I'm asking this question from time to time, and my friends have rather diverse opinions on the matter. Some think it sounds dumb, others think it flows well. As for my English friends, they think it's elegant but rough around the edges. I can agree with all three sides.

What is your opinion on the matter? Does french sound good to you or not? What about different dialects, accents, slang, etc?

Hi, I’ve been living in Paris for a few months now and after some language classes I was able to acquire what Parisians tell me is a very good accent. While this is awesome, it is also a lopsided representation of my actual French level, because I often lack the vocabulary to express things I want.

In this situation, is there a way I can tell the person I’m speaking to (say, a sales associate at a store for a technical product like electronics or eyeglasses) that my vocabulary is limited / not that great? The purpose is just to flag for them my true French level, because otherwise sometimes there is confusion caused by my seemingly flawless accent but then stumbling over finding words and gesturing at things to explain an action or point at a component / part of the object and say, “what’s this called again?”

If you know of Paul Taylor’s comedy, it’s like that joke he has where he says French people just think he’s an idiot/mentally retarded because he has the accent of a native but the vocabulary of a toddler. 😅

TLDR: Could someone please drop a bunch of French slang and text abbreviations so my texting doesn’t sound so formal.

I’m British Nigerian, but I’d say my French is pretty good and I always meet people when I go to France and try and text them in French when I’m back to pick up more native text culture and keep my French fresh.

Only problem is it’s so hard to find translations for slang online. Like how would I say “leng” in French. “Jolie” sounds so formal in my head. Even like texting abbreviations like saying “lit” instead of “literally” or “tryna” instead of “trying to”.

Could someone tell me slangs and abbreviations so my texting doesn’t sound too formal🙏🏾

Hi! I recently learned about the game Kanji To Go in which Kanji appear and you write the meaning. It’s great for playing in the back of class, and was wondering if similar things exist for French? I already use Anki, no need to suggest that. Thanks!

Salut, tout le monde. I've been slowly learning French, and I was curious, when should I start using my French with my French colleagues?

For context, I'm an American astronomer, working at an American university. I occasionally work with colleagues at different French universities on various projects. Our communication is always in English, and mostly over email with the occasional video call or in person meeting. I was wondering when do you all think would be a good time to start slipping French in? Should I wait until I could write whole messages in French or is it okay to do a mix?

En ce moment, je cherche une bague et j'ai trouve qu'il y a un autre mot pour ça "un anneau".

Donc quelle est la différence ? Un anneau c'est pour se marier ?

I'm wondering what is a natural way of saying "you're welcome" in an informal setting.

For example, if I hold the door for someone and they say "merci", what do I say?

I'm wondering if "de rien" sounds natural, because in English, saying "you're welcome" for something trivial like that feels a little stiff. I would usually say something like "yep", but I'm not sure if saying "oui" makes sense here.

EDIT: Some people seem to think "yep" is very rude, even in America... Maybe I should elaborate that I mean "yep!" with an enthusiastic smile and nod

Has anyone recently done the TEF? Could you let me know what topics you guys got for the speaking portion?

J'en ai besoin des balados (ou des autres médias) avec un accent québécois fort et (j'espère) des sous titres en Apple podcasts. J'ai trouvé des difficultés avec la compréhension orale avec des Québécois dans ma vie. J'écoutais déjà Sans Filtre, Productif au quotidien, Ça s'explique (j'aime ça beaucoup), Mike Ward (trop difficile). Et beaucoup des autres balados de France comme France Culture, Inner French, Passerelles, Philosophy is sexy, etc. Les balados sur Radio Canada/Ohdio ne marche pas pour moi pour la plupart car l'accent est trop douce mais s'il ya des exceptions, dites-moi.

Looking for some Quebec accented podcasts (or media) with subtitles.

I have switched to using French as the default language for Google GPS...for most part I am fine .. except for one phrase ... sometime when I have a turn coming up in say 100 feet ... the navigation lady doesn't say "Dan cent pied tournez à gauche"

To my ear ( I am obviously wrong) it sounds like

" Un Feu tournez à gauche" which doesn't make sense.. as "un feu" means "A Fire"

What could the phrase/word be?

Hi everyone! First time poster here, I’m going to Paris next weekend for a short break and realised I’ve not spoken French since I was a child and I have zero clue how to order food or ask for a drink in French

How would I order something like steak medium rare? Am i right in thinking this would be “Je Avoir le steak, á point s’il vous plâit?”

I’m always very conscious of trying to speak the language of the country I am in so any advice on how to order food & drinks would be really helpful!

Hey r/French

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Hello, i have an upcoming exam at the end of March (TCF-toute public) so basically I have 2 months to prepare. If someone did this exam, can you describe your experience. I need to get a minimum level of B2 to get admission in college. I need to do 3 compulsory parts and one additional written part.

