qui is used because the pronoun acts as the subject of the second part of the sentence. If someone else is the subject of the subordinate clause then we use que. Voici une photo de Nicolas Sarkozy que j'ai achetée à Paris. In the second part of the sentence I am doing the buying, not Nicolas.

I know this is a long blog but just notice the e at the end of achetée. It is another way that you can have an example of a preceding direct object and so an agreement with avoir verbs (see Wednesday 25th Feb) is needed.

A bientôt

Mercredi des Cendres

I am writing this blog on Wednesday even if it does say Thursday, as I try to stay at least one day ahead of myself. In fact it is Ash Wednesday. The French for ash is (le) cendre. Renounce or give up is renoncer. See if you can understand the next two sentences.

Mercredi est le troisième jour de la semaine. Mercredi des Cendres est le premier jour du carême et j’ai renoncé le travail pour le carême.

Pronounce the English word ash with a French accent and you have said the word for the French letter H. If you don’t know your alphabet already then you should learn it sooner rather than later and now you know H which is one of the more difficult letters to remember. I hope this helps.

A bientôt

La source, vous l’avez bouchée

I know that I am in a minority because I like grammar. I think that grammar is really important. Take the apostrophe which tells us so much. In Accrington there is a pub called ‘The Bees Knees’. The old sign had one apostrophe after bees and another one after knees. It told me that the knees belonged to more than one bee but it didn’t tell me what they were talking about – the bees’ knees’ what? Fleas?

I mention these knees because knowledge is power. Well I didn’t get a free drink at the pub but I am sure they must have been embarrassed by their sign. I will mention just one aspect of French grammar and then you too can feel good with this knowledge, There is a quote from Manon des Sources – ‘la source, vous l’avez bouchée’ It is a very important line in the film, but notice the final e on bouchée. Why is it there? Firstly you have to know your past participles – bouché. Then you have to know that there is agreement with avoir participles only when you have a preceding direct object. They have blocked the spring. You have to know the difference between direct and indirect objects, but if you need to write to someone (the someone is an indirect object as I write to them) then you will have the power of correct grammar behind your letter.

A bientôt