Dictée

Un hôtel très particulier – Today’s French at FrenchHour

By Anne on April 6th, 2019

A very special hotel – French dictation

A “dictée” is the transcription of a spoken text. Today, this dictation is going to help you improve your French vocabulary, your understanding of the structure of sentences and your listening comprehension as well.

En français

Un hôtel très particulier

Alexandre Chatelat a passé une nuit dans un hôtel très particulier et a laissé une appréciation de son expérience sur Google.

Voici ce qu’il a écrit :

« Personnel accueillant et chaleureux…

*un hôtel particulier est ‘a city private mansion’

In English

A very special hotel

Alexandre Chatelat spent a night in a very special hotel and ranked his experience on Google.

Here is what he wrote:

“The staff are welcoming and friendly…

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Les maisons – Today’s French

ne… que… means ONLY

French Pluperfect – When, How and Practice

French punctuation

Dictée adaptée de cet article du journal Ouest-France

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hôtel de police – Mot du jour at FrenchHour

By Anne on April 5th, 2019

police station – French expression

What does ” un hôtel de police ” mean? How do you say ‘ a police station ’ in French? How is it pronounced? How is it used in a French sentence? Listen to Anne, a French native say it at FrenchHour.com.

un hôtel de police – a hotel of police. I’m sure you figured out un hôtel de police isn’t a hotel at all. In everyday French, un hôtel de police is ‘a police station, a police precinct’.

« Si tu ne paies pas tes articles, tu finiras à l’hôtel de police. »
- “If you don’t pay for your items, you’ll end up at the police station.”

Tenses and Modes

présent –> futur : Si tu ne paies pas tes articles, tu finiras à l’hôtel de police.
plus-que-parfait –> conditionnel passé : Si tu n’avais pas payé tes articles, tu aurais fini à l’hôtel de police. (If you hadn’t paid for your items, you would have ended up at the police station.)

Practice

Future Tense – Irregular Verbs Quiz

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Lâche-moi les baskets – Mot du jour at FrenchHour

By Anne on April 4th, 2019

Leave me alone – French expression

What does ” lâche-moi les baskets ” mean? How do you say ‘ leave me alone ’ in French? How is it pronounced? How is it used in a French sentence? Listen to Anne, a French native say it at FrenchHour.com.

lâche-moi les baskets – let go of me the tennis shoes. In everyday French, lâche-moi les baskets means ‘leave me alone’.

« Lâche-moi les baskets avec les escargots ! C’est non, je n’en mangerai pas. »
- “Leave me alone with snails. There’s no way, I won’t eat any.”

Students also liked to practice French with this free material

English words in French – Today’s French

The pronoun EN – Today’s French

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Beginner's Podcast

English Words in French – Today’s French at FrenchHour

By Anne on April 3rd, 2019

English Words in French

Mots anglais en français

This post is an excerpt of Week 1 of Anne’s ‘French 1 – A1’ course, a 30-week French course for the total beginner.

Who says French is hard to learn? There are tons of English words used in the French language – with a French accent, of course. Here is a list of some that I hear often in French.

Note that most of them are masculine.

My favorite one is ‘un pin’s’. What’s your favorite?

Do you know another one? Feel free to Leave a Reply below.

Most of all, listen, repeat out loud and learn how to pronounce these words. That’s how you’ll start sounding like a French person, by copying my voice and my intonation.

m …. babyfoot …. foosball, table football
m …. barman …. barman, bartender
m …. basket …. basket-ball
f …. basket …. tennis shoe
m …. best-seller …. best-seller book
m …. bifteck …. steak (beef)
m …. blazer …. blazer, suit jacket
m …. blogue …. blog
m …. bluff …. bluff
m …. boss …. boss
m …. bouledogue …. bulldog
m …. boycott …. boycott
ø …. boycotter …. to boycott
m …. brainstorming …. brainstorming session
m …. business …. business
m …. businessman[1] …. businessman
m …. caddy …. store cart
m …. camping …. camp site
m …. casting …. casting, distribution
m …. challenge …. challenge

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Exercice – Practice

Remplacez les tirets avec les mots de la liste et la traduction. — Fill in the blanks with the words from the list and the translation.

