Do you ever get this feeling when speaking French? You have all the words you need to make the perfect sentence, but they just don’t fit together. This is what happens when you’re not comfortable with the word order and need to learn about the specifics of the correct French sentence structures. It may seem confusing at first, but bear with me for a moment and I trust that you’ll find it to be quite simple. Except for a few tricky exceptions, the structures are always the same and are often very similar to English. With all the tips and tricks from this article and a bit of practice, it will come naturally in no time! In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the French sentence structure, from basic sentences... Show more

Do you sometimes get the impression that time is flying away, riding a winged clock out of your reach, or is it just me? Flying or not, time is the single most precious thing we have, and being able to discuss it will prove useful within your first few days in France. Whether you want to talk about your day, plan something, talk about schedules, or just answer someone on the street asking you for the time, learning about telling time in French is essential. You’ll have to know the basic vocabulary for "hour" or "minutes" in French, some numbers, and a variety of valuable time-related phrases and keywords. In this article, you’ll learn everything about telling the time in French, from the units to the AM / PM system, common questions... Show more

Have you ever been lost in a big capital city, without batteries in your phone or credit on your SIM card? And when was the last time you’ve bought one of these unfoldable paper maps? Luckily, there’s one thing you can always rely on when you’re completely lost in France: helpful locals! But it comes at a price. Outside of Paris, it can be difficult to find English-speaking help and you’ll have to be ready to break the language barrier. Asking directions in French is easy. Understanding the answer is a different story (but "left" and "right" in French aren’t hard). Don’t worry, we’ll get you there. =) First, you’ll need to know the basic vocabulary, such as right, left, North, or South in French. But you’ll also need to know the usual... Show more

Do you know that the sun, a world, or a spider are guys, while moons, tables, and legs are girls? And these are only a few family-friendly examples of the French nouns genders’ oddity. Wait until you learn about the male and female genital words and their counter-intuitive genders. Figuring out which are the feminine nouns in French is one of the trickiest aspects of the language, and so is the formation of plural nouns, but bear with me for a little while and you’ll learn a collection of useful tricks to help you wrap your head around it! In this guide, you’ll find a list of the 100 most common and useful French nouns and how to use them. For each of these words, I’ve included the gender, plural form, translation, and example... Show more

Jeter des fleurs à quelqu’un. ("To compliment someone." Or literally: "To throw flowers at someone." ) Ever wonder how to compliment a guy in French or give your compliments to the chef after a delicious meal? If you haven’t heard compliments in French before, it may be because the French don’t do this much and tend to keep their praise a bit too much to themselves. When I traveled to Japan with a bunch of French friends, we were stunned at how people would praise us for everything we were doing, laugh at our most wonky jokes, and compliment us at every corner on our accents, clothes, or even our choices of drinks. People would strongly react with round eyes, laughter, and what seemed to me like a general tendency to exaggerate their... Show more

The majority of France’s population (around sixty-five percent) identifies as Christian, with most of those Christians being Catholic. Considering the large Christian population, Christian holidays are a big deal here! In this article, you’ll learn about the Whit Monday holiday in France. We’ll dive into the Whit Monday meaning, explore the most common traditions in France, and go over some important vocabulary you should know. Let’s get started. 1. What is Whit Monday in France? Whit Monday is a Christian holiday that celebrates the descent of the Saint-Esprit ("Holy Spirit" ) onto Jesus’s disciples. The Holy Spirit’s descent is said to mark the "birthday" of the Christian church. Catholics celebrate this holiday as... Show more

Did you know that people have been celebrating mothers and motherhood for a very long time? After all, what would the world be like without mothers? A lot bleaker than it is already, I imagine! Like many countries around the world, France has a special holiday set aside to honor one’s mother. In this article, you’ll learn all about Mother’s Day, France’s take on this holiday, and some new vocab. Let’s get started! 1. What is Mother’s Day? Mother’s Day is thought to have originated as far back as Ancient Greece, where the population organized springtime ceremonies for Rhea, the grandmother to the gods (and Zeus’ mother). The Ancient Romans had a similar holiday for celebrating mothers, called Matronalia. What we think of... Show more

Did you know that anger is a sign of weakness? These intense emotions bursting out of us like a raging volcano can be intimidating and mistaken for a show of strength, but they’re quite the opposite. We get angry when we’re afraid or weak, when we feel overwhelmed or outsmarted. However, properly channeled, it can be a spark, igniting you with power and purpose. If you get upset in France, better do it with flair and panache! It’s important that you know the various words and expressions for how to say "I’m angry" in French, because in the heat of the moment, you won’t have time to think it through! You should know that profanity is far from being as much of a taboo in France as it is in the U.S., and it’s not uncommon to hear seemingly... Show more

Have you ever stopped to ponder on how much our lives revolve around defining moments? These could be happy or tragic, once-in-a-lifetime or recurring events, and depending on where you live, you might experience them in dramatically different ways. If you live in France, have French friends, or have an interest in French culture, you need to know how major life events are handled there, and how to talk about them. You’ll need to know how to wish a happy birthday in French, a Merry Christmas or New Year, and how to offer condolences or wish for a swift recovery. Further, you’ll wish to know how to congratulate friends on their new degree, spouse, or offspring. In this article, we’ll go through the ten major French life events and their... Show more

Do you often imagine yourself as Nicolas Cage in the movie The Weather Man? Are you looking for a couple of lines to chat with your French neighbors or catch the attention of a charming coworker by talking about the weather in Paris, France? Or are you engrossed in how climate change is threatening the future of mankind and eager to tell everyone about it? No matter your level of French, commenting on the weather is a common way to engage in conversation with someone you don’t know anything about, as it’s the kind of innocuous universal topic anybody can talk about. Sure, it may not lead to a passionate debate (or maybe it will, on how the weather used to be forecasted before the time of satellites!) or a thought-provoking exchange of... Show more