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Are you really a good listener?

Listening to French and being able to keep understanding as people speak is quite a challenge.  Many of you are telling me that listening practice is something you need.  As a friend recently visited this historical site, it came to my attention that you, too, cou...

 Do you mix up your French have and had?

And does it blow your mind when you realise there are three ways to say HAD in French depending on what kind of verb is following it? 

Well, join the heaving multitudes of people in the same boat.  It’s the past perfect boat! 

(Or the pluperfect . . . e...

Do you say “D’accord” a lot? I mean in situations like this:

“C’est d’accord si je t’appelle maintenant ?” Is it OK to call you now?

This is a common error many of us make. 

Fortunately, we will be understood, but we want more than that - we want to use the right words in the right situa...

To be or NOT to be . . . negatives are a big part of our daily life.  Not negative feelings, but those phrases we need to use in French to say NOT, NEVER, NO MORE, and so on! 

But when it comes to doing the ‘wrap it around the verb’ thing, don’t we just get it all messed up?

It’s ok - eve...

LONGTEMPS - it’s such an easy word to remember.  So why not use it all over the place? 

I would say it’s nice to have a word handy when you want instant recall, but surely you also want to learn new words, too.  

So here you are - the French way to say “ages” or “longtemps” instead of just tran...

Are you afraid to speak French in front of people? 

Speaking in French in front of other people often causes huge anxiety for some people. And despite all the learning, the textbooks, and the preparations, we still feel like we are the only ones feeling this!

I believe that is because we don’t ...

Well, we all get to the point where we’ve had enough of something. So let’s develop 10 ways of expressing this in French, both formally and less formally. 

You want to know how to say them and in which context? In this mini-lesson, you will learn:

• 10 ways to say you’re fed up
• Polite ways
...

So, we learn French and spend ages with our noses in the textbook or in lessons. It's what we do.

Then we dare to step out of our comfort zone and speak to someone. And sometimes, it just all goes wrong! 

Today’s example is when you learn “Je ne sais pas” but totally zone out when someone slips...

Do you find yourself congratulating yourself on using a new French word or some tricky grammar, only to see ZERO ADMIRATION from your French person? 

That’s mainly because they really don’t get just how much hard effort we put into learning their lovely language. 

Then, they go and use expressi...

PAST PARTICIPLES - IRREGULAR ONES.  “What”? 

Ok, it’s ok not to know grammar like the back of your hand, and to be fair, we can get away with knowing very little.  Until learning the French language reminds us that we need to know some basics at least. 

So without getting super complex, a past ...

It’s BAD enough when you want to work out whether to say MAL or MAUVAIS . . . so let’s find some other ways to say this and get expanding our vocabulary.

You see, we love saying something is GOOD, but when people want to explain just the opposite to us, it’s not a MAUVAISE idée (bad idea) to be ...

When you listen to French spoken at full speed it can be a real confidence breaker when you’ve done all that learning yet still don’t understand what’s being said.  Or even, you get some of it but the time it took you to process it, the conversation has moved on. 

You are not alone! In fact, if ...