You may be familiar with the word fort as an adjective meaning “strong.” But are you aware of its many other uses and various meanings? And did you know that fort can be used not only as an adjective, but as a noun and an adverb?
In our previous lesson on adjectives used as adverbs, we learned that fort as an adjective means “strong,” or sometimes, in a more historical context, "fortified," as in un château fort (a fortified castle). Let’s go to France with Daniel Benchimol to find out more about the château fort of Gisors:
Le château fort de Gisors est un château dit à motte féodale.
The fortified castle of Gisors is a so-called feudal motte castle.
Caption 32, Voyage en France Vexin Normand - Gisors - Part 1
Play Caption
We'll leave le château fort de Gisors to go to Canada to explore un fort (a fort)—Fort Chambly, to be exact. This is one of the few instances when fort is used as a noun:
Ça, le Fort Chambly c'est un fort de... peut-être une auberge dans le fond.
That, Fort Chambly is a fort of... possibly an inn, in fact.
Caption 1, Le Québec parle aux Français - Part 11
Play Caption
Now let’s move on and discuss fort as an adverb. In the lyrics of the Stromae song Formidable, fort is equivalent to the adverb très (very). How do we know it’s an adverb and not an adjective? Because fort modifies the adjective minable (pathetic):
Tu étais formidable, j'étais fort minable
You were amazing, I was very pathetic
Caption 54, Français avec Nelly 12 Songs to Improve Your French - Part 2
Play Caption
You'll also find fort used as an adverb in the French description of the video Manon et Margaux - Le Corbeau et le Renard:
« Le corbeau et le renard », la fameuse fable de Jean de La Fontaine, nous est contée puis expliquée d'une façon fort amusante par nos deux jeunes amies françaises.
The Crow and the Fox, the famous fable by Jean de la Fontaine, is recited then explained to us in a very amusing way by our two young French friends.
Notice how fort stays the same even though amusante takes a feminine ending. Fort is acting as an adverb modifying the adjective amusante, not the feminine noun façon.
Here is a third example of fort meaning “very,” in the expression fort bien. But this time, fort is modifying another adverb, bien (well):
Fort bien assumé, petit homme ! Je te prends à mon service.
Very well executed, little man! I'll take you into my service.
Caption 48, Il était une fois: Les Amériques 9. Cortés et les Aztèques - Part 3
Play Caption
Now, just to make life more interesting, fort can sometimes be equivalent to bien (well)!
Non, pas vraiment, non, ça... Ça marche pas très fort, quoi.
No, not really, no, it... It's not going too well, you know.
Caption 41, Le Jour où tout a basculé J'ai été séquestré par mes amis - Part 2
Play Caption
The speaker could also have said:
Ça ne marche pas très bien, quoi.
It's not going too well, you know.
You can even combine bien and fort in the expression pas bien fort (not too well):
Ça ne va pas bien fort.
It’s not going too well.
Conversely, in an affirmative sentence, fort bien means "very well." But note the change in word order:
Ça va fort bien.
It’s going very well.
In addition to meaning “well" or “very," fort can also mean “strongly” or "hard." In the following example, the adverb describes the action of appuyer trop fort (pressing too hard), which is what Marie did. She pressed trop fort (too hard) on her charcoal pen:
Ben, tu as appuyé trop fort. -Je fais des dégâts.
Well, you pressed too hard. -I'm making a mess.
Caption 56, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 17
Play Caption
Also as mentioned in our previous lesson, the adverb fort can also mean “loudly,” as in parler fort (to speak loudly):
Le mieux, c'est d'ouvrir la fenêtre et de parler fort. -Voilà, d'accord.
The best thing is to open the window and to speak loudly. -Right, OK.
Caption 59, Lionel L'écluse de Réchicourt-le-Château - Part 3
Play Caption
Finally, let’s go back briefly to fort as a noun. Here is a useful expression that you might like to use for yourself when you don’t feel too confident about something: c’est pas mon fort (it’s not my forte). Note that the expression is mostly used in the negative form. In the song "Les mots d'amour," the singer tells us he is not great at speaking:
Parce que parler c'est pas mon fort
Because speaking is not my forte
Caption 2, Debout Sur Le Zinc Les mots d'amour
Play Caption
You might also like the expression c’est plus fort que moi (it’s beyond my control) when you feel powerless or can’t help yourself:
Mais là j'avoue que ça a été plus fort que moi.
But there I admit that that was beyond my control.
Caption 15, Melissa Mars From Paris with Love
Play Caption
In conclusion, if French grammar, c’est pas ton fort (is not your forte), you can click on this link for more examples, and of course, Yabla videos and grammar lessons will come to the rescue. Before you know it, you will be fort en français (great at French)!
Thank you for reading!
