English Speakers and French subtleties Hey everyone,
I’m a novice when it comes to spoken French and the subtleties of the language but I really want to do it justice when I reference it in my novel. The particular scene I need help with is a first person account of a French woman where she tells the reader about an occasion when was approached by English Gentleman (an official and very well educated) who was fluent French speaker, but not a native, and how she knew he wasn't French. I wanted to include details of how she
she might have missed initially if she wasn’t paying too much attention to him but as her guard was up already in the scene, she was able to spot the giveaways that others may have missed.
Whether it be pronunciation, tense, inflection or something to do with the time etc.
The English man in the scene approached the French woman when she’s at work in a post office and hands her a note. He tells her something along the lines of ”I need this delivered by tomorrow morning, 9:30 at the latest. Tracked” with a French name and address on the envelope. I’m thinking something around the way he says the time could be interesting, but I’m not sure how it would work yet?
What are some subtle giveaways that native French speakers pick up with non native French speakers that indicate to them them that they’re not French? (That aren’t so obvious.)
Any thoughts will be helpful. Thank you for your time🙏🏻
There seems to be a mistake on this page. Everything is in English!
The student were welcomed by the principal
Les étudiants ont été accueillis par le directeur
Les étudiants étaient accueillis par le directeur.
The latter translation is correct yet the C1 Test marked it worng?
J'ai mangé trois mangues.
If ' trois mangues ' is underlined >> Je l'ai mangée.
If only ' mangues ' is underlined >> J'en ai mangé trois.
Is this correct? Or do we always use en whether the number is underlined or not.
In the third line of the dialog, if using inversion "Savez-vous à quelle heure nous atterrissons?", the audio in the exercise has several extra words that do not match the text. I can't remember exactly what they were but at the beginning it says "Pascal", like there were cues for the dialog that were being read as the dialog.
Hey everyone,
I’m a novice when it comes to spoken French and the subtleties of the language but I really want to do it justice when I reference it in my novel. The particular scene I need help with is a first person account of a French woman where she tells the reader about an occasion when was approached by English Gentleman (an official and very well educated) who was fluent French speaker, but not a native, and how she knew he wasn't French. I wanted to include details of how she
she might have missed initially if she wasn’t paying too much attention to him but as her guard was up already in the scene, she was able to spot the giveaways that others may have missed.
Whether it be pronunciation, tense, inflection or something to do with the time etc.
The English man in the scene approached the French woman when she’s at work in a post office and hands her a note. He tells her something along the lines of ”I need this delivered by tomorrow morning, 9:30 at the latest. Tracked” with a French name and address on the envelope. I’m thinking something around the way he says the time could be interesting, but I’m not sure how it would work yet?
What are some subtle giveaways that native French speakers pick up with non native French speakers that indicate to them them that they’re not French? (That aren’t so obvious.)
Any thoughts will be helpful. Thank you for your time🙏🏻
… isn’t it?
Avoir besoin de. Avoir envie de. Devoir. I try guessing by picking one or two or three depending on the activity and invariably get it wrong. I think your explanatory text needs more clarification, especially in the use of avoir envie de as an option for ‘need to’. Thank you for your time.
Pour moi, question 8, on the 8th February 2023, Nous ne voyons personne» means : ....I put 'we never see anyone' which you have said is incorrect. In english We don't (do not) see anyone, can also mean 'we are particular who we see'. Is this the same in french for Nous ne voyons personne, if so why is it not clarified?
I enjoyed listening to this voice. I had not heard it before, and it's nice to have a new and different voice to listen to. It's good practice to hear various people speak. I also appreciate the intonation that he uses, especially in the phrase..."et avec le temps, notre relation a changé."
It reminds me of the intonations that I used to hear and learned to use when living in France many years ago. I was wondering if the spoken word has possibly changed over time, (maybe due to the advent of social media?), as I don't hear these patterns very often anymore, when using this site or watching french movies on Netflix.
When we are using C'est plus the standalone adjective,is it always masculine and singular?on it can also be masculine and plural depending on the sentence ofcourse
rejoindre is an infinitive. Shouldn't it be rejoignons or rejoindrons?
Find your French level for FREE
And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it
Find your French level