Articles about French
620+ articles on French language topics!
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quand même
French uses quand même in several common ways. It can express concession, emphasis, impatience, mild reproach, surprise, or insistence. Its meaning depends on tone and context, but it consistently adds a sense of “despite this,” “all the same,” or “still.”…
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expression of quantity + à + infinitive
French frequently combines expressions of quantity with an infinitive to describe tasks, obligations, potential actions, or intended outcomes. These constructions are especially common with avoir, but avoir is not a grammatical requirement. The governing verb can vary, provided it can…
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days of the week
French uses a seven-day week aligned with the international standard, beginning on Monday. The French names come largely from Latin and preserve references to classical deities and celestial bodies. The following table shows the days in French and English. French…
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Christmas traditions
French Christmas traditions differ in several important ways from Anglo-Saxon customs. Many celebrations occur on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, food traditions follow established regional patterns, and several symbolic elements remain strongly tied to family gatherings and shared meals….
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ouf, ben, chut, na, etc
French uses many short, spoken fillers and interjections that express reactions, attitudes, hesitation, or emotional responses. They are common in informal conversation and often have no exact English equivalent. Words like ouf, ben, chut, na, and several related sounds. Ouf…
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animal sounds
French uses a distinct set of onomatopoeic forms to represent animal sounds. Many differ significantly from their English equivalents because French phonology shapes how sounds are imagined and expressed. These forms appear in children’s books, everyday conversation, idioms, and descriptive…
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hearing plurals 2
Beyond articles, numbers, adjectives, verb agreement, liaison, and the small set of audibly irregular nouns, there are several additional mechanisms that allow a listener to perceive plurality in spoken French. Some are grammatical, others pragmatic, but all are genuinely used…
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hearing plurals
In standard spoken French, most plural noun endings are silent. The written plural -s or -x is usually not pronounced, which means that many singular and plural forms sound identical. For example, livre and livres are pronounced the same in…
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autant, autant de, autant que
Autant, autant de and autant que are common French forms used for comparisons of equality, quantity, and degree. They appear across all registers and are central to expressing “as much,” “as many,” or “as much as.” Autant Autant is an…
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tant, tant de, tant que
Tant, tant de and tant que are common French forms expressing quantity, intensity, comparison, and conditions of time. They appear in both speech and writing across all registers. Tant Tant is an adverb meaning “so much,” “so,” or “so many,”…
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inouï
Inouï is a French adjective meaning “extraordinary,” “unheard of,” or “unbelievable.” It expresses strong amazement, usually positive but sometimes negative. It applies to events, experiences, abilities, behaviours, and situations that exceed normal expectations. The word is common in both spoken…
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unusual, usually
English uses unusual and unusually to express deviation from the normal or expected. French offers several adjectives and adverbs that convey this idea with varying degrees of intensity, from slightly unexpected to strikingly out of the ordinary. The choice depends…
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t’en as un œil !
The colloquial expression t’en as un oeil is informal and primarily spoken. It comments on someone’s bold, cheeky, or audacious behaviour. Although oeil is the regular noun for “eye,” the figurative meaning is unrelated to vision or appearance. Literal meaning…
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fuir vs s’enfuir
The verbs fuir and s’enfuir both mean “to flee” or “to run away,” but they differ in grammatical structure, transitivity, and meaning. Fuir focuses on what is being fled from, while s’enfuir focuses on the act of escaping itself. Fuir…
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nous n’avons que faire
The phrase “nous n’avons que faire” is a formal and somewhat literary French expression. Its direct, word-for-word translation is:“We have but to do.” However, this is not what it means in practice. The modern and accurate English translation is: “We…
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