In this second episode about the indirect speech, I'll explain what's called the "concordance des temps" (or "sequence of tenses"). The name may scare you but it's all actually logical and working the same as in English. So, let's take a look at some examples and you'll see what I mean! Note: listen to Part 1 in Episode 117: " Indirect speech: put the right words...in the right order" Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this episode J'ai faim = I'm hungry Elle dit qu'elle a faim = She says she is hungry Elle a dit qu'elle avait faim =She said she was hungry. Il ne … Read More →
FYW 117 : Indirect speech (Part 1): put the right words…in the right order
Here's a great question from Robert, a Chinese-speaking listener of French Your Way Podcast about "sentences like " I don't know what he will say to me" or " He didn't tell me when he would arrive." While I know that in French we use "ce que" for the "what clauses", I am not sure if there are other words for "how", "when", etc. Do we simply use "comment"," quand" ? Also, for us, as Chinese speakers, this sentence structure would be the hardest to learn in English, since we can't just put the clause in the order of question, for example, "I don't know how is he". I want to know how this kind of … Read More →