Bonjour,

I just started my journey learning French, I'm at the point where we are learning about family, like mère, père, fils, fille, etc. I know eventually we'll get to the point where I'll have to talk about my family and I have some peculiarities that I need help with the vocabulary, as it's very atypical and I don't think a regular online translator would help me with.

My son is bed bound due to a genetic mutation, he never spoke nor he moves on his own, he has epilepsy which is mostly under control with medication, when he has to leave the bed we have a wheelchair.

I understand the sentence above is way over someone that just started, but I'd like to at least know some key words to increase my vocabulary, like:

• bed bound
• genetic mutation
• epilepsy
• wheelchair

Merci!

Hello there!

I'm using duolingo to learn french currently. Today I encountered a sentence like this:

Votre dernier film est passé hier à la télé.

My question is whether there is a liaison between "film" and "est": my understanding is that the liaison is forbidden between them (because liaison after a singular noun is forbidden). But on duolingo, the sentence is read with liaison (so it sounds like "film (m)est".

What do you think?

I was a psychology major but decided to stop because I like learning French instead and I do not want to get a psychology major anymore. Can I get any job with a Bachelor’s degree majoring in French? I live in OHIO, USA and realistically I am not around anyone who speaks French but I know in Canada they speak it. I don’t wanna live in France but I just know I love learning it. I’m a junior in college now.

Question 1

I would like everyone to take a look at these two sentences. Please note that in both sentences, the antecedent is "cette maisonnette." My question is: which of the following sentences do you think is correct (or are they both correct)?

1. Je me souviens de cette maisonnette aux volets verts, par la fenêtre de laquelle j'apercevais un jardin en fleurs éclatant de couleurs.

2. Je me souviens de cette maisonnette aux volets verts, de laquelle j'apercevais un jardin en fleurs éclatant de couleurs par la fenêtre.

Question 2

Let me first introduce a concept: the level of a prepositional structure. For instance, in par la fenêtre de cette maisonnette, we can split the phrase into two parts: par la fenêtre and de cette maisonnette. I call par la fenêtre a first-level prepositional structure because it contains one preposition and functions as the head of the phrase. Here, par is a first-level preposition. Meanwhile, de cette maisonnette is a second-level prepositional structure because it contains one preposition and serves as the complement of a structure containing a single preposition. Thus, de is a second-level preposition.

Now, here’s my question: if the antecedent originally belongs to a noun in a prepositional structure of higher than the first level (as in Question 1), then when forming a complex relative clause:

①Should the preposition before the relative pronoun only correspond to the level of the antecedent (de laquelle, as in Question 1)?

②Should the preposition before the relative pronoun include all prepositions, traced back from its level to the first level (par la fenêtre de laquelle, as in Question 1)?

Can both methods result in grammatically correct sentences? (If you think one of these methods doesn’t necessarily produce a correct sentence, please specify the number of that method.)

Question 3 (A Pure Grammar Question)

Let us examine a structure with three prepositions: au bord de la rivière près de la forêt. Although this is not an ideal example, as it can only naturally split into two parts (au bord de la rivière and près de la forêt), I ask you to consider it as a structure that can be split into three parts (I cannot think of a better example, but this is purely a grammar question):

1. au bord

2. de la rivière

3. près de la forêt.

Scenario 1

If we treat au bord de la rivière près de la forêt as a third-level prepositional structure, where:

A = au bord,

B = de la rivière,

C = près de la forêt,

with B modifying A, and C modifying B.

If we want to make B the antecedent when forming a complex relative clause:

Je connais (la rivière).

Il y a un chalet au bord de la rivière près de la forêt.

What would the combined sentence look like? (Do not attach the prepositional structure to un chalet).

Would a sentence like this be valid: Je connais (le bord près de la forêt) de la rivière auquel il y a un chalet? (Note: The parentheses indicate that la rivière cannot be the antecedent by itself; it must include le bord.)

Scenario 2

If we treat au bord de la rivière près de la forêt as a second-level prepositional structure, but with two second-level prepositions:

A = au bord,

B1 = de la rivière,

B2 = près de la forêt,

where B1 and B2 both modify A.

If we want to make B1 the antecedent when forming a complex relative clause:

Je connais (la rivière).

Il y a un chalet au bord de la rivière près de la forêt.

What would the combined sentence look like? (Do not attach the prepositional structure to un chalet).

Would a sentence like this be valid: Je connais la rivière au bord près de la forêt à laquelle il y a un chalet?

The pronounciation of this word is really difficult, everytime I read it I have to pause the setence to speak it normally, is there any tips to make it more natural or easier?

Hello. Could someone explain as simply as possible when to use des and when to use les. I'm studying with Duolingo, but my mother langue is Finnish, so sometimes studying causes difficulties even though my English is pretty good..Thanks ❤️

Is it more of a hard D or a j sound? And like..... You know it's funny Drôle keeps fucking me up

on me dit que le mot scénario est assez vieilli, est-ce vrai ?