Difficulty: Beginner
France
Nelly discusses some more faux amis (false cognates) in English and French. You'll need to be especially careful with some of these, such as "excited" and excité.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Nelly will introduce you to some of the most common French faux amis (false cognates)—words that may look easy to understand because they resemble English, but mean something entirely different. Learning these might help you avoid some embarassing situations!
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patrice and Sophie explain the use of the twenty-four-hour clock in French. It's more widely used in France than in English-speaking countries, and it's very helpful for making sure you don't miss your plane or an important appointment!
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Listen to the young couple Ahlam and Timothé from Avignon as they carry out short, simple conversations on various topics.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Sophie and Patrice introduce the months of the year and the days of the week. They also show us a trick to remember which months have 30 days and which have 31.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Lionel will explain the difference between "matin" and "matinée", which both mean morning in English, and "soir" and "soirée" which both mean evening. You can read more about this distinction in our lesson Morning and Evening.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Listening to her little sister talk with her friends, Anna heard several slang words she didn't understand. She asks Louis to explain them to her.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Lionel gives us some tips about liaisons, a very important component of French pronunciation. He also talks about le h aspiré (aspirated h) and the debatable pronunciation of les haricots (the beans).
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Lionel goes over some of the many slang words for "money" in French, including la moula, les bifs, and les waris. He also explains why you shouldn't try to pay with larger bills in a store.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Do you know what la teuf and zarbi mean? These are two examples of verlan, one of the most common forms of French slang. Some verlan words have become so popular that they've been added to the dictionary.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Lionel shares a few tips on how to pronounce the an sound in French, which can either be spelled an or en, as in en chantant (singing, while singing) or enchanté (nice to meet you).
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Lionel gives a brief overview of the nasal in sound, which can be spelled a lot of different ways, including in, un, en, ain, ein, and even hein, the French equivalent of "huh?"
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Farid and Hiziya talk about a common grammar mistake that even native French speakers make: confusing the verbs amener, apporter, emmener, and emporter. For more on these tricky verbs, read our lesson Bringing and Taking in French.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Patricia explores the origin of the poisson d'avril (April Fools') tradition. There are numerous theories about this, some of them contradictory.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
The first of April is the day of hoaxes, pranks, and jokes. In France, the tradition is to hang paper fish on people's backs and shout, "Poisson d'avril!" (April Fish!).
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