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10 Synonyms of BAD in French May 16, 2023

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 idĂ©e (bad idea) to be ...

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Improve your listening skills in French May 09, 2023

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 ...

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20 Ways to say GREAT in French Apr 25, 2023

 Do you worry nobody will understand you and you’ll have to repeat yourself . . . again?

So you use lovely words like “fantastique” or ”excellent . . . yet don’t you want to expand your vocabulary a little more?

Knowing the basics is fine but there comes a time when you actually want to know mo...

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How to improve speaking French Apr 18, 2023

Scripting your French conversations can actually leave you feeling worried about opening up a conversation, the exact opposite of its intent.

This is because you might be worried about making mistakes, or that you won’t be able to pronounce the words correctly, or goodness me, worried that you m...

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10 great moon expressions in French Apr 11, 2023

 Don’t you just struggle to recall on demand those fun idiomatic expressions in French that would nicely colour our daily language?

We love metaphors and interesting ways of speaking.  

But recalling them on demand when we’re not using them every day can really chew up our confidence.

So I pre...

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How to say not right in French Apr 04, 2023

What if things just aren’t right and you need to express that clearly?

We’re so busy learning French that we tend to stick to the positive and are always compliant. 

Have you just learnt to keep your opposition to yourself?  

Today, in this mini-lesson, you will learn:

  • How to say things are...
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Verb tense recognition in French (listening activity) Mar 27, 2023

Fancy some tense recognition? 

When it comes to listening to French people speaking, wouldn’t we just like some more practice, especially when it comes to recognising verbs in the past, present and future . . . and more 

Therefore, I have a mini listening activity for you - can you work out wha...

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How to use DEPUIS in French Mar 21, 2023

Do you get in a dither using  DEPUIS in French? Get into the French brain and make life easier with DEPUIS.

The thing is, we shy away from using tenses like “have been . . . ing” because it looks really complicated. 

But actually, instead of wasting time translating all the time, if only you un...

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Bonjour or bonne journée? Which one is it? Mar 14, 2023

 Do you mess up your Bonjour and your Bonne journée?  ... Just how DO you greet your guest in the morning? 

If you want to carry on your conversation in French, it’s helpful to know if you’re greeting someone or if you’re basically sending them on their way. 

It’s ok: it’s a subtle difference i...

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The French verb RENDRE and 7 combinations Mar 07, 2023

Struggling to hear that group of verbs ending in ‘rendre?

Let’s do something related to the verbs ending in -RENDRE at intermediate French level.

We’re often quite happy when we start mastering French verbs . . . then along comes an irregular one.  And to make things worse, it always seems to b...

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12 French cooking verbs Feb 28, 2023

Don’t make this mistake
It's not always CUIRE!

You love French, you love French food. And when you talk about cooking you look the word up and find CUIRE. What a great word to say!

However, it's so easy to think that this word covers all your cooking vocabulary. And unfortunately, it doesn’t. 

...
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Fussy Foodie in France Feb 21, 2023

If you’re called a fussy eater, it can be quite annoying! Pourquoi ? Why? Because we all have preferences and the need to avoid certain foods. 

When eating in France, this is not always taken into account, although lately people and restaurants are getting much more aware that this is more than ...

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