Yabla features many videos that give you an opportunity to learn about French history and expand your history-related vocabulary. In this lesson, we will focus on some of France's most illustrious rulers, starting from Clovis, the first monarch, to Louis XVI and Louis Philippe, the last French kings.
As Patricia explains in her video, France was once divided into several royaumes francs (Frankish kingdoms). The Franks were a Germanic tribe that gave the country its name. In the Middle Ages, un roi franc (a Frankish king) named Clovis came into power and managed to unite all the Frankish tribes to form a kingdom roughly the shape of France:
Ce roi franc a unifié plusieurs royaumes francs et a ainsi agrandi considérablement son royaume.
This Frankish king unified several Frankish kingdoms and thus considerably expanded his kingdom.
Caption 9, Le saviez-vous? D'où vient le nom de la France?
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Clovis, who ruled from 481 to 511, is considered the first French king:
Clovis est le premier roi de France.
Clovis is the first king of France.
Caption 10, Le saviez-vous? D'où vient le nom de la France?
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Two centuries later, another Frankish king, Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, expanded his kingdom by conquering much of what would become Europe today. Charlemagne is perhaps best known in France for his contribution to education, as described in France Gall’s popular 1964 song "Sacré Charlemagne" ("Sacred Charlemagne" or "Bloody Charlemagne"): "[le roi] qui a eu cette idée folle d’avoir inventé l’école" ([the king] who had this crazy idea of inventing school). In the video below, a passerby hums part of the refrain:
Sacré Charlemagne...
Sacred Charlemagne...
Caption 39, Micro-Trottoirs Sacrée France Gall
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Much later, during the Renaissance period, another powerful king, Louis XIV (Louis Quatorze) came into power and ruled France for 72 years! In his video, Daniel Benchimol shows us the king’s birthplace, the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the outskirts of Paris:
À cet endroit tout simplement naquit Louis Quatorze en mille six cent trente-huit.
On this very spot, Louis the Fourteenth was born in sixteen hundred thirty-eight.
Caption 36, Voyage en France Saint-Germain-en-Laye
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Louis XIV became known as le roi Soleil (the Sun King) because he adopted the sun as his emblem:
Louis Quatorze, donc, le roi Soleil a décidé de prendre la ville ici en mille six cent soixante-trois.
Louis the Fourteenth, so, the Sun King decided to seize the town here in sixteen sixty-three.
Captions 38-39, Lionel Marsal - Part 2
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Louis XIV’s main residence was, of course, the Château de Versailles (Palace of Versailles), known for its amazing architecture:
Puisque l'art, c'est plutôt, euh... l'architecture, euh... comme le château de Versailles.
Since art, it's rather, uh... architecture, uh... like the Palace of Versailles.
Caption 15, Micro-Trottoirs Art ou science?
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Although in English we refer to the Château de Versailles as “a palace," strictly speaking, “a palace” is un palais and un château is “a castle.” And you are never far away from one of those in France, as there are over 40,000 castles throughout the country:
Autour de nous, des moulins, des châteaux, une cité médiévale.
Around us, windmills, castles, a medieval town.
Caption 43, Voyage en France Saint-Mammès
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The magnificent Château de Versailles was also the main residence of Louis XVI (Louis Seize) and la reine Marie-Antoinette (Queen Marie-Antoinette). Louis XVI also enjoyed staying at another royal castle outside of Paris, the Château de Rambouillet, where he could hunt in the nearby forest. Unfortunately, the queen hated the place, so the king, ever eager to please her, had le pavillon (the pavilion) called la Laiterie de la Reine (the Queen’s Dairy) built for his wife in 1785. In the video below, Daniel Benchimol shows us this magnificent building:
Derrière moi, ce magnifique pavillon qu'on appelle la Laiterie de la Reine. Il fut construit à la demande de Louis Seize pour la reine Marie Antoinette.
Behind me, this beautiful pavilion called the Queen's Dairy. It was built at the request of Louis the Sixteenth for Queen Marie Antoinette.
Captions 7-8, Voyage en France Rambouillet - Part 2
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Four years after the pavilion was built, the monarchy was formerly abolished during the 1789 French Revolution:
La France a été une royauté jusqu'en dix-sept cent quatre-vingt-neuf
France was a monarchy until seventeen eighty-nine
Caption 11, Le saviez-vous? D'où vient le nom de la France?
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La monarchie returned in 1815 for a brief time, as Patricia explains in her video:
En dix-huit cent quinze, avec le retour de la monarchie
In eighteen fifteen, with the return of the monarchy
Caption 26, Le saviez-vous? Histoire du drapeau français
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Indeed, there were a few more kings after the French Revolution, Louis Philippe being the last to rule from 1830 until 1848. In his video, Daniel Benchimol mentions how Louis Philippe came into power:
C'est ici que se prépara la révolution de dix-huit cent trente qui conduisit Laffitte à la présidence du Conseil de Louis Philippe.
It's here that the eighteen thirty revolution was fomented, which led Laffitte to the presidency of the Louis Philippe Council.
