The idea of this thread is to help people to learn a phrase that might come in useful, perhaps the next time they go out.
Please feel free to contribute.
The first is inspired by a post from the Normandy site where a member pointed to the necessity of wearing a bright orange jacket when out in the countryside to avoid being shot by the chasse.
Don’t shoot – Ne tire pas pronounced without the e in tire
I am the first to admit my French needs improving. I thought this might be a fun and easy non structured way of doing so.
The translation was from Deep L which has an audio feature to hear the translation.
‘De rien’ is a common response when you thank French people for anything. It literally translates as ‘of nothing’, but means ‘think nothing of it’, or more commonly ‘you’re welcome’. Try translating the latter phrase literally into French and it wouldn’t have the same meaning.
Another response to thank you might be ‘Je vous en prie’- literally ‘I beg (it) of you’.
Another common situation we face every day is the question ‘How are you’ or more formally ‘How do you do’ to which a foreigner might wonder ‘How do I do what’. (I’m leaving most of the question marks out for simplicity).
There are many ways of asking this in French, of which the most formal is ‘Comment allez-vous’ which sounds more like ‘comon tallay vous’ -literally ‘how are you going’. The ‘t’ is normally silent, but it is sounded here because it is followed by a vowel.
You can also say ‘Comment ça va’ ‘comon sa va’ or ‘How is it going’. Informally this becomes ‘ça va’ or ‘It goes?’ In both cases the reply could be ‘ça va’ or ‘it goes’, so the question and reply are identical. This is probably the most common expression in French, but bizarrely I was never taught it in school.
Another formal version, but not very common is ‘Common vous portez-vous’ – literally ‘How are you carrying yourself’. I don’t think we need to worry about that one. I’ve only heard it once since coming to France.
In English we use the verb to be (is, am, are) in many situations when the French use other verbs. For example they say ‘I have xxx years’ when giving their age. And ‘faire’ is used for the weather – ‘it is fine’ is ‘il fait beau’. An English lady friend recently raised a chuckle in a bar when she announce ‘Je suis chaude’ which translates as something like ‘I’ve got the hots [for you]’ or even worse ‘I am horny’.
OK, the thread is for the phrase of the week, but we need to learn faster than that if we want to master the language.
Over to you, Babeth. I’m sure you have some gems for us.
« Le Mauvais Chasseur c’est la gars qui a un fusil, il voit un truc qui bouge, il tire. Le Bon chasseur il a un fusil, il voit un truc qui bouge il tire…mais c’est un bon chasseur. (…) »
The most common phrase I hear when passing someone in the village is, “ce n’est pas chaud”, (snay par show)meaning “it’s not warm/hot,”( i.e.it’s cold). You can simply reply,”non”, or “pas de tout”(not at all). Very useful as everyone likes to talk about the weather.
I’m still haunted by saying to someone years ago what I thought was ‘merci beaucoup”, but there was something about the way I said, which apparently meant “nice butt”! Still can’t figure out what went wrong.
« Le Mauvais Chasseur c’est la gars qui a un fusil, il voit un truc qui bouge, il tire. Le Bon chasseur il a un fusil, il voit un truc qui bouge il tire…mais c’est un bon chasseur. (…) »
As I’ve noticed some spelling mistakes in what have been written, would you be interested if I correct them or shall I let them as they are, as it won’t matter to be understood by the French ? (You all know it’s not a criticism, just that I don’t know if you’re expecting me to help it that way )
Oh no, my reply to Jazzy has “disparu” and might reappear in few days … It is a parody Jazzy, bitter humor of the stupidity of some hunters, who are completly drunk and don’t know why they are hunting. It was made by a group of comedian in the 90’s, and a lot of French people against the hunt are still laughing at it. It means they are not “bons chasseurs” as they do exactly the same as “mauvais” chasseurs”, ils tirent ….
Oh no, my reply to Jazzy has “disparu” and might reappear in few days … It is a parody Jazzy, bitter humor of the stupidity of some hunters, who are completly drunk and don’t know why they are hunting. It was made by a group of comedian in the 90’s, and a lot of French people against the hunt are still laughing at it. It means they are not “bons chasseurs” as they do exactly the same as “mauvais” chasseurs”, ils tirent ….
Thanks Babeth! Seems obvious now you’ve explained it – doh! 🥰
You might have said “beau cul”, and not “beaucoup”. In the first, you don’t pronounce the end “l” and in the second, you don’t pronounce the end “p”
English people have a bit of difficulty with the “u” sound in French because it doesn’t exist in English. In the same way, the French find it hard to distinguish between “ee” and “i” in English or between “ch” and “sh”.
Madame Danny, who’s French, is unable to tell the difference between sheep, ship, cheap and chip without considerable effort and I still can’t say “grenouille” without sounding like I’ve got a speech impediment. I tend to avoid talking about frogs.
I was in my local library today and picked up novel by a French author wellknown for his family sagas set in rural France. The volunteer librarian looked at it and said: “Ce n’est pas terrible”. She meant that it’s not so good. She explained that a number of readers who had borrowed it had been disappointed .
I used to hear that on many occasions when parents came to see me about one-to-one lessons for their children, generally after one of the dreaded “contrôles” (tests or assessments). They meant their child’s english was not great.
Babeth, if you see any mistakes in anything I write in French, (or in English), please correct them. I’m sure the rest of s would appreciate that.
As for the video, I think it is very funny. I’m assured by friends that la chasse is nothing like that, at least in my region. I’ve met a few chasseurs when out walking, and have found them to be polite and friendly. And always sober.
There are numerous other ‘Les Inconnus’ videos on a wide range of topics. In one that deals with cults or sects, the faithful followers repeat everything the guru says. When he trips and exclaims ‘Merde’ (Shit), they all repeat ‘Merde’. And when they recite the holy words on the reverse of the medallions they all have round their necks, they clearly don’t know what ‘Made in Taiwan’ means. The videos are spoofs. I wish they would speak slowly though.
Danny, grenouille (grenwee) is easy. Try to say écureuil. And there is a village in Manche called Milly. How could that possibly be a tongue-twister? But it is!
I’m getting a bit off-topic. Slap my wrists. Back to French phrases SVP.
Danny, grenouille (grenwee) is easy. Try to say écureuil. And there is a village in Manche called Milly. How could that possibly be a tongue-twister? But it is! I’m getting a bit off-topic. Slap my wrists. Back to French phrases SVP.
Despite what AK says, Danny, ‘grenouille’ isn’t pronounced ‘grenwee’, but ‘gre-noo-ye’, and if said properly it should make your ears vibrate and tickle. And along with the town of Milly in the Manche, there’s also the city of Chantilly in the Oise, not far from Paris. from where the cream comes.
An other one to be careful of : “I’m full”. Quite often translate into “je suis plein” = “I’m drunk”. “J’ai trop mangé” is more suitable, depend of the situation of course
Yes, I quite agree, Seagoon. You can get by with ‘Grenwee’ but I want my ears to vibrate and tickle. I want to make a waitress swoon rather than smirk when I order “Cuisses de Grenouilles.
I don’t have a problem with ‘écureuil. ‘ It’s a word that’s used frequently this time of year as their sole purpose in life seems to be to prevent me from having any hazelnuts.
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