Photos of Paris, France

Paris

I have been too busy with my PhD thesis that I hardly have time to post any update here. I am still learning some French, although not as much as I used to. Till I have more time, here are some photos from France.

Regular -IR verbs

Second group regular -IR verbs are similar to first group -ER verbs in terms that all regular -IR verbs can be conjugated in one way. There are not too many common regular -IR that I am aware of. The most common being finir (to finish).

Finir - To finish

Je finis - I finish
Tu finis - You finish
Il/Elle finit - He/She finishes
Nous finissons - We finish
Vous finissez - You finish (formal/talking to more than one person)
Ils/Elles finissent - They finish (Ils for masculine/misex, Elles for feminine)

Another one is choisir - to choose. It is conjugated in the exact same way.

Je choisis - I choose
Tu choisis - You choose
Il/Elle choisit - He/She chooses
Nous choisissons - We choose
Vous choisissez - You choose
Ils/Elles choisissent - They choose

Some others:

grossir - to get fat
agir - to act

If you notice, the ending for Nous, vous, and Ils/Elles is quite similar to regular -ER verbs (ez, ons, ent). One way that I use to remember conjugation (and many others that I will post in the future) is by reversing it with the English conjugation. What I mean is, for example, for I/You in English, "to choose" becomes choose (without s) as compared to He/She where it becomes chooses. In French conjugation, Je/Tu has s in the ending (choisis/choisis) where Il/Elle has no s (i.e. choisit). This might sound a bit confusing but as you go along, you will see that this is also the case other verbs. This might be of no use to you but certainly works for me in remembering the conjugations! I hope that this well help you too!

Join Frenchpod.com
FREE 7 days full trial

French learning website (II) - Frenchpod.com

This is one of the best French learning podcast available. It is rather new but the lessons are all very interesting. Best of all, you can try it out for free for 7 days and you are not required to enter any credit card details. If you like it and decided to subscribe, the membership packages start from as low as USD5 per month. If you are student, email them proof of student, and get 20% discount!

In any case if you do not want to pay after the 7 days, you can continue to download the Newbie lessons and Voulez-vous chanter avec moi for free.

What are you waiting for? You won't regret signing up!

Signup Now!
Free 7 days trial!

My new favourite song!

It's a French song by Charles Trenet called "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?", which means "What is left of our love?" Thanks to Frenchpod's "Voulez-vous chanter avec moi?"! You can listen to their mp3 for the translation of the lyrics or see mine below (roughly translated, might not be 100% correct). Any comments more than welcome!



The lyrics:

Ce soir le vent qui frappe à ma porte (Tonight the wind which hits at my door)
Me parle des amours mortes (Telling me of the dead love)
Devant le feu qui s' éteint (In front of the fire which is fading)
Ce soir c'est une chanson d' automne (Tonight it is a song of autumn)
Dans la maison qui frissonne (In the trembling house)
Et je pense aux jours lointains (And I think of the distant days)

{Refrain:} (Chorus)
Que reste-t-il de nos amours (What is left of our love)
Que reste-t-il de ces beaux jours (What is left of these beautiful days)
Une photo, vieille photo (A photo, an old photo)
De ma jeunesse (of my youth)
Que reste-t-il des billets doux (What is left of love letters)
Des mois d' avril, des rendez-vous (Months of April, the meetings)
Un souvenir qui me poursuit (A memory that pursues me)
Sans cesse (Continuously)

Bonheur fané, cheveux au vent (Happiness wilted, hairs in the wind)
Baisers volés, rêves mouvants (Stolen kisses, changing dreams)
Que reste-t-il de tout cela (What is left of all this)
Dites-le-moi (Tell me)

Un petit village, un vieux clocher (A small village, an old clock)
Un paysage si bien caché (A landscape so well hidden)
Et dans un nuage le cher visage (And in a cloud the dear face)
De mon passé (Of my past)

Les mots les mots tendres qu'on murmure (The words the tender words that one murmurs)
Les caresses les plus pures (The purest of caresses)
Les serments au fond des bois (The promises at the bottom of the woods)
Les fleurs qu'on retrouve dans un livre (The flowers that one finds in a book)
Dont le parfum vous enivre (Of which the perfume intoxicates you)
Se sont envolés pourquoi? (Flew away why?)

{au Refrain} (Chorus)

The song just sounds so lovely in French!

How to ask questions in French (II)

With regards to my previous post here, another way to ask "would you like" using the conditional form for the verb aimer (to like).

Therefore, following the examples:

Vous aimeriez manger quelque chose? (You would like to eat something?)

J'aimerais manger quelque chose. (I would like to eat something.)

According to one of my friends, and some podcasts, waiters in French would say "Je vous écoute", meaning "I am listening to you". This might sound a bit arrogant in English but is quite a norm in France.

I will be posting a third post regarding asking questions which will include who, why, where, when and what soon. Stay tuned!

La vie en rose

One of my favourite songs, La Vie en Rose, by Edith Piaf (one of my favourite singers of all time). It literally translates to life in pink, similar to rose-coloured glasses, which basically means "more pleasant than it is".

The lyrics:

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
Voilà le portrait, sans retouche
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens

*Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose

*Il me dit des mots d'amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose

*Il est entré dans mon cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause

C'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie
Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie

+Et dès que je l'aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat

Des nuits d'amour ne plus en finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Des ennuis, des chagrins s'effacent
Heureux, heureux à en mourir

{Repeat *}

C'est toi pour moi, moi pour toi dans la vie
Tu me l'as dit l'as juré pour la vie

{Repeat +}

The Translation:

Eyes which make me lower mine
A laugh which vanished on his mouth
Here is the portrait without retouch
of the man to whom I belong

*When he takes me in his arms
He whispered to me
I see life in pink

*He tells me words of love
Everyday words
And it does something to me

*He came into my heart
A part of happiness
of which I know the cause

It is him for me, me for him in life
He said it to me, he sworn it to me for life

+And as soon as I catch a glimpse of him
Then I sense in me
My heart that beats

Nights of love no longer ending
A big happiness that takes its place
Problems, grieves fade off
Happy, happy to die from it

{Repeat *}

It is you for me, me for you in life
You told me it, you sworn it for life

{Repeat +}

Please correct me if there are any mistakes!

How to ask questions in French

I am back after missing for a while now. I have learned more now and have registered to do another year of French. I actually signed up for level 3 (intermediate), which is quite ambitious of me! I hope I will do ok.

Back to the topic, asking questions in French.

So far, I know there are 3 ways of doing this:

1. First and probably the easiest way, is to raise your pitch at the end of a sentence. For example: Vous voulez manger quelque chose? (You want to eat something?)
2. Secondly, you can add "Est-ce que" in front of the sentence. For example: Est-ce que vous voulez manger quelque chose? (Do you want to eat something?)
3. Finally, is to invert the verb and the subject pronoun. For example: Voulez-vous manger quelque chose? (Do you want to eat something?)

They are all pretty similar and not too difficult to remember at all. Of course, asking someone "do you want to eat something" can sound a bit impolite, usually in English we would ask "Would you like to eat something?" This is the same for French.

So you go:

1. Vous voudriez manger quelque chose? (You would like to eat something?)
2. Est-ce que vous voudriez manger quelque chose? (Would you like to eat something?)
3. Voudriez-vous manger quelque chose? (Would you like to eat something?)

Voudriez is a conditional form of the verb vouloir, to want. For subject pronoun "Je", it will be "je voudrais" (I would like). For example, Je voudrais manger quelque chose (I would like to eat something).

Well that's it for this time. Any comments are welcomed!