In our first lesson on rendre, we learned that the verb can mean "to give back," "to return," and "to render." In this lesson, we'll explore some expressions with rendre whose meanings go beyond giving/going back or rendering.
As we briefly mentioned in our previous lesson, the phrase rendre service means “to do a favor” or “to help” (literally, "to render a service"). In the video below, Sacha needs a favor from Dr. Dubois, aka Nico:
Est-ce que tu peux me rendre service ?
Can you do me a favor?
Caption 34, Extr@ Ep. 7 - La jumelle - Part 5
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Ideally, Sacha needs Nico to be willing to help and “be of service,” like the person in this video:
Moi, tu sais, si je peux rendre service
Me, you know, if I can be of service
Caption 15, Le Jour où tout a basculé J'ai volé pour nourrir mon fils - Part 4
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In the broader sense of the phrase, rendre service simply means “to help”—or not, as in the case of Pauline, the ungrateful guest in the video below:
Petit à petit, elle refuse de rendre service.
Little by little, she refuses to help.
Caption 3, Le Jour où tout a basculé J'ai été séquestré par mes amis - Part 4
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We also have the expression rendre hommage (to pay tribute/homage). On the anniversary of the death of famous singer Serge Gainsbourg, many artists wanted to rendre hommage to him:
Aujourd'hui le gratin du rock anglais rend hommage à Serge Gainsbourg, à commencer par Placebo.
Today the elite of English rock pays tribute to Serge Gainsbourg, starting with Placebo.
Caption 17, Le Journal Gainsbourg
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On a lighter note, we have the phrase rendre visite (to pay someone a visit). Our Yabla guide David encourages viewers to lui rendre visite (visit him) and explore his home country of Martinique:
Si un jour vous avez le bonheur de nous rendre visite
If one day you have the pleasure of visiting us
Caption 4, David Les animaux
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Note that if David had been talking about visiting Martinique, he would have said this instead:
Si un jour vous avez le bonheur de visiter la Martinique
If one day you have the pleasure of visiting Martinique
So, use rendre visite for visiting people and visiter for visiting places.
Speaking of places, the verbal phrase se rendre à/dans means “to go to (a place)." Se rendre is equivalent to aller (to go). In the video below, Fanny and Corrine suggest se rendre dans des magasins (going to shops) to bargain-hunt:
Pour bien commencer le printemps, on vous propose de vous rendre dans des magasins
To get spring off to a good start, we suggest you go to shops
Caption 11, Fanny & Corrine parlent de la mode La mode à bas prix
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You can also use the reflexive verb se rendre in a variety of expressions, such as se rendre compte, which means “to realize” or “to become aware of.” The teenager in the video below se rend compte (realizes) that something is not right:
L'adolescente se rend bien compte que quelque chose ne va pas.
The teenage girl quickly realizes that something isn't right.
Caption 14, Le Jour où tout a basculé Nos bébés ont été échangés... - Part 4
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(For more information on ways to use compte [count], see this Yabla lesson.) In the non-reflexive form (without the se), the verbal phrase rendre compte means “to report” or “give an account”:
Oui, mais d'abord, on rend compte à Oméga.
Yes, but first we report to Omega.
Caption 25, Il était une fois: L’Espace 3. La planète verte - Part 3
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Going back to se rendre compte: once you've realized something, you might be forced to se rendre à l'évidence (come to terms with the evidence). Something that is extremely difficult to do for this couple, who discovered that their baby was switched at birth:
Pourtant, ils doivent se rendre à l'évidence.
However, they must come to terms with the evidence.
Caption 30, Le Jour où tout a basculé Nos bébés ont été échangés... - Part 4
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Another way to translate se rendre à l’évidence is “to face the facts”:
Henri doit se rendre à l'évidence.
Henri must face the facts.
Caption 40, Le Jour où tout a basculé Ma mère fait tout pour briser mon couple - Part 7
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Once you have come to terms with the evidence, you may come to the awful realization that it would be wise “to surrender”—se rendre. This is actually the infinitive form of rendez-vous, which, as a command, doesn't refer to "a date" or "meeting" (un rendez-vous), but rather an order to give yourself up:
Rendez-vous ! Vous êtes cernée !
Surrender! You're surrounded!
Caption 85, Mère & Fille Camping Cour
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Or, less harshly, a suggestion to go somewhere:
Pour vous abonner à Yabla, rendez-vous sur la page S'abonner.
To subscribe to Yabla, go to the Subscribe page.
