Lesson #143 Some Adjectives

Some adjectives are spelled and pronounced differently depending on whether the noun it's describing is male or female*.

Adjectives for male words:
grand (grahn) -big
prochain (proh shayn) -next
noir (noh wah) -black
petit (peh tee) -little, small
heureax (urr roh) -happy

Adjectives for female words:
grande (grahnd) -big
prochaine (proh shayn) -next
noire (noh wahr) -black
petite (peh teet) -little, small
heureuse (urr rooz) -happy

In French, nouns are considered either male or female and have nothing to do with whether or not the nouns are used by a man or a woman. This will always be one of the tough things about learning French. Don't stress too much on trying to remember if a noun is male or female. This will come with regular practice of them.

As for the adjectives above...
Examples:
une grande maison (oon grahnd may zohn) -a big house (female)
le livre noir (leh lee vruh noh wah) -the black book (male)
l'homme heureax (lohm urr roh) -the happy man
la femme heureuse (lah fehm urr rooz) -the happy woman

A Must Read - A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast is a set of memoirs by American author Ernest Hemingway about his years inParis as part of the American expatriate circle of writers in the 1920s. In addition to painting a picture of Hemingway's time as a struggling young writer, the book also sketches the story of Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.

A Moveable Feast is considered by many to contain some of his best writing. Some of the prominent people to make an appearance in the book include Aleister Crowley, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald,Ford Madox Ford, Hilaire Belloc, Pascin, John Dos Passos, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. The book was edited by Ernest's fourth wife, Mary Hemingway, and published in 1964, four years after Hemingway's death.

The book contains Hemingway's personal accounts, observations, and stories of his experience in 1920s Paris. He provides the detail of specific addresses of cafes, bars, hotels, and apartments that still can be found in modern day Paris. The title was suggested by Hemingway's friend A.E. Hotchner, author of Papa Hemingway, and comes from a conversation the two once had about the city during Hotchner's first visits there:

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

Simone Signoret -French Actress

Lesson # 143 -French Expressions

tout à coup... (toot ah koo) -all of a sudden...
petit à petit (peh teet ah peh tee) -little by little
par contre... (pahr kohn truh) -on the other hand...
assez souvent... (ah say soo vahn) -quite often...
Je ferrai mon possible (zhuh feh ray mohn pah see bluh) - I will do my best

Children's Word of the Day -Milkshake

No Shock

London, England (CNN) -- Bindi Dupouy, an Australian living in Paris, and her French husband, just had their first child, a son born in the country.

Dupouy, a 28-year-old lawyer, got almost five months paid maternity leave from her company for the birth. She can take another seven months off beyond that -- a year total -- unpaid, if she wants, with her job guaranteed under French law.

When her son Louis was born, healthy and by way of a normal delivery, she got to stay in her local French hospital, around the corner from where she lives, for five full days, to rest.

Welcome to France, voted the best place in the world to live for the fifth year in a row by International Living magazine, which has been analyzing data and publishing its annual Quality of Life Index for 30 years.

One of the reasons France keeps winning the ranking is its world-class health care system, which Dupouy just experienced first-hand. What expecting mums like treasures here," Dupouy told CNN from her Paris apartment. "They take really good care of you. The health care system is just amazing." She said she wouldn't have gotten the same maternity leave -- or care -- back home in Australia.

At her job, Dupouy also gets seven weeks paid vacation a year, although it's her first job as an attorney since graduating with a law degree in Australia. She doesn't think twice about taking the Metro across town -- for just $1.37 a ride -- to visit a friend. Or she picks up a rental bike at one of the many computerized bike hire racks in town to get around.

France scores high marks across the board in the survey, which is done every January, from health care (100 points) to infrastructure (92 points) to safety and risk (100 points).

"No surprise," said the magazine in its report. "Its (France's) tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care."

"The bread, the cheese, the wine," Dan Prescher, special projects editor at the magazine, told CNN, when asked why France just keeps on winning year after year. "That weighs pretty heavily in quality of life."

