French from Ground Zero

FAUX-AMIS: Due to geographical, physical and historical factors, French and English share a lot in common among European languages. They do borrow words from each other and they have almost the exact same numbers of letters in their alphabets(26 for both, but French uses diacritics). Some words look so close in spelling that you may think they have the same meaning. At times they do. But when they do not have the same meaning, these words are called faux-amis which literally ...means "false friends" or "fake friends". Most advanced learners of French can spot faux-amis when they see them; however for beignners, it is advised to always check the meaning by using a bilingual dictionary. In other words, do not assume the meaning of a French word because it looks so close to an English word and vice versa. Below are some faux-amis. Achever(fren): it does not mean achiever. It is a verb: to finish, to complete To achieve(engl): réussir or accomplir. Actual(Eng): corresponds to reel or concret in French. Actuel(Fren): corresponds to current in English. Actually(eng): en fait, en réalité Actuellement(Fren) : currently Advertisement(eng) : Publicité Avertissement (French) : warning Dancing(eng.) : the act of dancing. Dancing(Fren): a public place where people go to dance. Deputy(Eng): adjoint, remplaçant Député(French) : a member of parliament Editor(Eng): rédacteur en chef Editeur(French) : publisher

10 common errors in French: 1. à/a à is a preposition: Je vais à Winnipeg: I am going to Winnipeg.... a is the verb avoir (present tense, 3rd person singular) Elle a deux voitures: She has two cars. 2. using the verb "etre" instead of the verb "avoir". Je suis froid. wrong J'ai froid. right (I am cold). 3. Translation of present continuous I am eating: Je suis mange (wrong) I am eating: Je mange. 4. using "sur" + day of the week . I will come on Monday: Je viendrai sur lundi. (wrong) Je viendrai le lundi(right) 4. Omission of the auxiliary "avoir" or "être " in simple past tense. She bought a house: Elle acheté une maison.(wrong) Elle a acheté une maison. (rightt) He came yesterday: Il venu hier(wrong) Il est venu hier (right) 5. elision: replacing the "e" with an apostrophe Je écoute la radio. (wrong) J'écoute la radio(right). Nous allons à la école. (wrong) Nous allons à l'ecole. (right). 6. His/her vs Son/sa : 3rd person singular possessive adjective. While in English, the possessive adjective is determined by the gender of the owner. In French, it is the gender of the object possessed that determines the gender of the possessive adjective. John's car: his car (John is male) Mary's car: Her car (Mary is female) La voiture de John: Sa voiture (voiture is feminine) La voiture de Mary: Sa voiture(voiture is feminine) Le livre de John: Son livre (livre is masculine) Le livre de Marie: Son livre (livre is masculine) 7. the direct object pronoun comes before the verb in French. I love you: J'aime toi/ J'aime tu(wrong) Je t'aime/ Je vous aime(right) She sees him: Elle voit le(wrong) Elle le voit (right) 8. not using the second masculine singular form of the adjective when the noun begins with a vowel or a silent h. un beau professeur but: un bel enfant/ un bel homme. un vieux livre but un vieil homme/ un vieil immeuble. 9. translating word for word I miss you: Je manqué tu(wrong) Tu me manques(right). 10. writing without putting the accents on the words when necessary. Some words are always spelled with accents, while some have accents in certain contexts. École: school misère: misery mère: mother hôpital: hospital At times the accent is used to differentiate between words that have very close pronunciation but different meanings. Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: Mur/ mûr patte : pâte tache : tâche la : là

Among the many varieties of French found in the Francophone world, two are the most spoken: Parisian or Metropolitan French (France) and Canadian or Quebec French(Canada). For any speaker of French, especially a native speaker, both languages are the same but there are clear differences in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary and prosody. The explanation could be found in the history of both languages and their current geographic location. Towards the end of the 16th century, ...before the French language could be unified(there were many varieties or dialects of French spoken in France), some French families left France to come settle in what was called Nouvelle France in North America, particularly in the Quebec area. Some dialects brought evolved differently from the dialects that remained in France. In Canada, French, has been mainly influenced by English from within Canada and the mighty United States. In France, the influence is greater: European neighbors(Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain and other vocabularies from the French Empire(Africa, Asia and North America). The French Revolution of 1789 also helped to centralize French and bring all the dialects spoken in France to the Parisian dialect via schools and other national institutions. Both Parisian French and Canadian French are beautiful and lovely. However, due to the influence of France and the colonisation of Africa and Asia by France, Parisian French is more widely spoken and understood and a certain prestige is attached to it. But if you desire to visit, live or work in Canada, special attention should be given to learning it. Please add at least one difference between Metropolitan French (France) and Canadian or Quebec French(Canada).

The next article shall be a brief presentation on Parisian French Vs Canadian French.

On French Nouns: Nouns, in French language, have two main features: gender and number. Unlike in English, in French, nouns designating non-humans (table, car, house, clothe, hair, shoe, money, etc.) are either masculine or feminine. Whenever you learn a new noun, learn its gender along. For instance, there is no way I can tell if the following nouns are masculine or feminine unless I had learnt their gender before or I look it up in a dictionary: lycée, musée, livre, silence..., attention, avion, mission, poupée, jument, compliment, souris, sourire, socle, lit, école. Even native speakers of French have to check the gender of a new noun from friends or a dictionary. A good knowledge of grammar can also help you to determine the gender of a noun by checking other words around it. A noun must agree in gender and number with its "satelites" (determinants, adjectives and past participles in some cases). For instance, the definite article "la" is used before a feminine singular noun while the definite article "le" is used before a masculine singular noun. So if I rewrite the above list with the definite article, you should know the gender: le lycée, le musée,le livre, le silence, la tension, le violon, la mission, la poupée, la jument, le compliment, la souris, le sourire, le socle, le lit. There are certain tips that can help but they do not work all the time. So the best way is to always learn the noun with its gender. N.B: Some nouns have two genders. For each gender, they have a different meaning. le livre : the book la livre: the pound le manche: the handle la manche: the sleeve Some nouns are both masculine and feminine and have the same meaning: un enfant: a child (male) une enfant: a child(female) un secrétaire une secrétaire un millionaire une millionnaire The number of noun is more or less like in English. The mark of plural is the letter "s" at the end of the noun. But some nouns already carry the letter "s" in the singular so they do not change in the plural. Certain nouns carry "x" instead of "s" in the plural. Nouns that end with one of the three letters: "s" , "x" or "z" in the singular do not change in the plural.