Archive for category French
French foibles #5: I’ll have the same thing as her
photo credit: jekert gwapo
Let’s pretend that you’re in a restaurant and you cannot pronounce the menu item. Let’s pretend that your colleague has good taste and you always like what she has. AND she can speak French. Well, then, “I’ll have the same thing as her.” is quite helpful.
Thank GOD you have good taste, Kate.
FRENCH: Je prend la même chose.
French Foibles #4: Let’s see…
As I was away on holidays for a few days, I’m a little bit lax on deadlines and due dates. So appropriately, “Let’s see.”
FRENCH: voyons voir
French Foibles #3: See you later
Ok, this isn’t horribly inspired, but I mean, we had two days of thoughtful lessons. Today’s phrase is a useful bit of social conversation. How to say “See you later.”
FRENCH: A tout.
French foibles #2: Can I try this on?
I often forget I can’t speak French. Like I’m in a store and I turn to the kind sales representative and I start to say “Hi, I’d like to try this on.” Typically, I start with “Bonjour, je…. eh, ummm….” and then some wild gesturing with the hanger. Typically, they show me a room. Sometimes, they say “sure, how many items” in English, which only makes me feel worse.
In honor of that, today’s French phrase is… “Can I try this on?”
FRENCH: Est-ce que je peux essayer ca?
French foibles #1: Another coffee, please
Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/omarmk/
I cannot speak French. It’s cool. I can’t.
However, I’m going to learn one new phrase each day this month. We begin with “Another coffee, please.” This will be a highly useful phrase for me.
FRENCH: Un autre café, s’il vous plaît.
I’ll practice saying it out loud and embed the audio. We’ll have a *real* French speaker grade me at the end of the week.