I have a project in my French class where we’re doing a report on a historical figure. I chose the Marquis de Lafayette.

His full name is: Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette.

Obviously Marquis de La Fayette is his noble title. I assume Motier is some location or family name as du means “of”, I think. But which of the other names would be considered his first and last names?

Also is it La Fayette or Lafayette? The presentation is supposed to be entirely in French, if that matters.

What nicknames can be used by a parent to a child and siblings to each other (for the siblings it can be slightly mean but nothing that can be considered a swear)

Now we know ese in Spanish means pal, bro etc and is used to emphasise.

How are you ese? Where’s the address at, ese?

Akin to English What’s for lunch, bro?

What might be a good French equivalent for this emphasis? I know neither oui nor frère cut it.

Merci beaucoup!

Mon fils a un an et demi et je veux lui lire plus de livres en français à l’heure du coucher. On a des suggestions des livres bien connus en France chez les bambins?

Can I say "il faut assumer" when what to be assumed is a good thing?

Merci!

Hello ! Natif ici, mais j'ai une petite enquête à vous soumettre.

En "français standard", les repas sont, dans l'ordre, le petit déjeuner, le déjeuner et le dîner (éventuellement un goûter au milieu).

Mais vous savez peut-être que, dans pratiquement toute la francophonie en-dehors de la France (Canada, Belgique, Suisse…), on parlerait de déjeuner, de dîner et de souper. C'est d'ailleurs ce qu'on disait en France auparavant, et qu'on retrouve encore plus ou moins dans certains dialectes. Ma grand-mère (française) parle par exemple du "midi" et du "souper". Selon le Larousse, ce dernier mot désignerait aujourd'hui (en France) un dîner pris tard le soir, plus typique des milieux aisés.

Quant à moi… je dis "déjeuner, repas de midi, (goûter) et repas du soir".

Bref, les termes français pour les repas sont très instables, et il est intéressant qu'ici le "français parisien" soit à contrepied de… toutes les autres variétés du français.

Ce qui m'intéresserait donc de savoir, c'est ce que vous dites vous, et si vous avez des histoires avec ces termes (des proches ou des connaissances qui en ont un usage unique, des termes différents, une confusion que ça a provoqué un jour…). Merci d'avance. :D

Hello, I'm currently thinking about this and could not get a proper resolution. At the school that I work at, coordination sent me a link for an evaluation, for the students who did not achieve the minimum grade. In this context, I'd say "Évaluation de Rattrapage", but he wrote "Évaluation de la Récupération", which seems odd to me.
What do you recommend, what's more usual?

I recently saw the name Betbeze when searching family history and wondered how do you pronounce it? Is it bet bees, bet bee zee, bet bee zay? Any help would be appreciated.

I have started learning French in a month ago. With the help of Duolingo, I have built a beginner vocabulary of 300 words. Realising that Duolingo is not going to give me a firm grammatical base for my French, I have researched French textbooks. i choose Alter Ego + because of its excellent listening exercises and because it is to guide me up to C1 level.

I am about to start the book and I am looking for partners, or an online community that has some French learners who also study the Alter Ego + series. (An online community would be ideal having rooms dedicated to units where you can share your solution, ask questions and eventually talk ro people on the same level of French).

If there is nothing like this, I am open to suggestions how I can organise my learning having more and more interactions with others.

I'm tryna tell my hubby's relatives in France that my MOM is sir crazy and she always stalks me on Facebook and in real life e.t.c. I'm also tryna describe that she is sir crazy w/o being funny OR clinical. How do I say that on France c'est?

I'm talking about this show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhLiqWFQOSk

1. I think the French dub for this show has metropolitan accents, even though the French voice actors are Canadian. Could you confirm whether this is true?

2. If it is true, why don't these actors have a Quebec accent? Are they just really good at faking an accent?

hi all, bit rusty on my french so this may be a silly question. in passé composé, all reflexive verbs take être as their auxiliary verb. however, in french you can sort of turn any verb into a reflexive verb if you wish eg. on se parle. so, i was wondering, if you turn a verb which normally takes avoir as an auxiliary verb into a reflexive verb, will it still take avoir in the passé composé, or change to être as it's now reflexive? thanks!

A la “John Doe” in English?

Clearly neither is a tasty way to order a steak, but am I correct in thinking that "bien cuit" means "well done" and "bien cuisiné" would mean "prepared to a high standard"?

Ages ago I was asked by a cook in a school cafeteria how I would like my steak, and wanting it well done but knowing that French steaks are about one level rarer than British ones, I asked for it "très bien cuisiné, svp."

That greatly amused him and I've often wondered exactly why. I knew at the time I'd used the wrong word, and guessed then that I'd asked him to prepare it to a very high standard as opposed to cook it for a long time. That would be pretty funny - particularly in a school cafeteria.

However, I've always wondered if that's a correct translation or if he was perhaps just laughing because I always got him to ruin the steak by asking for it to be incinerated to the point it was off the chart of French rareness.

Can someone please put me out of my misery and explain the joke?

In French, is "et" a compulsory word when coordinating things?

For example, un chat, une souris, et un chine; Paul, Frank, et Bob.

How do native speakers feel about the following: acceptable, partly acceptable, or not acceptable at all?