Captions 23-24, Voyage en France Maisons-Laffitte - Part 3
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There are many more rois (kings) and reines (queens) featured in our videos for you to explore. Daniel Benchimol's Voyage en France series is a great place to start. Thank you for taking this little trip back in time with Yabla!
Since France has such a rich artistic history, from Gothic architecture to Surrealism and beyond, it's not too surprising that there are three different words for "painting" in French. You'll find one of them in our new video on the artist Karine Rougier:
Un travail à la fois de peintures, de sculptures... de pierres peintes.
Works of both paintings, of sculptures... of painted rocks.
Captions 9-10, Le saviez-vous? - Karine Rougier présente son art
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Une peinture shouldn't be too hard to remember, since it's a cognate of "painting." Its relatives also have direct English equivalents: peindre (to paint), peint/peinte (painted), peintre (painter).
Peinture is also the word for "paint," as in the substance:
Et la peinture, euh...
And the paint, uh...
on peut dire, se sépare pas comme une vinaigrette.
we can say, doesn't separate like a vinaigrette.
Caption 31, Salon Eco Habitat - La peinture à l'ocre
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So la peinture à l'huile, for example, can either mean "oil painting" or "oil paint."
In English, a "tableau" is an artistic grouping or arrangement, originally referring to a motionless group of people representing a scene or historical event, kind of like a living painting. As a matter of fact, "tableau" is short for tableau vivant, which means exactly that. Un tableau (literally, "little table") is another word for "painting" in French:
Actuellement, je prépare un grand tableau, "La naissance de Vénus".
At the moment, I'm preparing a great painting, "The Birth of Venus."
Caption 67, Il était une fois: les Explorateurs - 10. Amerigo Vespucci
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Finally, there's la toile, which technically means "canvas," but is just as often used for "painting":
Vous y découvrirez la reproduction d'une toile de Sisley.
There you'll find the reproduction of a Sisley painting.
Caption 10, Voyage en France - Saint-Mammès
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But that's not all! Une toile is also "a web," as in une toile d'araignée (spider's web). And just as you can say "the web" in English to refer to the internet, in French you can say la toile.
We hope this lesson has inspired you to get out your pinceaux (paintbrushes)!
In his new travel video on the Parisian suburb of Saint-Mammès, Daniel Benchimol uses the word face quite frequently when giving directions on getting around town:
Face aux péniches de Saint-Mammès,
Facing the barges of Saint-Mammès,
arrêtez-vous quelques instants face au numéro quarante-et-un.
stop for a few moments in front of number forty-one.
Captions 8-9, Voyage en France - Saint-Mammès
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Face à Saint-Mammès,
Opposite Saint-Mammès,
nous sommes à Saint Moret-sur-Loing maintenant.
we are in Saint Moret-sur-Loing now.
Caption 40, Voyage en France - Saint-Mammès
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Face à is a useful expression meaning "facing," "in front of," or "opposite." You can even put the verb faire in front of it to make the verbal expression for "to face," in the sense of both "to be in front of" and "to cope with":
La NASA a dû faire face à une avalanche
NASA had to face an avalanche
de données et de preuves embarrassantes.
of data and embarrassing evidence.
Caption 7, La Conspiration d'Orion - Conspiration 3/4
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The word face is used in a number of other directional expressions, such as en face (across, opposite), as the lead singer of Babylon Circus uses it when lamenting the seating arrangement of him and his love interest:
Je suis assis en face, et pas à tes côtés
I'm sitting across from you and not by your side
Caption 23, Babylon Circus - J'aurais bien voulu
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They might not be sitting close, but at least they’re maintaining eye contact by sitting face à face (face-to-face)!
Unsurprisingly, the French face is related to the English "face," but it usually doesn’t refer to the front part of your head. French actually has two words for that: la figure and le visage. (To see some incredible French faces, check out our interview with artist and master visage-painter Niko de La Faye.)
Sometimes face can in fact mean "face," mainly in a figurative sense:
Ça change pas la face du monde, mais qui sait?
That doesn't change the face of the world, but who knows?
Caption 26, Le Journal - Laurent Voulzy
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Il peut voir la face cachée des choses.
He is able to see the hidden face of things.
If you're particularly concerned about your reputation, you might make a lot of effort to sauver la face (save face) or worry that you might perdre la face (lose face).
By itself, la face generally just means "side" (synonymous with le côté). Chef Wodling Gwennaël uses face in this way when explaining his delicious recipe for fried scallops:
On va les saisir, euh, à peu près une minute sur chaque face.
We're going to sear them, uh, for about one minute on each side.
Caption 14, Les Irrésistibles - Recette: Saint-Jacques poêlées
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Face also applies to the side of a coin, namely, the "heads" side (that is, the side that usually features someone's face). So whenever you want to settle something in French with a coin toss, you can say:
Pile ou face?
Heads or tails?
Voyons les choses en face (let’s face it): the word face has many faces! In other "face"-related news, make sure to check out our Facebook page for all the latest information from Yabla.
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