L’été dernier, on était au « 1._____ des Lilas ». On jouait tous les jours au 2._____ et au 3._____. On a sympathisé avec le 4._____. Un jour, il nous a demandé de faire les courses pour lui : il voulait 5 caisses de bière. C’est très lourd ! Quand nous sommes arrivés au supermarché, il n’y avait pas de 5._____. On est donc revenus les mains vides et les gens au camping ont presque fait la révolution. On se souviendra de ce jour-là toute notre vie !

ENGLISH

Last summer, we were staying at the ‘Lilacs 1.Campsite’. We would play 2.basketball and 3.foosball every day. We became friendly with the 4.bartender. One day, he asked us to go shopping for him: he wanted 5 crates of beer. It’s very heavy! When we arrived at the supermarket, there were no 5.carts. So we came back empty-handed and people at the campsite almost had a revolution. We will remember that day forever!

Answers at FrenchHour

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French Verbs

ACHETER – Practice conjugating – Today’s French at FrenchHour

By Anne on April 1st, 2019

ACHETER – Practice conjugating – Today’s French

ACHETER – Exercice de conjugaison – Le français d’aujourd’hui

Listen to the conjugated verb – many times. I need you to get to the point that you can say the tenses without thinking. Then practice with the exercise to check if you know how to conjugate ACHETER in French.

ACHETER – Verbe Conjugué

Indicatif – Indicative Mode …. statements

présent …. present tense

j’achète …. I buy

je n’achète pas …. I’m not buying

tu achètes …. you buy

elle achète …. she buys

il achète …. he/it buys

on achète …. we buy

nous achetons …. we buy

vous achetez …. you buy

elles achètent …. they buy

ils achètent …. they buy

*also I’m buying…

imparfait …. imperfect

j’achetais …. I used to buy*

je n’achetais pas …. I didn’t use to buy*

tu achetais …. you used to buy

elle achetait …. she used to buy

il achetait …. he/it used to buy

on achetait …. we used to buy

nous achetions …. we used to buy

vous achetiez …. you used to buy

elles achetaient …. they used to buy

ils achetaient …. they used to buy

*also I would buy…

passé composé …. preterit or present perfect

j’ai acheté …. I bought, I have bought

je n’ai pas acheté …. I didn’t buy

tu as acheté …. you bought

elle a acheté …. she bought

il a acheté …. he/it bought

on a acheté …. we bought

nous avons acheté …. we bought

vous avez acheté …. you bought

elles ont acheté …. they bought

ils ont acheté …. they bought

futur simple …. future tense

j’achèterai …. I will buy

je n’achèterai pas …. I will not buy

tu achèteras …. you will buy

elle achètera …. she will buy

il achètera …. he/it will buy

on achètera …. we will buy

nous achèterons …. we will buy

vous achèterez …. you will buy

elles achèteront …. they will buy

ils achèteront …. they will buy

Exercice – ACHETER

Remplacez les tirets avec les mots de la liste et la traduction. — Fill in the blanks with the words from the list and the translation.

Mots pour les tirets – achetait, achèterai, achetions.

On ____________ toujours notre pain dans cette boulangerie en bas de l’immeuble.
Je ne ____________ jamais cette bicoque.
Elle ____________ une trousse à outils pour faire ses rénovations.

We (on) always used to buy our bread at this bakery at the bottom of the building.
I’ll never buy this shack.
She bought a tool kit (bag) to remodel.

Réponses - Answers

On achetait toujours notre pain dans cette boulangerie en bas de l’immeuble.
Je n’achèterai jamais cette bicoque.
Elle a acheté une trousse à outils pour faire ses rénovations.

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Mot du jour Podcast

sac de noeuds – Mot du jour at FrenchHour

By Anne on March 31st, 2019

un sac de noeuds – Mot du jour

a can of worms – French expression

What does ” un sac de nœuds ” mean? How do you say ‘ a can of worms ’ in French? How is it pronounced? How is it used in a French sentence? Listen to Anne, a French native say it at FrenchHour.com.

un sac de noeuds (nœuds) – a bag of knots. As you can imagine if you have to untangle knots in a bag, it’s a difficult task to accomplish. In everyday French, un sac de noeuds means exactly that: a difficult situation to deal with. In English, it’s ‘a can of worms’.