Patricia will teach you how to form liaisons (not the dangerous kind!) in French. These occur when you connect the final consonant of one word with the beginning vowel or silent H of the next word and pronounce them as one. Listen closely to Patricia, who will demonstrate a range of examples.

In part two of her lesson, Patricia will explain in-depth which words require a liaison. Some liaisons are compulsory while some are optional or omitted.

In the first part of this series on negation, you will learn how to use the formula ne... ni... ni (neither... nor... nor) to construct a negative sentence in French.

In the second part of this series on negation, you will learn the negative forms rien ne... (nothing), ne... aucun(e) (not any), and ne... nulle part (nowhere). We hope you will be feeling more positive about these negatives!

In part three of this series on negation, Patricia demonstrates the use of adverbs of frequency in the affirmative and in the negative form. Some changes are required with some adverbs.

Patricia concludes her lesson on negation with a discussion of phrases using sans (without), double negation, and negation in the imperative mood.

E is a tricky vowel in French: sometimes it's pronounced, sometimes it's not. As Patricia explains, it's usually silent at the end of a word, and often silent in the middle of a word.

Knowing when to pronounce and when not to pronounce the letter E is key to speaking French like a native. Among other places, E usually isn't pronounced when it's between two consonants (and doesn't have an accent mark).

In this lesson, Patricia will show you how to pronounce the six French vowels and the vowel combinations ai, an, au, ain, and aim.

In this video, you will learn how to pronounce some vowel combinations with the letter E (ei, eu, eau) as well as the differences between é, è, and ê.

Patricia concludes her series on vowels and vowel groups with a discussion of the vowels O and U. She also mentions a French word that contains all five vowels, but none of them are individually pronounced. Can you guess what it is?

Come visit the neighborhood of Vieux Nice (Old Nice), with its charming village atmosphere and interesting architecture. You will notice a definite Italian influence in this French city near the Italian border.

The artist Henri Matisse lived in a beautiful building, the Palais Caïs de Pierlas, in the Old Nice neighborhood. He captured the neighborhood's colorful atmosphere in many of his paintings.

Discover the unique street patterns of Old Nice, which benefit from the Mediterranean wind and provide an ingenious and efficient cooling system for the neighborhood.

Patricia points out some architectural peculiarities in Old Nice. For example, the windows are very narrow to keep the heat out in the summer. Some houses even have special shutters with a lower part that opens separately to let in cool air.