Many nations celebrate Noël (Christmas), and France is no exception. How do French children typically spend Noël? Does Santa visit them and give out toys on le jour de Noël (Christmas Day) too? Let's discuss some of France’s traditions and explore some Christmas-related vocabulary in the process.
Le Père Noël (Father Christmas or Santa Claus) does indeed pay a visit to children in France and French-speaking countries, but he was not always called Père Noël:
À l'époque, il ne s'appelle pas encore Père Noël mais Nicolas
At the time, he is not yet called Santa Claus, but Nicholas
Captions 4-5, Le Monde D’où vient le Père Noël ?
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In any case, nowadays, children all know about le Père Noël, to whom they are encouraged to write une lettre (a letter), en français, of course:
Les enfants peuvent écrire leur lettre au Père Noël
The children can write their letter to Santa Claus
Caption 11, LCM "Cher Père Noël..."
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And all the lettres addressed to le Père Noël will end up at le pôle Nord (the North Pole):
La lettre arrivera bien au père Noël. Une lettre tamponnée et postée, destination le pôle Nord.
The letter will reach Santa Claus. A letter stamped and mailed, destination North Pole.
Captions 14-16, LCM "Cher Père Noël..."
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Le Père Noël will, as the story goes, read the letters and fulfill the children’s wishes as long as they've been sages (good). In the following video, a child gives us a candid answer about his behavior:
Oui, des fois je suis sage.
Yes, sometimes I am good.
Caption 18, LCM "Cher Père Noël..."
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If the children have been naughty, they will have to contend with le Père Fouettard (Father Whipper), who distributes coal to bad kids. Fortunately, according to the speaker in the video below, le Père Fouettard will not be present this year, as everybody has been good:
Donc, euh... cette année sans le Père Fouettard parce que tout le monde est sage.
So, uh... this year without Père Fouettard, because everybody is good.
Caption 57, Grand Lille TV Focus: la tradition de Saint-Nicolas
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Since so many children have been sages (good), it's an extremely busy time for le Père Noël, who has many jouets (toys) to deliver. In this cute video, poor Santa complains that he is overworked! Not only does le Père Noël distribute the toys, but he also makes them:
Le Père Noël a bien du mal à finir à temps son travail. Il y a tellement d'enfants sur terre et tellement de jouets à leur faire.
Santa Claus is having a lot of trouble finishing his work on time. There are so many children on earth and so many toys to make for them.
Captions 16-18, Les belles histoires de Pomme d'Api Les Chaussettes du Père Noël
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Le Père Noël might have to carry a large hotte (bag) for all the toys he will need to deliver, but its heaviness should not be of any concern to the little ones:
Si quelques enfants ont encore des craintes concernant la taille de sa hotte, pas de panique.
If some children still have concerns about the size of his bag of toys, no need to panic.
Caption 9, TV Vendée Le sapin de Noël décoré par les enfants
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Then le Père Noël, whose appearance is based on that of Saint Nicholas, is all set with his traîneau (sleigh) pulled by rennes (reindeer), which is filled with cadeaux (presents) to be stuffed into chaussettes (stockings):
Saint-Nicolas ressemble alors à un vieil homme à barbe, un peu gros, qui se promène sur un traîneau tiré par des rennes, et il descend par la cheminée pour fourrer ses cadeaux dans des chaussettes.
Saint Nicholas then looks like an old bearded old man, somewhat fat, who goes around on a sleigh pulled by reindeer, and he goes down the chimney to stuff his gifts into stockings.
Captions 52-55, Le Monde D’où vient le Père Noël ?
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While le Père Noël is getting ready, families are also busy setting up decorations. Of course, the magic of Christmas is not complete without un sapin de Noël (a Christmas tree)! In this small community, le sapin is the centerpiece and pride of the town:
Un peu plus loin, la star, c'est le sapin.
A little further, the star is the Christmas tree.
Caption 14, TV Vendée Le sapin de Noël décoré par les enfants
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An army of children help decorate the town’s sapin with personalized ornaments:
Celui de la place Napoléon à la Roche-sur-Yon est assiégé par une armée d'enfants venus tout simplement le décorer avec des boules personnalisées.
