Enough!

This post contains some of the vocabulary we encountered during the last two lessons:

J'en ai marre (coloquial)              } I'm fed up / I've had enough  
J'en ai assez                                }

J'en peux plus (je n'en peux plus) = I can't take anymore

un poisson rouge = goldfish

 un poisson rouge

By the way, have you heard the one about the Catholic goldfish who went to midnight mass? (Private joke - you had to be at last Thursday's lesson to appreciate that one).

les oeufs brouillés = scrambled eggs

les oeufs brouillés

triste = sad

triste

Ago

six years ago           =  il y a six ans 

one week ago        =  il y a une semaine

three months ago  =  il y a trois mois

s'approcher de = to approach / come nearer

le chat s'approche de l'oiseau

parce que   =  because

à cause de  = because of

e.g.         Je suis en retard parce que j'ai eu un accident de voiture.

               Je suis en retard à cause d'un accident de voiture.

And finally ......

manquer = to miss. Check out a previous post for a full explanation.  

Watch your accents!

At the end of the lesson we touched briefly on how to type French accents.  There are two ways that I know of:

1) Use the Alt key + the accent code on your number pad. Make sure the number lock is on. Click on the link to find the list of codes.

2) Go to http://french.typeit.org/
Type your text and then cut and paste it into your document 

So, what are French accents and what is their purpose? Here is a brief explanation:

accent aigu  - é
Acute accent - always on letter e and alters the pronunciation. 
e.g. Il travaille (silent e at the end of travaille)
       Il a travaillé (the é at the end of travaillé is pronounced)

é at the beginning of a word means that, sometimes an s used to follow the vowel. You can see the s in some of the English equivalents.

e.g. étudiant = student
       étable = stable

accent grave  - à, è, ù
Grave accent - does not always change the pronunciation but sometimes changes the meaning of a word.

e.g. Il a trois enfants (a = has)                               He has three children
       Il va à la piscine (à = to)                                 He is going to the swimming pool
      
       Tu vas en voiture ou en train? (ou = or)           Are you going by car or train?
       Où est la voiture? ( où = where)                       Where is the car?

accent circonflexe - â, ê, î, ô, û

Circumflex accent - does not alter the pronunciation. It sometimes alters the meaning of a word and sometimes means that an s used to follow the vowel.

e.g. hâte = haste

       forêt = forest

       je voudrais du lait (du = some and is a contraction of de + le)        

       I would like some milk

      J'ai dû partir (dû is the past participle of devoir = must / to have to)         

      I had to leave 

cédille - Ç

Cedilla - like an upside down question mark always under the letter 'c'. It changes the sound from a hard k sound to soft s sound.  The cedilla is never placed in front of e or i, because c is always soft (sounds like an s) in front of these vowels.

e.g. Il travaille comme garçon de café        comme  =  hard c (k sound)
       He works as a waiter in a café              garçon   =  soft c (s sound)
                                                                  café      = hard c (k sound)
      ça va?
      How are you? / How are things?             ça   = soft c (s sound)

      Ceci n'est pas une pipe                         Ceci = soft c (s sound)
      This is not a pipe

tréma - ë, ï, ü
 umlaut (or diaeresis, but I have never heard anyone use this word). Two dots over an i or e to indicate that two vowels next to each other should be pronounced separately.

e.g. noël            (no - ell)  
      le canoë      (can-o-ay)
      naïf / naïve (nyeef / naive as in English)

N.B. Capital letters are usually left unaccented

Click on the link to learn more about French accents.

      

Let's get technical!

Linda told us about her bathroom renovation and the problems which ensued, namely, une fuite de gaz (gas leak).

une fuite de gaz 

une fuite d'eau   =   water leak

(Luckily, Linda didn't have one of these!)

The story, valiently recounted by Linda in French, led us to encounter the following vocabulary:

un tuyau (les tuyaux) = pipe/hose

un tuyau de gaz

Not to be confused with une pipe = pipe (the kind you smoke)

She was visited by the following:

le maçon
(builder)

le plombier
(plumber)

l'ingénieur
(engineer)

Other necessary vocab for this story.........

des clous
(nails)


la chaudière
(boiler)

le maçon a trouvé que le plombier a mis un clou dans le tuyau de gaz ! L'ingénieur est arrivé mais il a dit, 'Je répare seulement les chaudières, je ne m'occupe pas des tuyaux de gaz!'

C'est incroyable n'est-ce pas? La pauvre Linda! 

Addendum

I meant to say, in the last post, that un canapé also means sofa.  It's usually obvious from the context which one you mean.

un canapé

 

les canapés

(usually referred to in the plural)  

Les amuse-gueules

Also known, on restaurant menus, as 'les amuse-bouches', as gueule (gob) is not very polite. These are the snacks and nibbles we have with our apéritif (l'apéro)before the meal. You can, of course, use the word les canapés, which we have borrowed from the French. Canapés are usually quite elaborate whereas les amuse-bouches / amuse-gueules can be anything from canapés to nibbles.

les amuse-gueules

If you want to tell someone to 'shut up' very rudely you can say ta gueule! (shut ya gob!).  Just be careful who you say that to!

Still on the theme of Christmas & New Year fayre and festivities:

Pour les végétariens....

un rôti de noix

végétarien (végétarienne)         =  vegetarian

végétalien (végétalienne)  }      =  vegan

végan (végane)                  }      
rôti de noix                               =  nut roast / nut loaf

une fête

une fête                    =  a party

faire la fête              =  to party

fêter (reg ER verb)    =  to celebrate

Et les conséquences...

le régime                        = diet
être au régime                = to be on a diet
tenter (reg ER verb)        = to tempt 

aller hop (or allez hop!)  = here we go / off we go (colloquial phrase which you hear a lot)