Lesson # 141 -Finished

Finir (fee neer) -to finish

J'ai fini (zhay fee nee) I finished
tu as fini (too ah fee nee) -you finished (when speaking to a friend or family member)
il as fini (eel ah fee nee) -he finished
elle as fini (ell ah fee nee) -she finished
nous avons fini (nooz ah vohn fee nee) we finished
vous avez fini (vooz ah vay fee nee) you finished (when speaking to someone you don't know well)
ils ont fini (eel zohn fee nee) -they finished (when speaking of an all male or mixed male & female group)
elles ont fini (ell zohn fee nee) -they finished (when speaking of an all female group)

Vocabulary Words of the Day

Lesson #140 -Aller

Aller (ah lay) -to go

je vais (zhuh vay) -I go, I am going
tu vas (too vah) -You go, you are going (when speaking to a friend or family member)
il va (eel vah) -He goes, he is going
elle va (ell vah) -She goes, she is going
nous allons (nooz ah lohn) -we go, we are going
vous allez (vooz ah lay) -you go, you are going (when speaking to someone you don't know well)
ils vont (eel vohn) -they go, they are going (when speaking of an all male or mixed male & female group)
elles vont (ell vohn) -they go, they are going (when speaking of an all female group)

Children's Word of the Day -Today

Claude Lorrain -French Artist

Claude Lorrain, traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, dit le Lorrain) (c. 1600 – 21 or 23 November 1682) was an artist of the Baroque era who was active in Italy, and is admired for his achievements in landscape painting.
In this matter of the importance of landscape, Claude was prescient. Living in a pre-Romantic era, he did not depict those uninhabited panoramas that were to be esteemed in later centuries, such as with Salvatore Rosa. He painted a pastoral world of fields and valleys not distant from castles and towns. If the ocean horizon is represented, it is from the setting of a busy port. Perhaps to feed the public need for paintings with noble themes, his pictures include demigods, heroes and saints, even though his abundant drawings and sketchbooks prove that he was more interested in scenography.

Claude was described as kind to his pupils and hard-working; keenly observant, but an unlettered man until his death. The painter Joachim von Sandrart is an authority for Claude's life (Academia Artis Pictoriae, 1683); Baldinucci, who obtained information from some of Claude's immediate survivors, relates various incidents to a different effect (Notizie dei professoni del disegno).

John Constable described Claude as "the most perfect landscape painter the world ever saw", and declared that in Claude’s landscape "all is lovely – all amiable – all is amenity and repose; the calm sunshine of the heart"

'Bad taste' cries as McDonald's moves into 'Mona Lisa' museum

Mon Dieu!
Even I am upset when I read this & I love Mcdonalds.

CNN) -- Shortly after McDonald's celebrated its 30-year presence in France, the fast-food chain is conquering one of the country's most valued cultural institutions --the Louvre. McDonald's burgers and fries will be available under the glass pyramid of the Louvre. The restaurant will be serving its fast burgers in the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping mall which lies under the main entrance of the museum and which still contains an ancient wall that was discovered during construction works. McDonald's plans seem to have caused more media attention abroad than in France, but for some French outlets, the idea of combining fast food and ancient art is stomach churning. The Parisian Web site "Louvre pour tous" (Louvre for everyone) describes the company's plans to open a restaurant in the prestigious museum as "bad taste" and blamed the Louvre's directors for failing to prevent what could result in "fragrances of fries drifting under Mona Lisa's nose". Marion Benaiteau, spokeswoman for the museum, told CNN it was not their decision and declined to comment further on the issue. The Carrousel du Louvre mall is managed by Unibail-Rodamco, Europe's largest property company, and not the museum itself. The mall, which is situated next to the most visited museum in the world, counts 8.3 million visitors a year and enjoyed a total gross sales of $75 million in 2008. Le Parisien, a daily newspaper described the difference between McDonald's and the Louvre by comparing Ronald McDonald, the restaurant's clown character, to Venus de Milo, the famous ancient Greek statue of Aphrodite, which is on display at the Louvre. McDonald's sees the opening of its new restaurant next to the home of Mona Lisa as nothing out of the ordinary. "There are already many other restaurants in the mall, so we will only be one of the many restaurants that offer visitors their products." said a spokeswoman for McDonald's in France, who declined to be named. "There's even a Starbucks," she added. Museum lovers in France are shocked about the news, but not surprised, one told CNN. "Museums have to offer services like restaurants and boutiques, it's completely normal," Jean-Michel Raingeard, President of the Federation of French Friends of Museums told CNN. What worries him, however, is the choice of shops. "Museum directors seem to care more about the number of people they attract rather than the quality of people. Should a museum be a museum or an amusement park?" asks Jean Michel Raingeard, who is also the European Vice President for The World Federation of Friends of Museums. Criticism, though fierce, has not halted the plans: construction work will start soon and the restaurant should be open "by the end of the year," Mcdonald's said. The menu will also very likely stay the same. "McDonald's functions the same way in all of France, so there will probably be no special menus," the spokeswoman said.