The one on Place Napoléon [Napoleon Square] in La Roche-sur-Yon is besieged by an army of children who came quite simply to decorate it with personalized ornament balls.
Captions 15-16, TV Vendée Le sapin de Noël décoré par les enfants
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Some communities prepare for a more religious Christmas celebration, like this little town in Alsace, which is even planning to set up une crèche vivante (a live nativity scene) in the future:
En été j'aimerais bien faire un pique-nique géant dans la cour, faire une petite crèche vivante aussi pour Noël...
In the summer I'd really love to do a huge picnic in the courtyard, to do a little live-action nativity scene as well for Christmas...
Captions 32-33, Alsace 20 Mangez bien, mangez alsacien!
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In addition, you will often hear French children sing "Petit Papa Noël" (Little Father Christmas), a song recorded in 1946 by French singer Tino Rossi:
Petit Papa Noël / Quand tu descendras du ciel
Little Father Christmas / When you come down from the sky
Captions 1-2, LCM "Cher Père Noël..."
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That’s it for our fêtes de Noël (Christmas festivities)! If you wish to find out more about the wonderful ways French people like to fêter Noël (celebrate Christmas), be sure to explore our Christmas-themed videos.
Joyeux Noël! (Merry Christmas!)
In Part 2, we explored the passé composé of second-group verbs, or verbs whose infinitives end in -ir. In this lesson, we’ll discuss irregular -ir verbs, which belong to the third group.
As mentioned in our previous lesson, -ir verbs are classified, in addition to their infinitive endings, according to their present participles (equivalent to the -ing ending of a verb in English). So, all -ir verbs with a present participle ending in -issant (such as finir > finissant [finishing]) belong to the second group and have a past participle ending in -i.
On the other hand, most irregular -ir verbs have a present participle ending in -ant and a past participle ending in -u.
For example, tenir (to keep, hold) becomes tenant (keeping, holding) and tenu (kept, held):
en tenant la poêle de la main droite
while holding the pan with the right hand
Caption 33, Le saviez-vous? - La tradition de la Chandeleur
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Mais elle a également tenu sa promesse.
But she has also kept her promise.
Caption 33, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Mon père s'oppose à ma passion
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It’s a good idea to learn the derivatives of a verb, as they usually share the same conjugation rules. All verbs ending in -tenir will work the same way. So, obtenir (to obtain) and retenir (to retain) also have a past participle ending in -u: obtenu, retenu.
The same applies to all the derivatives of venir (to come), such as devenir (to become) and prévenir (to warn):
Et il a prévenu les flics.
And he called the cops.
Caption 32, Le Jour où tout a basculé - À la recherche de mon père
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Having said that… there’s an oddball bunch of -ir verbs that have a present participle ending in -ant and a past participle ending in -i, not -u.
For example, partir (to leave) becomes partant and parti:
Mais... en partant,
But... as she left,
elle m'a donné son numéro de téléphone.
she gave me her phone number.
Captions 35-36, Extr@ - Ep. 6 - Le jour du loto
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Leurs parents sont partis vivre en Australie il y a une dizaine d'années
Their parents went to live in Australia around ten years ago
Caption 10, Le Jour où tout a basculé - À la recherche de mon passé
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And sortir (to go out) becomes sortant and sorti:
Drôles d'étudiants que ceux-là,
Strange students they are,
habitant l'hôtel et sortant en robe longue et nœud papillon.
living in a hotel and going out in long dresses and bow ties.
Caption 12, Le Journal - L'Institut du goût
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Le mec, il est sorti
The guy went out
Caption 3, Sophie et Patrice - La révolution est-elle en cours?
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Note that partir and sortir are also part of a small group of verbs that require the auxiliary être (to be) in the passé composé, which we will discuss in a future lesson.
Finally, there is a minority of -ir verbs that are quite irregular and unpredictable, with a past participle ending in -ert.
For example, the past participle of ouvrir (to open) is actually ouvert, not ouvri as its stem would suggest!