As you can see, there are many ways to render rendre, from giving back, to going places, to surrendering. Now that vous vous êtes rendu(e) compte (you've become aware) of rendre’s many uses, rendez hommage (pay homage) to the word rendre by using it. Stay tuned and rendez-vous to Yabla for a future lesson!
We all know that when you're angry about something, it's better to talk about your emotions than to keep them pent up inside. If you ever need to vent in French, there are several constructions you can use to express your anger.
Two of these constructions employ the French word for anger, la colère (related to the English word "choleric," meaning "bad-tempered" or "irritable"). As in English, there's a distinction in French between being angry (être en colère) and getting angry (se mettre en colère, literally, "to put oneself in anger"):
J'étais très en colère contre Harold.
I was very angry at Harold.
Caption 28, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Notre appartement est hanté
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Elle devenait nerveuse, elle se mettait en colère.
She became nervous, she got angry.
Caption 3, Le Jour où tout a basculé - Mon père n'est pas mort
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Note the preposition contre in the example above. Whereas in English you can be angry "at" or "with" someone, in French you're angry "against" someone.
If you're really angry about something, you can use the construction fou/folle de (which we discussed in a previous lesson):
Elles sont folles de colère, folles de rage, horripilées.
They are wild with anger, raging mad, incensed.
Captions 52-54, Le saviez-vous? - Les synonymes
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Besides expressions with colère, the other main way of describing anger in French is with the adjective fâché(e) (angry) or the reflexive verb se fâcher (to get angry):
Tu es fâché contre Léon?
Are you angry with Leon?
Caption 2, Les zooriginaux - Léa jacta est
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Ça va, vieux, te fâche pas!
It's OK, old pal, don't get upset!
Caption 22, Il était une fois... L’Espace - 3. La planète verte
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Don't confuse the adjective fâché(e) with the adjective fâcheux/fâcheuse, which has a slightly more subdued meaning. It can mean anything along the lines of "annoying," "unfortunate," "regrettable," or "aggravating":
C'est fâcheux qu'il ne puisse pas venir.
It's unfortunate that he can't come.
We hope there was nothing in this lesson that made you angry! Stay tuned for our next lesson and tweet us @yabla or send your topic suggestions to newsletter@yabla.com.
In this lesson, we'll be tackling the subjunctive, a verbal mood that expresses a wide range of situations, such as a wish, an obligation, a possibility, a doubt, or an emotion. Whereas the indicative mood simply describes something that happens, the subjunctive mood describes something that may happen, something you want to happen, something you're afraid will happen, and other hypothetical situations. It's the difference between the phrases "you are here" and "I wish you were here."
The general rule for forming the subjunctive in French is to take the third-person plural (ils/elles) present indicative form of the verb, remove the -ent, and add the subjunctive endings: -e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, and -ent. Take a look at this handy chart for a concise summary of the conjugation of regular subjunctive verbs. We'll go over irregular subjunctive conjugations in another lesson.
Let's take the verbs dire (to say) and réfléchir (to think about) as examples. To conjugate them in the first-person singular subjunctive, we would go to the third-person present plural indicative (disent and réfléchissent), drop the -ent, and add the first-person singular subjunctive ending -e. The results are dise and réfléchisse:
Qu’est-ce que tu veux que je te dise?
What do you want me to tell you?
Avec tout ce choix, il faut que je réfléchisse.
With all these choices, I have to think about it.
Caption 10, Il était une fois: L’Espace - 3. La planète verte
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Besides the conjugation, the most important aspect of the French subjunctive is that it almost always follows the word que (that), as in the expressions tu veux que and il faut que above. Vouloir que (to want) and il faut que (it is necessary that) are among the large number of French expressions that require the subjunctive. You can find a detailed list of these expressions here.
The subjunctive is used to express some of the most basic emotions, such as happiness and sadness:
On est vraiment très heureux que nos huit jeunes puissent partir.
We are truly very happy that our eight young people are able to go.
Caption 8, Télé Lyon Métropole - Sport dans la ville & Afrique du Sud
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Je suis triste que mon ami ne vienne pas au concert avec nous.
I'm sad that my friend isn't coming to the concert with us.
It's also used in a number of conjunctive phrases such as pourvu que (as long as), bien que (even though), and avant que (before):
Tu pourras leur parler de ce que tu voudras,
You'll be able to talk to them about whatever you like,
pourvu que tu parles au moins deux heures.
as long as you speak for at least two hours.
Captions 3-4, Il était une fois: L’Espace - 6. La révolte des robots
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J'aime le karaoké bien que je ne chante pas très bien.
