Should you say ELEVE or ETUDIANT? How is it used in a sentence? Listen to Anne’s AUDIO file.
un/e élève is someone who goes to a school.un/e étudiant/e is someone who goes to a university – la fac. It is confusing because in English, you may easily hear the word ‘student’ not necessarily applying to a university. For instance, you can hear: my father is a student at French Hour. French Hour is not a university, it’s a school. So even if my father were 70 years old, that sentence may not be: mon père est étudiant à French Hour. Instead, you should say: Mon père est élève à French Hour.
« J’emmène mes enfants en cours. Mon fils de 19 ans est étudiant à la fac et ma fille de 13 ans est élèveau collège Jacques Prévert. »
“I’m bringing my children to school. My 19 year-old son is a student at the university and my 13 year-old daughter goes to Jacques Prévert Middle school.”
Collège – Middle-school – 12-15 ans – élève
Lycée – High-school – 15-18 ans – élève
Fac – University – 18 ans+ – étudiant.e
École comme French Hour – School such as French Hour – 3-99 ans – élève
What’s the French school system like? What’s the structure of French education? Practice your knowledge of the French school system at the bottom of this lesson.
Le système scolaire – Aperçu – French Education – Overview
It is virtually free for all students to attend school. Fees and costs are paid for by taxes. Primary school teachers are now called “Professeur des écoles”, or “instituteur or institutrice”.
Secondary education teachers must hold a CAPES or an AGRÉGATION degree to teach in public schools.
School is mandatory from age 6 to age 16.
In higher education, there are three main courses of studies:
humanities: literature and languages
sciences
business and economy
If students are gifted, they may be chosen to go to a ‘Grande École’, where they’ll get an elite, higher education. Grandes Écoles are part of the public system and train future high-powered CEOs and government officials.
Listen to the authentic French in this video. Watch, read, translate and/or repeat a passage of your choice. The more you watch, the more you will understand. You can also download the recording in authentic French at the bottom of this page, if you’d like to listen to it on another device.
Dominique Bona is telling us about her book “Colette et les Siennes – Colette and her loved ones”
Biography Fair in Chaville fourth edition in 2017 under the patronage of Dominique Bona of the French Academy.
Dominique Bona nous parle de son livre « Colette et les Siennes »
Salon de la biographie de Chaville quatrième édition en 2017 sous le parrainage de Dominique Bona de l’Académie française.
Dominique Bona, auteure de « Colette et les Siennes »
« Parlez-nous de Colette »
Elle conduit sa vie à sa guise, euh, sans trop se préoccuper, ni des lois sociales, ni des codes de la société, euh, ni des tabous ou des interdits. C’est une femme parfaitement naturelle qui assume sa vie et qui, et qui la conduit à sa guise.
Mais elle a quand même rencontré euh, beaucoup de difficultés, notamment euh, dans sa vie amoureuse.
Colette c’est tout de même une, une, une femme qui euh, euh, je, je dirais euh, euh, assume les difficultés, les chagrins, les deuils d’une, d’une manière très particulière, c’est-à-dire, avec un sourire.
Et ce sourire de Colette, j’crois qu’c’est peut-être euh, c’que j’ai reçu en cadeau, après avoir écrit ce livre.
« Votre livre commence à l’été 1914, au début de la guerre. Colette fait venir ses amis dans sa maison à Paris. Qui sont-elles ? »
Ce sont des bonnes vivantes. C’est-à-dire, pas du tout des intellectuelles euh, pas, bien qu’elles soient romancières, écrivains euh, eh bien, non, ce ne sont pas des intellectuelles parce que ce sont avant tout euh, des femmes qui goûtent euh, la vie, la vie la plus simple. C’est-à-dire, elles, elles aiment la cuisine, elles aiment euh, décorer la maison, elles aiment faire des bouquets de fleurs euh, elles, elles adorent euh, s’occuper des animaux.
Dans ce livre, euh, ayant eu envie de, de, de raconter cet épisode de la vie de Colette, c’est vrai que j’ai ouvert la porte de la maison de Col.., de Colette. Alors, j’ai peut-être frappé, quand même, à la porte, sonné à la porte. Enfin, la porte s’est ouverte, je suis entrée dans la maison ; et c’est vrai que je me suis installée, finalement, au milieu de, de ces quatre femmes. Disons que je suis la cinquième colocataire du chalet, et que euh, j’ai, j’ai aimé, au fond, les, les regarder vivre.
English
Dominique Bona, writer of ‘Colette et les Siennes – Colette and her loved ones’
‘Tell us about Colette’
She leads her life as she pleases, uh, without worrying too much, neither about social laws, nor about codes of society, uh, nor about taboos or interdictions. She is a perfectly normal woman who takes responsibility for her life and who leads it as she pleases.
But still, she encountered uh, many difficulties, notably uh, in her love life.
Colette is still a, a, a woman who uh, uh, I, I would say uh, uh, take responsibility about her difficulties, her sorrows, her mourning in a, in a very particular way, that is to say, she takes it with a smile.
And it is that smile from Colette, I think it may be uh, what I received as a gift, after writing this book.
‘Your book begins in the summer of 1914, at the beginning of the war. Colette brings her friends to her house in Paris. Who are they?’
They are ‘bons vivants’, they enjoy life. That is to say, they aren’t intellectuals at all uh, not, although they are novelists, writers uh, well, no, they are not intellectuals because they are above all uh, women who enjoy uh, life, simple life. That is to say, they enjoy cooking, they love uh, decorating the house, they like to make flowers arrangements uh, they love uh, take care of animals.
In this book, uh, because I wanted to (having wanted to), to, to tell this episode in Colette’s life, it’s true that I opened the door of Col…, Colette’s house. So, I may have knocked, you see, on the door, rang the doorbell. In any case, the door opened, I entered the house; and it’s true that I settled, indeed, in the middle of, of these four women. Let’s say that I am the fifth roommate of the cottage, and that uh, I, I have loved, basically, to, to watch them live.
Countries, nationalities and adjectives. French is spoken is many countries all over the world. How do you talk about countries and their people in French? How are the countries pronounced?
Tips
Knowing what gender a country or a place is not easy, and not consistent either. However, here is a guideline I hope you’ll find helpful. The list is long. Don’t expect to memorize it. Instead, remember that
Almost all countries and states that end with an –e (except for le Mexique) are feminine.
Pretty much all others are masculine.
These 2 previous rules do NOT apply to islands. Nope!
Islands pretty much march to the beat of their own drum.
Cities are tricky. You hear both masculine and feminine: “le nouveau Paris” (m), and “Paris est une belle ville” (f).
List
And here is a list of countries, their gender, how to say the nationality and their corresponding adjectives.
Algeria …. f …. Algérie …. Algérien/ne …. algérien/ne
Argentina …. f …. Argentine …. Argentin/e …. argentin/e
Australia …. f …. Australie …. Australien/ne …. australien/ne
Austria …. f …. Autriche …. Autrichien/ne …. autrichien/ne
Belgium …. f …. Belgique …. Belge …. belge
Benin …. m …. Bénin …. Béninois/e …. béninois/e
Brazil …. m …. Brésil …. Brésilien/ne …. brésilien/ne
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