...qui a ouvert ses portes récemment à Mittelhausbergen
that recently opened its doors in Mittelhausbergen
Caption 3, Alsace 20 - Mangez bien, mangez alsacien!
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Again, to make it easier for yourself, learn how to conjugate ouvrir along with its derivatives, like découvrir (to discover), recouvrir (to cover up), couvrir (to cover), whose past participles all end in -ouvert. That will save you a lot of trouble. Speaking of trouble, the group of Canadians in the example below suffered a lot because of English…
Moi j'ai souffert beaucoup dans mon enfance de l'anglais ici.
I suffered a lot in my childhood with English here.
Caption 19, Le Québec parle - aux Français
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We hope that vous n’avez pas trop souffert (you didn’t suffer too much) learning about irregular -ir verbs in the passé composé, because we have another round of third-group verbs waiting to be discovered (découvert) in our next lesson!
The word "decline" can mean "decrease," "deteriorate," "move downward," or "politely refuse." Its source, the French verb décliner, can have all of these meanings and more.
Most of these other meanings stem from a more specialized grammatical one. To "decline" a noun, pronoun, or adjective is to list all of its forms according to case, number, and gender. You don't have to worry about doing this in French—it only applies to certain languages, such as Latin and Ancient Greek. But décliner can refer to a similar activity of enumerating, presenting something in various forms, offering a range of something, laying out all its different facets.
Because décliner has such a wide variety of meanings, its translation is highly context-specific. For example, you can use it to talk about a fashion designer "presenting" all the styles of his latest collection on the runway:
Du blanc, du noir, presque exclusivement, tous les codes déclinés inlassablement,
Almost exclusively white and black, all the styles presented tirelessly,
Caption 5, Le Journal - Défilé de mode - Part 2
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Or you can use it in the sense of "depicting" several aspects of something:
...des travaux de couture d'une jeune femme qui décline un petit peu l'Alsace sur du tissu
...some sewing projects from a young woman who kind of depicts the various faces of Alsace on fabric
Captions 18-19, Alsace 20 - Mangez bien, mangez alsacien!
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Businesses often use décliner to advertise a product available in various forms. When Lionel visited a madeleine shop in Liverdun, the owner used it to refer to the different flavors she sells:
Nous l'avons déclinée à la mirabelle... -Oui. et à la bergamote.
We've adapted it with mirabelle plum... -Yes. and with bergamot orange.
Captions 32-33, Lionel - La boutique de madeleines de Liverdun - Part 2
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This restaurant owner in Nice uses décliner in a somewhat particular sense. He's not talking about the different forms of socca he offers, but rather all the times of day people order it:
Ça se décline comme ça, et on peut en manger vraiment à n'importe quelle heure.
It's available like that, and you can really eat it at any time.
Captions 34-35, Le saviez-vous? - La socca, spécialité niçoise
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If you see décliner on a form you're filling out, or hear it from an administrative official, you're being asked to provide information about yourself:
Déclinez votre nom et adresse.
State your name and address.
Don't forget that décliner also has all the senses of the English "decline": "decrease," "deteriorate," "move downward," "politely refuse."
We've now "declined" all the meanings of décliner!
At the end of the song "Tango," new on Yabla this week, Mélanie Laurent sings:
Parce qu'au fond tu l'aimes bien, elle te manquerait je crois
Because deep down you really love her, you would miss her, I think
Caption 52, Mélanie Laurent - "Circus" & "Tango"
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When you're talking about missing someone in French, manquer is the verb to use. However, in this context, manquer actually means "to be missing" rather than "to miss." Though elle te manquerait might appear to mean "she would miss you" upon first glance, its literal translation is actually "she would be missing from you," which is just another (perhaps more romantic) way of saying "you would miss her." So when talking to someone close to you whom you haven't seen in a while, make sure to say tu me manques ("I miss you," literally "you're missing from me") rather than je te manque ("you miss me," literally "I'm missing from you").