Winter in Paris: A Cool Time To Go Local

By Rick Steves, Tribune Media Services

The City of Light shines year-round, but Paris has a special appeal in winter. Sure, the weather can be cold and rainy (the average high in January is 43 degrees), but if you dress in layers, you'll keep warm and easily deal with temperature changes as you go from cold streets to heated museums and cafes.

Slow down and savor your favorite museums and monuments -- spending one-on-one time with Mona and Venus is worth the extra clothes you had to pack. Attend a cooking demonstration, take a short course in art or architecture, or dabble in a wine-tasting class. Duck into cafes to warm up and enjoy a break from sightseeing or shopping. Get on a first-name basis with the waiter at your corner cafe -- just because now you can.

One of Europe's greatest treats is strolling down the glowing Champs-Elysees in winter. From late November through mid-January, holiday lights adorn city streets, buildings, and monuments, and the Champs-Elysees beams with a dazzling display of lights on the trees that line the long boulevard. The city springs for 1,000 fresh-cut fir trees to put up and decorate around town, 300 of which ring the Rond-Point traffic circle at the lower end of the Champs-Elysees.

Parisians live to window-shop ("faire du leche vitrines" -- literally "window-licking"). Do some licking of your own along the boulevards and view the wild window displays at the grand department stores such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. The seasonal displays in neighborhood boutiques around Sevres-Babylone and in the Marais neighborhood (among other areas) are more intimate and offer a good contrast to the shows of glitz around the department stores.

If the weather is bad, scurry for cover to the shopping arcades called "passages." More than 200 of these covered shopping streets once crisscrossed Paris, providing much-needed shelter from the rain. Galerie Vivienne, a few blocks from the Louvre, is the most refined, and accessible. Passage Choiseul and Passage Ste. Anne, four blocks west of Galerie Vivienne, are fine examples of most Parisian passages, selling used books, paper products, trinkets, and snacks.

It's fun to browse through one of Paris' many English-language bookstores, where you can pick up fiction and nonfiction. My favorite is the friendly Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore in the Marais neighborhood at 22 rue St. Paul. Another is Shakespeare and Company, once a hangout for Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, at 37 rue de la Bucherie, across the river from Notre-Dame.

In winter, several ice-skating rinks open up in festive locations: in front of the Hotel de Ville (look also for a small sled run), at the base of the Montparnasse skyscraper, and in some winters, most spectacular of all -- 200 feet in the air on the first level of the Eiffel Tower. The rinks are free to use (around $7 to rent skates, open from December to March from noon into the evening), though for the Eiffel Tower rink, you have to pay the tower admission, of course.

After ice-skating, why not go for a swim? Aquaboulevard, Paris' best indoor pool/waterslide complex, is easy to reach and a timely escape from the winter scene. It's pricey and steamy, but a fun opportunity to see soaked Parisians at play.

Once you've worked up your appetite, remember that winter is the season for the hunt. In Paris you'll find game birds and venison on restaurant menus. On street corners you'll hear shouts of "Chaud les marrons!" from vendors selling chestnuts roasting on coals. Chocolatiers (including La Maison du Chocolat's five stores) and pastry shops everywhere do a bang-up business during the winter, serving traditional treats such as Epiphany cakes (flaky marzipan cakes called "galette des rois").