I love karaoke even though I don't sing very well.
...avant que leurs enseignements ne soient exploités par l'industrie.
...before their lessons are exploited by industry.
Caption 22, Le Journal - 2000 mètres sous les mers
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As the above example demonstrates, some subjunctive constructions (like avant que) require a ne without a pas (known as a ne explétif) before the verb. See our previous lesson for an in-depth look at this special use of ne.
Some phrases, such as penser que (to think that), only take the subjunctive in the negative:
Je ne pense pas que ça serve à grand-chose, ce que tu comptes faire.
I don't think it's going to help much, what you're planning to do.
If we make that sentence affirmative, we'll need to change servir from the subjunctive to the indicative:
Je pense que ça sert à beaucoup de choses, ce que tu comptes faire.
I think it's going to help a lot, what you're planning to do.
To sum up, the subjunctive is used after a vast number of expressions that convey a wide variety of subjective and hypothetical states. This multitude of usages makes learning the subjunctive no easy feat, but the fact that the subjunctive almost always follows the word que makes it a little less daunting. So if there's one thing you should take away from this lesson, it's that whenever you see a verb after the word que, there's a good chance it should be in the subjunctive!
If you’ve studied our recent lesson on French numbers, you should theoretically be able to count to a billion (compter jusqu’à un milliard) in French. But since no one has time to do that, let’s focus on some other, more practical uses of the verb compter.
Counting doesn’t always involve numbers. For example, if you’re relying on someone to do something, you’re counting on (compter sur) them, as this Parisian chef is counting on us to visit his restaurant:
À vous aussi de venir ici, on compte sur vous.
Up to you to come here too, we're counting on you.
Caption 42, Cap 24 - Découverte d'un restaurant parisien
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You can also count on a future event to happen (or not happen). Bertrand Pierre is an extremely talented singer-songwriter, but for some reason he doesn’t expect to make it big. He expresses his pragmatism with the construction “compter + infinitive”:
Je compte pas devenir une, une star internationale,
I'm not expecting to become an, an international star,
c'est pas ça que je veux dire.
that's not what I mean.
Caption 25, Bertrand Pierre - Autre Chose
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Sometimes compter refers not to counting numbers, but containing them. If the subject of the verb compter is an inanimate object, it’s most likely describing contents:
Après un peu de lecture,
After a bit of reading,
dans une bibliothèque qui compte quarante mille volumes...
in a library that contains forty thousand volumes...
Caption 39, Canal 32 - Mesnil-Saint-Loup : moines artisans
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Quite a few expressions are based on the noun form of compter, compte, which can mean “count,” “total,” or “account.” If you’re a Yabla subscriber, for example, you have un compte (an account) with us. Un compte can also mean “account” in a more figurative sense, as in the expression prendre en compte (to take into account):
Tous ces éléments-là sont importants aussi à prendre en compte...
All those elements there are also important to take into account...
Caption 19, Le Journal - Grands prématurés
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A very common expression with compte is se rendre compte, which means “to realize” or “become aware” (literally, “to give an account to oneself”). In the latest installment of our Il était une fois episode on Scottish explorer James Bruce, a shipmate reflects on the crew's recent discovery of Abyssinia:
Tu te rends compte, Luigi, nous repoussons les limites de l'inconnu.
You realize, Luigi, we're pushing the limits of the unknown.
Caption 1, Il était une fois - les Explorateurs - 15. Bruce et les sources du Nil
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Don’t forget that se rendre compte is a reflexive expression, and its meaning changes completely when you remove the se: instead of giving an account to yourself, you’re giving an account to someone else, i.e., reporting to them:
On y va? Oui, mais d'abord, on rend compte à Oméga.
Shall we go? Yes, but first we report to Omega.
Captions 24-25, Il était une fois... L’Espace - 3. La planète verte
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We’ll end with a compte expression that deals with endings: en fin de compte (literally, “at the end of the account”), which can be translated as “ultimately,” “at the end of the day,” or “when all is said and done”:
En fin de compte, un bateau qui est propulsé par
Ultimately, a boat that's propelled by
une motorisation cent pour cent électrique.
one hundred percent electric power.
Caption 5, Bateau sport 100% électrique - Le Nautique 196 E
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Compte tenu de (taking into account) all of the different ways of using compter and compte, you might feel overwhelmed when trying to remember them all. But don’t worry if you can’t master them right away: c’est l’intention qui compte (it’s the thought that counts)!
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