In a recent video, Lionel samples some beer at a local market in the town of Toul. In classic Lionel fashion, he delivers a witty pun: 

Quand on boit de la bière Coin Coin

When you drink "Coin Coin" [Quack Quack] beer,

il faut vivre dans une pièce sans coins.

you need to live in a room without corners.

Captions 36-37, Lionel - Les bières artisanales Coin Coin

 Play Caption

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

The name of the beer is derived from the onomatopoeic expression coin coin, or "quack quack," as in the sound a duck makes. When not repeated, the word coin has several meanings. As Lionel demonstrates, un coin usually means "a corner." He's talking specifically about the corner of a room, but un coin can also be a street corner: 

Au coin de la rue Fabre et de la rue Laurier.

At the corner of Rue Fabre [Fabre Street] and Rue Laurier [Laurier Street].

Caption 39, Canadian Chocolate Seller - Chocolats

 Play Caption

The other word for "corner" in French is angle (which literally means "angle," as you may have guessed). So you could just as easily say l'angle de la pièce (the corner of the room) or l'angle de la rue (the street corner). 

Sometimes, un coin can refer not simply to a street corner, but to a broader area of a town or city:

De l'extérieur, on dit que c'est un coin... un quartier chaud.

Outsiders say that this is an area... a rough neighborhood.

Caption 29, Actus Quartier - Fête de quartier Python-Duvernois

 Play Caption

Or it can have a more general locational meaning, like "spot" or "place":

J'ai trouvé un coin sympa au bord de l'eau. 
I found a nice spot on the waterfront. 

There's also the adjectival phrase du coin, which refers to all things local: 

Pas de polémique: qu'ils soient du coin ou qu'ils viennent de loin...

No argument: whether they're from around here or from far away...

Caption 14, Le Journal - Un automne bien chaud

 Play Caption

Nous sommes allés au bistrot du coin. 
We went to the local bistro. 

Coin is a false cognate of the English word "coin." The word for "coin" is pièce, which also means "room," as in Lionel's example above. Try not to get them confused! 

C'est la pièce de dix euros, euh, qui représente la région.

It's the ten-euro coin, uh, that represents the region.

Caption 2, Normandie TV - La pièce de 10 euros bas-normande

 Play Caption

You can find many expressions featuring coin on this page. Keep them dans un coin de la tête (at the back of your mind) for whenever you speak French! 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Tweet us @yabla or send your topic suggestions to newsletter@yabla.com.

Être en train de is a handy French expression that describes an event in progress. It's always followed by an infinitive and is often translated as "to be in the process of" or "to be in the middle of":

Donc, je suis en deuxième année là;

So, I'm in my second year now;

je suis en train de... achever ma formation.

I'm in the process of... completing my training.

Caption 25, 4 Mains pour 1 Piano - Médaillon de Homard

 Play Caption

Là je suis en train de régler les meules pour que

Here I am in the middle of setting the millstones so that

le grain soit correctement écrasé.

the grain is crushed correctly.

Caption 4, Télé Lyon Métropole - Chaillé-les-Marais : Une biscuiterie 100 % familiale

 Play Caption

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

But just as often, être en train de can simply be translated with the present progressive tense ("to be doing," "to be making," etc.):

Donc, en ce moment, on est en train de faire des truffes cacao.

So, right now, we're making cocoa truffles.

Caption 7, Canadian Chocolate Seller - Chocolats

 Play Caption

In French, there is no difference between the present tense and the present progressive tense: on fait can mean both "we make" and "we are making." So the above example could also be written:

Donc, en ce moment, on fait des truffes cacao.
So, right now, we're making cocoa truffles. 

Être en train de emphasizes the fact that the activity is currently in progress (further emphasized above by en ce moment). In fact, "currently" is another possible translation of être en train de:

...je suis en train de travailler avec celui qui a fait 'Pulp Fiction',

...I'm currently working with the person who made 'Pulp Fiction,'

Caption 9, Melissa Mars - From Paris with Love

 Play Caption

You can also use être en train de to describe a continuing event in the past. In this case, it's synonymous with the imperfect tense: 

Quand j'ai fait cette photo, la baleine était en train de dormir.

When I took this picture, the whale was sleeping.

Caption 25, Le Journal - Sillonner & photographier les océans

 Play Caption

Quand j'ai fait cette photo, la baleine dormait.
When I took this picture, the whale was sleeping.

Here again, être en train de stresses the continuousness of the action: the whale was "in the process of" sleeping when the speaker took the picture. 

Être en cours de has the same meaning and function as être en train de, except it's usually followed by a noun instead of an infinitive:

Un immense chantier est en cours d'achèvement.

A huge construction project is being completed.

Caption 25, Voyage dans Paris - Cour de l'Industrie

 Play Caption

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

A final note: Make sure not to confuse en train with entrain, a noun meaning "enthusiasm" or "liveliness." Nous espérons que vous êtes en train d'étudier le français avec entrain! (We hope you're in the process of studying French with enthusiasm!)