One of Paris' great wintertime pleasures is watching the city bustle by while you linger at an outdoor table with a "cafe creme," a "vin chaud" (hot wine), or best, a hot chocolate (simply called "chocolat" and tres popular in winter). Most cafes fire up the braziers to keep things toasty outside. Or head inside. With the new smoking laws, cafe and restaurant interiors are wonderfully free of smoke.

Paris in winter offers so much to do indoors -- museums, restaurants, and stores stay open as usual; the concert and arts season is in full bloom; and Paris belongs to the Parisians. So go local, save money, and skip the museum lines that confront peak-season travelers. There are worse ways to spend a wintry day than enjoying world-class art, architecture, and shopping during the day and lingering over a fine dinner at a cozy corner bistro in the evening. As Cole Porter put it: "I love Paris in the winter, when it drizzles."

French Disney Moment

Pour tous les enfants (poor too layz ahn fahnt) -For all the children

Quick Phrase of the Day - Her Parents Are Hippies

Ses parents sont baba cools (say pah rohnt sohn bah bah kool) -Her parents are hippies

Repeat this phrase all day long till you know it by heart.

Vocabulary breakdown:
ses parents (say pah rohnt) -her parents
sont (sohn) -are
baba cools (bah bah kool) -hippies

My Favorite Johnny Hallyday Song

My Favorite Johnny Hallyday Song

J'aime cette chanson (zehm seht shahn ohn) -I love this song

Ok I've posted this song a long time ago, so it's time to bring it out of the archives. For those not familiar, this is a reeeaaaallly romantic song. Enjoy

un jour viendra tu me dira je t`aime
du bout du coeur mais le dire quand meme
un simple mot et l`aveu d`une larme aux bords tes yeux
feront de moi un homme heureux

un jour viendra tu saura toutes ces choses
qui ont fait ma vie bien plus noire que rose
tu comprendra mes pudeurs et tous ces mots qui me font peurs
que j`ai cach come un voleur

toi, c`est le ciel qui t`a envoy
vers moi pour me rapprendre aimer
et attends, et laisse faire les jours
laisse le temps au temps et a l`amour

un jour viendra tu me dira je t`aime et j`aimerai

un jour viendra tu me dira je t`aime
du bout des yeux mais le dire quand meme
dans le ciel de ton regard lire ton regard est ma victoire
un jour viendra tu m`aimera

toi, c`est la vie qui t`as envoy
vers moi qui n`ai jamais fait que passer
a cot des choses essentiels
par defit pour bruler mes ailes

un jour viendra tu me dira je t`aime et j`aimerai

attend, laisse faire les jours
laisse le temps au temps et l`amour

un jour viendra tu me dira je t`aime et je t`aimerai
je t`aimerai
je t`aimerai...

Le Croissant

Ok, so I'm a little hungry right now(J'ai faim un peu, maintenant-zhay fah uhn puh, mahn teh noe), & one of my favorite desserts (?) is a croissant.

Croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry by layering yeast dough with butter and rolling and folding a few times in succession, then rolling. Making croissants by hand requires skill and patience; a batch of croissants can take several days to complete. However, the development of factory-made, frozen, pre-formed but unbaked dough has made them into a fast food which can be freshly baked by unskilled labor. Indeed, the croissanterie was explicitly a French response to American-style fast food. This innovation, along with the croissant's versatility and distinctive shape, has made it the best-known type of French pastry in much of the world.

I am dying to see if the French croissants are (hopefully) even better than the good ones I've had here in the states.

One Of The Best Places For Retirees

© Digital Vision/Getty Images

According to Forbes.com

France

Surprise: Along with the terrific food and urbane culture, France offers perhaps the friendliest of policies toward American retirees of any European Union nation. Considered most affordable quality health care in the world, plus low taxes for American ex-pats. Paris for wealthy, but Brittany, Normandy and the Dordogne, a short train ride away, are more affordable. Also look at Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Lyon.

Downside: bureaucracy. Getting Internet connection can take weeks.