On the other hand, manquer does mean "to miss" when you're talking about missing something in the sense of not being there for it. In this context it's synonymous with the verb rater:
J'ai manqué [or raté] le bus.
I missed the bus.
The expression "manquer de + infinitive" (or just "manquer + infinitive") means "to nearly do something." "Faillir + infinitive" has the same meaning:
Il a manqué d'être tué [or: Il a failli être tué].
He was nearly killed.
But in the negative, this expression more often means "to not forget to do something":
Ne manquez pas de vous arrêter au numéro treize de l'avenue Junot.
Don't forget to stop at number thirteen Avenue Junot.
Caption 12, Voyage dans Paris - Butte Montmartre
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Another common meaning of manquer is "to lack," usually in the expression "manquer de + noun":
L'hôpital manque de moyens,
The hospital lacks resources,
comme toutes nos formations sanitaires, hein?
like all our medical facilities, huh?
Caption 22, Le Journal - Hôpital ultra-moderne à Burkina Faso
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In fact, the noun form of manquer, un manque, specifically means "a lack":
J'ai compris qu'il y avait un manque énorme au niveau, euh, alimentaire.
I saw that there was an enormous lack at the, uh, alimentary level.
Caption 7, Alsace 20 - Mangez bien, mangez alsacien!
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Finally, manquer is also used in the impersonal expression "il manque + noun" ("x is missing"):
Il ne manque plus que l'argent nécessaire.
All that's missing is the necessary money.
Caption 6, Il était une fois - Les découvreurs - 13. Stephenson
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Don't forget (ne manquez pas) to check out our new videos this week and feel free to tweet us @yabla or send your topic suggestions to newsletter@yabla.com!
In a previous lesson, we introduced a trio of words that are spelled the same except for their accent marks: côté, côte, and cote. We will examine a similar trio in this lesson: des, dés, and dès.
You might already know that des is a contraction of de and les. It is always followed by a plural noun, and can be used as a preposition to mean "of," "from," or "by," or as an article to mean "some" or "a few." Note that when des is used as an article, it is often left untranslated.
Ce monde des images, habité par les images, dans les images.
This world of images, inhabited by images, in the images.
Caption 25, Projet "Polygon" - PIIMS et la République des Images
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Des gens super beaux avec des... avec des peaux super lisses.
Really beautiful people with… with really smooth skin.
Caption 34, Niko de La Faye - "Visages"
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When you place an acute accent on the e of des, you get the French word for "dice": les dés (le dé in the singular). In the kitchen, you might hear the expression couper en dés (to dice). And if you're sewing by hand, it might be helpful to use un dé à coudre (a thimble; literally, a "sewing dice").
Le backgammon se joue avec des dés.
Backgammon is played with dice.
With a grave accent, des becomes dès, a preposition meaning "starting from," "as early as," or "since." Here are some examples of this versatile little word from our video library:
Près de trois cent mille personnes venues dès l'aube
Nearly three hundred thousand people who came as early as dawn
applaudir les héros des océans.
to applaud the heroes of the oceans.
Captions 14-15, Le Journal - Les navigateurs du Vendée Globe
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Et j'ai toujours, euh... dès les... les premières fois où j'ai découvert...
And I've always, uh... ever since I first... first discovered...
Caption 24, Manu le Malin - Album Biomechanik III
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Les épreuves commencent dès demain.
The exams begin as early as tomorrow.
Caption 28, Le Journal - Le baccalauréat
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Although dès is frequently used on its own, you'll also sometimes see it coupled with another word, notably in the expressions dès que (as soon as, whenever) and dès lors (from then on, since then, consequently, therefore):
Tout de suite, en fait, dès que je suis arrivée ici, euh...
Right away, in fact, as soon as I arrived here, uh...
Caption 6, Alsace 20 - Mangez bien, mangez alsacien!
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Dès lors, elle n'est jamais retournée à la maison.
From then on, she never returned home.
Now that you're familiar with the difference between des, dés, and dès, let's see if you can decipher this sneaky little sentence:
Le magicien a su piper des dés dès l'âge de cinq ans.
(The magician knew how to load dice from the age of five.)
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