1. un chat, et une souris, et un chine; Paul, et Frank, et Bob
2. un chat, une souris, un chine; Paul, Frank, Bob
3. （and how do you feel about this） et un chat, et une sours, et un chine
4. (no et version) un chat, une souris, un chine

I've been reading all of the articles that I can find on the usage of French articles and gendered nouns, but I've seen very little in the way of articles that specifically address the gendering of proper nouns in relation to the names of buildings.

I'm writing a historical fiction book set in mid-1700s France, and I want to make sure that I am authentic as possible by not completely screwing up the titles of specific buildings (such as Château de X, Hôtel des X, Palais du X, Université de X, etc.) by using the wrong articles.

Any help and advice that could be given to me would be very much appreciated! 💖

Basically, when did you start feeling you could make decent sentences in French using a wide variety of vocabulary and also be able go decipher other people speak? What was your approach to improving these two aspects?

Hi everyone!

I’m currently learning French and looking to strengthen my understanding of grammar. While I’ve found a few resources online, I’d really love a solid grammar book that’s clear, easy to follow, and packed with practical examples.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

• Comprehensive yet beginner-friendly explanations.
• Plenty of exercises for practice.
• Real-life examples to help with daily conversations.

If you’ve used a grammar book that worked wonders for you, I’d love to hear about it! Feel free to share your recommendations, and let me know why you found it helpful.

Merci beaucoup d'avance!

I have tried adding a French keyboard but that has all the letters in the wrong places. And it keeps changing to French without me pressing the appropriate key combination.

I would simply like to press, for example alt gr + e to get an e-grave.

J’assemble un list des chansons francais de Noël. Est-ce que les “albums” de les chanson traditionelles?

I saw that the main translation was "kidnapper" but I'm not sure how widely accepted the word is considering that it is a clear anglicism, I also saw the alternatives "enlever" and "ravir" but I'm not sure how common they are either. I'm mostly talking about metropolitan french, as that's the variety that I'm learning. Thanks in advance!!

Bonjour, I want to try to get into a foreign exchange program, the entrance process has two stages, the first one you can skip, if you have the DELF B1 certificate. So of course, I want to get the certificate before the start of the entrance process, but there's a slight problem:

The only available date for the DELF exam is 7 days before you have to submit your application, so if the exam isn't graded before it would be pointless to take it.

I don't know what to do, the reservation for the DELF exam open in like 9 days...so I'm asking if anyone has experience with how long it took for theirs exams to get grated? Thank y'all in advance for any responses!

(One last thing, sorry for my english, it's not my first laguage)

Hello Everyone,
I have recently cleared my TCF Canada Exam and DALF C1. I have been wanting to teach this language and help everyone pass it; however, I am not sure how to get started in Canada to become a teacher in French. Can someone let me know the steps and any certifications that I need in order to become one? I also thought of doing my own something but it is difficult to get students even with minimal fees ($10 per hour) since I have 0 experience. Any guidance would be appreciated.

I know I didn’t do super great so I’m not sure if I’m going there just to find out I failed - I don’t want to get my hopes up.

i tried a couple times to type this question into google but it keeps returning stuff that suggests my original answer was right. (or random french quizlet sets)

is duolingo just wrong or is this some specific structure? is the same true with other verbs?

ex: je mange du cereal toujours // je mange toujours du cereal

what if the sentance was negative?

ex: je ne mange pas toujours du cereal // je ne mange pas du cereal toujours

OR: je ne mange toujours pas du cereal ???

hi guys :)

i'm canadian and i have been learning (canadian) french my entire life. after graduating high school, i fell out of practice somewhat, but would still consider myself decently knowledgeable on the language,

my boyfriend is taking a university level, elementary french course. his teacher is a native french speaker (from france, he thinks, but i dont think he would be able to tell. in any case, she's not canadian). i have found the course a bit weird-- for example, they're not even learning every way to conjugate être and avoir in present tense-- but ive had no reason to doubt its contents until he asked me to help decipher the phrase "Tu es né le combien?" ive literally never heard this before and guessed it was a weird way of perhaps asking if someone was the first/second/etc. born. he asked his prof today, and she said it was how you asked for someone's birthday.

is this phrase ever used where you're from? ive only ever heard "quelle est votre date de naissance?" or "c'est quand ton anniversaire?" and similar, so i imagine those would be better to teach beginners, but maybe im totally wrong. the phrase sounds very strange to me, almost like a complete mistranslation, so im interested to hear if/where it's commonly used!

edit: thanks everyone!! it appears its another france/canada difference :) should have known haha

"Des voitures ont été brûlées"
And what would be the complement object of this sentence it's got one?

What is the rule for pronouncing "ll" as "l" or "y" when it is followed by vowels? I read it once, but now I can't remember. update - yes, I meant ILL preceded by vowels, etc.

I'm having a hard time finding a construction that sounds natural for asking "on which day".

For example, if I wanted to ask "On which days will you be gone for vacation?" Or "On which days does the course begin and end?" Specifically I'm confused about which preposition to use (sur/à/nothing) Would I say:

"Sur quels jours est-ce que vous partirez en vacances?" - I feel like here I'm only asking for the departure date, when in fact I want to know the full timeframe that they will be gone

"Quels jours est-ce que le cours va commencer et terminer?" - I'm a bit more confident about this one but you never know.