When you put the words rien (nothing) and que (that) together, you get the expression rien que, which does not mean "nothing that," but "nothing but":
Je jure de dire la vérité, toute la vérité et rien que la vérité.
I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
ll utilise rien que pour cela dix-huit kilos de beurre.
For that, he uses nothing but [no less than] eighteen kilos of butter.
Captions 4-5, France 3 - Les conséquences de la crise du beurre
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Like "nothing but," rien que is a more emphatic way of saying "only" (seulement or ne... que) or "just" (juste):
C'est rien que des cochonneries, non? [C'est seulement des conneries, non? / Ce n'est que des conneries, non?]
It's nothing but trash, isn't it? [It's only trash, isn't it?]
Caption 36, Il était une fois - Notre Terre - 9. Les écosystèmes - Part 3
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Aujourd'hui rien que pour vous
Today, just for you,
j'ai décidé d'enquêter sur le titre "Maître Restaurateur".
I decided to investigate the title "Maître Restaurateur" [Master Restaurant Owner].
Captions 2-3, Alsace 20 - Grain de Sel: le titre de Maître Restaurateur, c'est quoi?
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Voici la ferme verticale, un gratte-ciel rien que pour cultiver des fruits et des légumes.
Here is the vertical farm, a skyscraper solely for growing fruits and vegetables.
Caption 27, Il était une fois - Notre Terre - 25. Technologies - Part 7
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It can also mean "alone," again in an emphatic sense:
Je trouve que rien que le titre du recueil, il est vraiment sublime.
I think that the title of the collection alone is really sublime.
Captions 76-77, Le saviez-vous? - Karine Rougier présente son art
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Ça me rend malade rien que d'y penser.
The thought of it alone/The very thought of it/Just thinking about it makes me sick.
Rien que pour ça je devrais quitter mon emploi.
For that reason alone I should quit my job.
Don't confuse rien que pour ça with rien que ça, which means "that's all" or "no less," often used ironically to emphasize something enormous or extravagant:
C'est un grand cinéma avec une énorme salle
It's a big movie theater with a huge auditorium
qui peut comporter deux mille sept cents spectateurs. Rien que ça!
that can accommodate two thousand seven hundred viewers. That's all!
Captions 3-5, Paris Tour - Visite guidée de Paris
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Il n'a plus d'argent mais il veut quand même acheter une nouvelle voiture. Une Porsche, rien que ça!
He has no money left but he still wants to buy a new car. A Porsche, no less!
But sometimes a rien next to a que does indeed mean "nothing that":
Et c'est pas pour rien que les derniers polars français par exemple...
And it's not for nothing that the latest French thrillers, for example...
Caption 21, Télé Lyon Métropole - Un café librairie spécialisé dans le polar
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The rien in this example is part of the expression ce n'est pas pour rien (it's not for nothing). "Nothing but" wouldn't make sense here.
Rien que ça pour "rien que"!
You may know that all French nouns are either masculine or feminine, but did you know that some nouns can be both? A word like après-midi (afternoon), for example, can be either masculine or feminine depending on the speaker's preference:
Vous deux, là, qu'est-ce que vous allez faire de beau cet après-midi?
You two, here, what are you going to do that's exciting this afternoon?
Caption 57, Actus Quartier - Fête de quartier Python-Duvernois - Part 1
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On passe une super après-midi.
You spend a great afternoon.
Caption 90, LCM - Rétine argentique, le paradis des photographes
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Un après-midi (masculine) and une après-midi (feminine) both mean "an afternoon." But usually, when a word's gender changes, its meaning changes too. Take the word mode, for example. La mode (feminine) means "fashion," but le mode (masculine) means "mode" or "(grammatical) mood":
Le milieu de la mode est aussi touché hein, forcément.
The world of fashion is also affected, you know, necessarily.
Caption 36, Cap 24 Paris - Alessandro fait les Puces! - Part 1
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Le temps présent fait partie du mode indicatif.
The present tense is part of the indicative mood.
Caption 10, Le saviez-vous? - Le mode indicatif, c'est quoi?
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Like mode, a lot of dual-gender words end in -e. Another common one is poste. When masculine, it means "post" as in "position" or "job" (among other things), and when feminine, it means "post" as in "post office" or "mail":
J'ai trouvé mon premier poste de libraire
I found my first bookseller position
Caption 3, Gaëlle - Librairie "Livres in Room"
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Si je venais à gagner, vous m'enverrez mon chèque par la poste.
If I were to win, you'll send me my check in the mail.
Caption 27, Patricia - Pas de crédit dans le monde des clones - Part 2
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You'll most often find the word livre in its masculine form, meaning "book." When feminine, it means "pound," as in the unit of weight and currency:
L'extérieur d'un livre s'appelle la couverture.
The outside of a book is called the cover.
Caption 4, Manon et Clémentine - Vocabulaire du livre
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Une livre équivaut à environ quatre cent cinquante-quatre grammes.
One pound is equal to around four hundred fifty-four grams.
Voile has related meanings in both its masculine and feminine forms. Both refer to things made of fabric—a veil (un voile) and a sail (une voile):
Un niqab, c'est donc un voile intégral qui ne laisse, euh, voir que les yeux.
So a niqab is a full-length veil that only, uh, shows the eyes.
Caption 10, Cap Caen Normandie TV - Danse - Héla Fattoumi se dévoile
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Il a une seule voile.
It has a single sail.
Caption 11, Fred et Miami Catamarans - Les Bateaux
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This video takes you on a tour (un tour) of Paris, making a requisite stop at the Eiffel Tower (la Tour Eiffel):
La Tour Eiffel, qui est le symbole de la France.
The Eiffel Tower, which is the symbol of France.
Caption 20, Paris Tour - Visite guidée de Paris
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Gender can be tricky in French, doubly so when you're dealing with words that can be both masculine and feminine. Remembering them is just a matter of practice. You can find a comprehensive list of dual-gender words on this page.
At the end of our last lesson, we introduced the question ça te dit (or ça vous dit), which literally means "does it say/speak to you," but is mostly used as an informal way of proposing something to someone. It's more or less equivalent to the English phrase "what do you say":
Du coup, je propose un apéro ce soir chez moi, dix-neuf heures.
So I propose an aperitif tonight at my place, seven p.m.
Ça vous dit?
What do you say?
Caption 62, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Espion dans l'immeuble
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But ça te dit can be translated a number of other ways too, depending on its position in the sentence:
Alors, ça te dit?
So, are you interested?
Caption 68, Le Jour où tout a basculé - J'ai volé pour nourrir mon fils
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Ça te dit qu'on aille boire un thé?
How would you like to go have some tea?
Caption 5, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Mes grands-parents sont infidèles
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At the beginning of a sentence, ça te dit can precede either que or de. But be careful: the phrase ça te dit que requires the subjunctive, as you can see in the example above (qu'on aille). Ça te dit de, on the other hand, simply takes the infinitive:
Ça te dit d'aller boire un thé?
How would you like to go have some tea?
Ça te dit has another meaning too. If you're not sure whether someone is familiar with what you're referring to, you can use the expression to double-check:
Non. Je connais pas Saguenay.
No. I don't know Saguenay.
-Bien, voyons, le fleuve, tout ça...
-Come on, the river, all that...
non, ça te dit rien?
no, that doesn't mean anything to you?
Caption 53, Le Québec parle - aux Français
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C'est situé dans le huitième arrondissement; je ne sais pas si
It's located in the eighth district; I don't know if
ça vous dit quelque chose, mais voilà.
that means anything to you, but there you go.
Caption 18, Paris Tour - Visite guidée de Paris
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