Anne Dieu-Le-Veut - French Pirate

(this article contains french words, in bold face type, that we have previously learned in other lessons- If you can not remember them, the translations are at the end of this article)

Anne Dieu-Le-Veut also called Marie-Anne or Marianne (born ca 1650) was a French Pirate, a so called Buccaneer, and together with Jaquotte Delahaye one of very few female ones. Her nom means "Anne Gods-wants-it"; as she had a will so strong, that if she wanted quelque chose, it was as if God wanted it.

She was originally one of the women called "Filles de Roi" sent by the French government to Tortuga in Haiti to become wives to the local male colonists, as was a French policy in many other French colonies, such as Louisiana and Quebec, and she is believed to have been a criminal deported from France in this manner, as were many of those women. Her deportation to Tortuga was said to have taken place during the reign of governor Betrand d'Ogeron de la Bouere, which means it must have been in 1665-1668 or 1669-1675. In Tortuga she was married to the buccaneer Pierre Length.

In 1683, Anne's mari was killed in a bar fight by the famous buccaneer Laurens de Graff. She challenged Laurens to a duel to avenge her husbands death (other sources claims she heard him insult her), and while Laurens drew his sword, Anne drew her gun. Laurens then succumbed saying he would not fight a woman; he then proposed to her on the spot in admiration of her courage, and she accepted. In reality, the deux were actually not married, as Laurens already had a femme he had abandoned many years ago, mais they were from this point seen as homme and wife. Others claim this event happened in 1693.

Anne is called a pirate because she accompanied parce que Laurens on his ship and fought on his side during acts of piracy, sharing his work and the command on his ship in the same fashion as Anne Bonny did avec Calico Jack. Unlike Anne Bonny, she did not disguise her sex, and her acts therefore aroused much attention and fascination. She was talked about as brave, stern and ruthless, and it was in ces années that her nom "Anne God-Wants" became known. Usually, it was considered bad luck to have a woman onboard a ship, mais Anne was instead regarded as the bringer of bonne chance.

In 1693, her mari raided Jamaica, and was as a thanks rewarded with the noble title of Chevalier, the position of Major Lieutenant and the commission of Ile-a-Vache, mais the year after, the English took their revenge on Tortuga, and Anne and her deux filles were taken prisoner by the English and kept as hostages for three years. She was said to have been treated with great respect. In 1698 they were reunited with Laurens.

After this, their fates become blurred; some say they became colonists in Mississippi, Alabama or Louisiana, others that they continued their piracy, or at least privateering.

nom (nahm) -name quelque chose (kell kuh showz) -something

mari (mah ree) -husband ces années (sayz ah nay) -these years

deux (doo) -two

femme (fehm) -wife

mais (may) -but

homme (ohm) -man

parce que (parce kuh) -because

avec (ah vehk) -with

bonne chance (bohn shance) -good luck

filles (feel) -daughters

French Film For People Who Hate Subtitles -Cheri

Cheri is a 2009 French/British/German drama film directed by Stephen Frears. Avec Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend, it is an adaptation of the roman by French author Colette. The film premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival. Set in 1900s Belle Époque Paris, Cheri tells the story of la fin of a six-year affair between an aging retired courtesan, Léa, and a flamboyant young man, Fred, nicknamed "Chéri" ("Dear"). Turning stereotypes upside-down, it is Chéri qui wears silk pyjamas and Léa's pearls, and qui is the object of gaze. The two believe their relationship is casual until they are separated by Chéri's marriage, at which point they realize they are in love. They spend a miserable neuf mois apart, at which point Chéri appears at Léa's home. They spend la nuit together and Léa begins to plan their new life together. However, when she learns that Chéri had returned for the moral strength to be a mari, she releases him to return home. The final scene shows Chéri leaving Léa's home to walk down la rue towards his home. Léa returns to her vanity table to gaze at herself in the miroir. The narrator cuts in that after many years Chéri will realize that Léa was the only femme he could ever love, but she was too old for him. Chéri will kill himself after this realization.

Avec (ah vehk) -with roman (roh mahn) -novel la fin (lah feen) -the end
qui (kee) -who neuf mois (nuhf mwah) -9 months la nuit (la nuit) -the night
mari (mah ree) -husband la rue (lah roo) -the street table (tah bluh) -table
miroir (meer wah) -mirror femme (fehm) -woman