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🙏🏻
I understand the literal meaning of this phrase but not really the sense of what she's saying. Agreeing? disagreeing?
The following answer is given as correct: 'J'ai eu peur que nous soyons arrivés trop tard'.
My question is: given its 'negative ' sentiment shouldn't the answer include the 'ne expletif'?
Why is "pouvoir" before "les utiliser" in the fourth sentence? The English to be translated was just "in order to use".
I'm confused about feminine nouns Do you have an office to take a look
How would you write "Question of the Day"? For example, each day my french class starts with a "question of the day". I've been using jour but now I'm worried I've been incorrect.
It’d be nice to have an example of what to do with the past participle of être verbs when using "on" when it means "we". I can’t find this covered in either of the modules On : we.
When I listen to the entire passage, I clearly hear the word elle in the last sentence. When I listen to the last sentence as given in the exercise, I hear what sounds like 'on' instead of elle. I don't have the best ears, but it is what I hear.
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🙏🏻
My biggest mistakes at this simple point in A1 are because I don't know the word as opposed to missing the grammar rules (parce que, par, oeuvres, etc.). When I make mistakes the lessons recommended are almost always about the grammar -- are there lessons or suggestions for picking up more vocabulary? (although I'm suspecting that just doing exercises is the best way to get exposed to more words :-) )
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level