Articles & Tutorials Archives - Page 3 of 6

Tour de France and Nostalgia

July 11, 2015 by Jessica 2 Comments

This article is a bit different! This time, I wrote in French and in English, to give you some guided reading, along with a few explanations on some French words and expressions :-) Let me know if you liked it in the comment section! Bonne lecture! / Happy reading! Tour de France et nostalgie / Tour de France and nostalgia Suivez-vous le Tour de France ? Personnellement, je zyeute (1) l’écran à quelques occasions, luttant contre le sommeil (à cause de l’heure tardive de diffusion en Australie). Do you follow the Tour de France ? Personally, I only glance at the screen every so often as … Read More →

How to make French vocabulary lists

July 8, 2015 by Jessica 2 Comments

Here’s my very first video for you!! I’m giving you 3 tips on how you can create your own French vocabulary lists AND how I recommend you use them for your French revisions! This includes how I used to learn Chinese when I was living in China. I hope this will help and inspire you :-) Feel free to share your own techniques to learn French vocabulary in the comment section, I’m sure it can help other students of French! Behind the scenes story: Shooting the video was a lot of fun…but took me a while! Unlike podcast recordings where I can easily edit the blanks or my many “um” and … Read More →

How to Pronounce Plus in French

June 24, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Philipp, a listener of French Your Way Podcast, recently emailed me with the following suggestion : « J'ai écouté l’épisode sur la question quand on prononce le « s » de tous. Peut-être que ce serait aussi intéressant quand on fait la même chose avec 'plus'. Merci ! (= I listened to the episode about when to pronounce the “s” at the end of tous. It may be interesting to do the same about “plus”. Thanks!”) I thought it would be interesting to clarify this notion – so here’s the article! I’ve also designed and included a free worksheet for you! In addition, I made a podcast episode with … Read More →

How to Use Qui and Que in French

June 17, 2015 by Jessica 16 Comments

Many students of French are confused with the difference between qui and que. That’s the case of Endre, who wrote to me all the way from Norway to ask for a bit of help! I’ve included a worksheet for you to practice in this article. You can also listen to episode 19 of French Your Way Podcast to listen to my explanations. Grammatical difference between qui and que In the context that we’re studying today, qui and que are what’s called relative pronouns. We use pronouns to avoid a repetition. In fact, the word “pronoun” originally means “for a noun” : a pronoun stands for, … Read More →

How to Type French Accents on Word

June 10, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Many students who need to write French assignments have asked me how to type French accents on Word. I have already written an article about How to Type French accents on an Apple iPhone / iPad, which you can read here. I've asked my husband to write a post about it as he is the one who helps me out with all the tech parts! (For myself, I use a French keyboard.) Here's the easiest way to type French accents on Word With the following method, you won't need to memorise a heap of random numbers to use ALT key "shortcuts", and you won't need to change your keyboard to a French AZERTY … Read More →

“How long does it take to learn French?”

May 25, 2015 by Jessica 4 Comments

I’m sometimes asked the million dollar question: ”How long does it take to learn French ?” (or any other language, for that matter.) Another variation to this question is : “How long does it take to become fluent in French ?” Before I go any further, put yourself in my shoes : what would YOU answer ? The Six Levels of Proficiency A common reference point is the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) which has defined six levels of proficiency: You can read more about the description for each level here. This classification is a useful way to assess the … Read More →

The Definitive Guide About the Word “tous” (French Grammar, French Pronunciation)

May 13, 2015 by Jessica 4 Comments

Whatever your level is in French, I bet you will learn something in this article! What’s the difference between tout / tous / toute / toutes? How and when to use them ? How to know when to pronounce the “s” at the end of “tous” in French ? – This last question comes from one of my listeners of French Your Way podcast. I have featured it in episode 14. Click here to listen to the episode. “Tout” (meaning “all” in English or sometimes “all of”, “the whole”, “the entire”, “every” etc. – you get the idea) has different spellings, such as: There’s nothing complicated or out of the … Read More →

Tu or vous ?

April 27, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

“When can we switch from using vous to using tu with a French person ?” is a very interesting question that I have just recently been asked twice…on the same day! So, I figured that you may also need some light on the matter. ;-) Let’s first recap in which situations people use tu or vous in the French spoken in France (other French-speaking countries/areas can have different rules and use the tu form more easily). 1. Tu or Vous : When to use them in French (France) To help you decide between tu or vous, you can check out a very informative flowchart designed by William Alexander and … Read More →

How to Play Petanque (Rules of Petanque)

April 22, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Pétanque (French boules) is the 10th most popular sport in France and is also played by millions of French people for pleasure, especially during summer holidays where tournaments organised in the camping / holiday resorts are very common (I remember enrolling in some “tournois de pétanque” myself as a teenager). Last July, my husband and I spent a few weeks in France and playing pétanque again revived fond childhood memories. I eventually had a set delivered to Australia - the “boules” are so heavy it would have been a shame to take them back in our luggage as we would have lost some … Read More →

How to Conjugate French Verbs in –IR Without Losing Your Mind

April 9, 2015 by Jessica 2 Comments

Ah, French verbs! They’re the nightmare of most students of French! By popular demand, here are some of my best tips if you’re feeling lost with how to conjugate French verbs in –IR. Learn how to Conjugate _IR Verbs Easily Good news: you only need to learn the indicative present tense and the past participle forms! All other tenses can easily be made from them ; refer to my article “The 7 Most Common French Tenses Made Easy” (it includes a downloadable worksheet with exercises). 1. Learn the verb endings for the indicative present tense Verbs in –IR have their endings as follows: _s, … Read More →