In our last lesson, we discussed the word tout (all) as an adjective in the constructions tout + noun versus tout + determiner + noun, and we learned that tout, like all adjectives, agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. In this lesson, we'll explore tout as an adverb. And in the process, we'll discover how this strange adverb sometimes goes rogue and starts behaving like an adjective! So, buckle up!
Before we examine the quirks and tricks of adverbial tout, let's look at tout as a regular adverb, a word that is typically invariable (never changes form). Indeed, tout always stays the same in front of another adverb. The construction tout + adverb is equivalent to très (very) + adverb:
Et voilà. Allez, mélange tout doucement.
And there we are. Go on, mix very slowly.
Caption 40, Delphine et Automne Le gâteau au yaourt - Part 1
Play Caption
Delphine could have said this instead:
Voilà. Allez, mélange très doucement.
And there we are. Go on, mix very slowly.
Tout also combines well with adverbs like simplement: tout simplement (quite simply).
Alors tout simplement parce que ça fait maintenant dix ans qu'on travaille à notre compte.
So quite simply because it has now been ten years since we've been self-employed.
Caption 22, Alsace 20 Grain de Sel: le titre de Maître Restaurateur, c'est quoi?
Play Caption
The adverb tout can also modify an adjective to mean "all" or "very," as in "to the full extent." Again, tout behaves like a typical adverb and does not change. In his song "Cha Cha du Marin," singer Cré Tonnerre describes a sailor in a happy mood, using the construction tout + singular masculine adjectives:
Tout heureux, tout amoureux, tout bleu comme le ciel bleu
All happy, all in love, all blue as the blue sky
Caption 26, Cré Tonnerre Cha Cha du Marin
Play Caption
Did you notice that all the t’s are sounded except the last one? That's because it's necessary to employ liaison in constructions like tout heureux (all happy) and tout amoureux (all/totally in love).
But when the adverb tout appears before a feminine adjective, the liaison becomes a bit more dangerous (or at least trickier). If the feminine adjective (singular or plural) starts with a vowel, as in excitée (excited), tout does not change:
J'étais tout excitée d'avoir ce privilège.
I was all excited to have that privilege.
Caption 16, Melissa Mars From Paris with Love
Play Caption
Tout also stays the same before a feminine adjective starting with a mute h (since a word beginning with a mute h behaves like a word beginning with a vowel, in the sense that it allows a liaison to occur):
Elle est tout heureuse.
She is very happy.
Elles sont tout heureuses.
They are very happy.
But wait, there is another type of h in French! Unlike the mute h, the aspirated h acts like a consonant. Therefore, no liaison is possible, which would make the second t in tout silent. Tout agrees in number and gender before a feminine adjective beginning with an aspirated h. In the example below, toute agrees with the feminine adjective honteuse (ashamed):
Elle est toute honteuse.
She is very ashamed.
In the same sentence in the plural form, toutes takes -es just like the feminine plural adjective it modifies:
Elles sont toutes honteuses.
They are very ashamed.
Just as adverbial tout agrees with a feminine adjective starting with an aspirated h, tout also agrees with a feminine adjective starting with a consonant:
Et puis après, je me retrouve toute seule...
and then after, I find myself all alone...
Caption 29, Amal et Caroline Pourquoi tu n'es pas venue à mon anniversaire ?
Play Caption
Elles peuvent fonctionner toutes seules.
They can operate on their own.
Caption 66, Lionel & Lahlou La grève
Play Caption
However, there is sometimes ambiguity in the feminine plural form. In some cases, you will need context to determine whether toutes is acting as an adverb (meaning "very," modifying the adjective) or as an adjective (meaning "all," modifying the subject):
Elles sont toutes tristes.
They are very sad./All of them are sad.
Elles sont toutes honteuses.
They are very ashamed./All of them are ashamed.
On the other hand, there is no ambiguity with the construction tout + plural feminine noun beginning with a vowel or mute h (e.g. tout heureuses). This tout can only act as an adverb, meaning "very":
Elles sont tout heureuses.
They are very happy.
Likewise, toutes heureuses can only mean "(they are) all happy." Rather than an adverb, toutes in this case is an adjective of quantity that modifies the subject elles:
Elles sont toutes heureuses.
All of them are happy.
Now let's recap the rules of the construction tout + feminine adjective (singular and plural):
Agreement
When tout is before a feminine adjective starting with a consonant:
When tout is before a feminine adjective starting with an aspirated h:
No Agreement
When tout is before a feminine adjective starting with a vowel:
When tout is before a feminine adjective starting with a mute h:
(And don’t forget that adverbial tout does not take agreement before ANY masculine adjective.)
Toute la leçon est terminée! (The whole lesson is over!) This may be a lot to take in, but keep in mind that exceptions are few. Tout only changes before feminine adjectives and only in limited situations. And don’t forget: L’équipe de Yabla est tout heureuse de vous aider! (The Yabla team is very happy to help you!)
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
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
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!)
Spanish
German
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
