French I: Faire expressions in French (useful list) 

Well, I'm glad you're crying with joy :) Merci! Glad you like it.

French Shivang

French Shivang n Je suis d'accord! je viens de le trouver hier! c'est incroyable!

Merci Dan :) And this is the tip of the iceberg! There is plenty more at www.language-city.com. More "faire" expressions, and many more great lessons completely out of the box.

M loving it so much,will not go for class,can listen to this guy all day 👌👌

Merci Mary! Glad you liked it. And there are even more useful "faire" expressions! Many more :)

Merci, Mauro Nava!

You're very welcome, Derli :)

It is indeed a Southern thing to pronounce "ai" like "é", which makes sense if your teacher was from Toulouse. Merci :)

Merci Poonam!

De rien, Sheeba!

Merci Samantha :)

De rien, Angie!

Bonjour Ocha, I know, schools don't like to teach useful things. I think there are more taboos about languages than in society as a whole. I do have a huge lesson on verlan, but it's in the advanced part of the method that can be purchased on the website at www.language-city.com.

I would say: "Début de quarantaine (early 40's), la quarantaine (not very precise, but the vagueness conveys the idea of mid 40's I would say) for mid 40's, and "la quarantaine bien poussée" for "late 40's.

Un homme de l'age moyen, a middle-aged man is how we would say this in Canada. Very vague and not quite the answer to your question, but it is another option.

I just started :) Take a look!

Bonjour Le Kim, oui! It's slang, but a lot of people would say that instead of "Il fait froid."

Je me brosse les dents :)

Bonjour Lusia. As far as I know, "Je me fais la tête" doesn't mean anything. You might be thinking of another expression that might be close, but different.

I do, but "camion" is one of many coincidence in French & Spanish. We have plenty of words and expressions in common that sound alike :)

True

No, it is not. This is regular French. Yesterday, someone asked me a similar question with the verb "décongeler" (to defrost). Same thing "Je décongèle le congélateur." I know that when I talked to my Canadian friends, I had the tendency to assume they wouldn't know plenty of words that they did know. It was funny... but sometimes, surprisingly, they use different words for very basic random words such as "chaussette" (sock) which they call "bas" ("stocking" for the French).

sorry, I'm not quite getting the point. Are you saying there is an option to say "Je fais décongèler le congélateur." (?)

On this particular sentence, I think you could say both.

Merci, Amani! I am blushing!

There isn't a huge difference between the two. It may depend a bit on whether I say it in a sentence or not. I think some people would even pronounce many "ai" sounds like "é". "J'ai" for instance might be pronounced "gé" or "gè".

Merci M. Morrison :)

Merci Tim :)

Merci Jaber, c'est très gentil :)

Thank you pp c!

Well there you go! Look no further. The course I created lets you see the difference between what they teach you in books and real French from lesson #1 until the very last one :)

Bonjour! Oui, je sais que la plus grande difficulté des étrangers, c'est de comprendre les Français à cause de la variété du vocabulaire et des différents registres de langues (speech registers) utilisés, y compris langage familier et argot (colloquial & slang), beaucoup de petites structures qu'on utilise tous les jours et qui ne sont pas enseignées à l'école, et la grande quantités d'expressions idiomatiques qu'on utilise tous les jours. J'enseigne tout cela dans mon cours en ligne. Vous pouvez louer (rent) l'accès pour 1, 3, 6, 12 ou 24 mois, ou acheter le tout, ou plusieurs parties. Il y a 6 niveaux: French I, II, III, IV, V & Advanced French. You can get $50 off by using promo code 50OFF. Let me know if you have questions, but I truly think I have created the one and only way to fluency outside of immersion. Here is the link: www.language-city.com/shop/?add-to-cart=4396

Merci Mahmoud!

Bonjour Rebecca, de rien! Il y en a beaucoup des expressions comme ça :) Vous avez vu les autres video sur notre chaîne?

Yes I have one ready, it will come out soon :)

Merci, (how would you say I'm looking forward to it- je suis impatiente de voir cela?)

Oui, exact :)

Bonjour Plane of Inertia, well, I think a lot of people learn in different ways, but I think an essential element is self-motivation. If you have self-motivation and an interesting course full of insight, learning becomes a pleasure. Feel free to email me at alex@language-city.com if you have other questions.

Merci Majeda!

For "Nice hairdo", I would say "Belle coiffure". "coiffé" is a past participle, so it really is "well brushed/combed".

Merci, c'est nouveau pour moi

Oui, est Français Authentique et Home Language sont aussi excellents!

De rien, Niño!

Oui, je suis français, de Paris. Il y a plein d'autre videos sur cette chaine. Regardez cette playlist: ru-vid.com/show-UCeGGVbpugxZGDc7dnAtAgQwplaylists

Merci Ilymsafia :)

De rien Maria :)

A ce niveau-là, le français est plus difficile que d'autres langues comme l'espagnol ou l'italien.

I agree :)

Bonjour Plane of Inertia, merci! Oui, to blackmail someone, c'est vraiment "faire chanter quelqu'un". "Way to go!", c'est tellement idiomatique en anglais. "Marche à suivre", c'est complètement différent. Ça ne veut pas dire "way to go!". I think that as disappointing as it may be (my advanced students sometimes say that when they expect a colorful expression), we would just say "Bien!"

Merci Catherine :) C'est un beau compliment.

Bonjour Miss Valerie, merci! Glad you like it! And I would say this list barely covers 50% of faire expressions. Take a look at the rest of the channel! A bientôt.

Merci, Rosa :)

Merci Mustafa :)

You're quite welcome, Ana!

Ana Munford u

De rien, le plaisir est le mien :)

Ha ha! Merci Sriharsha :) There is actually more! You should subscribe to the entire course to see the whole list. Same with useful -ER verbs, reflexive verbs, and plenty more! www.language-city.com.

A vrai dire, je n'avais pas en tête un cours niveau avancé. Les "faire" expressions, on le fait plus au début. Je voulais juste en donner des utiles... et à vrai dire, même à un niveau avancé, je veux généralement enseigner des choses bien précises et pas mal de gens comprennent très bien l'écrit, mais pas l'oral, donc avec des explications en anglais, je suis certain que ce que j'enseigne passe pour tout le monde.

Well they give nice little names to these classes, but they don't know what to teach and how to teach :) I'm glad you like it!

Merci, Megan :)

Thank you Amilton. It should be the goal of anyone making a language method, but apparently not. They all remain theoretical and badly lack imagination. I'm glad you like my videos.

I agree with you. Russian textbooks for learning language from decades ago, ugh.

Je sais, c'est vrai. Je suis en train de créer un cours d'anglais pour francophones, et je me dis que les anglophones devraient le regarder parce qu'il y a plein de choses que je ne leur ai pas enseigné, et qu'ils adoreraient... comme quoi, oui, ça peut marcher dans les deux sens, du moins de la manière dont j'enseigne.

Language City Oh oui un cours d'anglais pour les francophones ce serait pas mal aussi, que ce soit pour les français ou pour les anglais.. Pourriez vous faire une vidéo spéciale sur l'argot / les expressions familières ou toutes ces petites formulations qu'on nous apprend pas pendant nos études.. et qui sont pourtant très utilisées.. ? Ce serait super intéressant !

Oui, je ferai ça. Ça va me prendre du temps, mais quand ça sera fini, ça sera extraordinaire :) Je suis en train d'écrire le 3ème niveau.

Language City Bravo pour votre implication en tous cas .. 😊

C'est un vrai plaisir, et les langues, c'est ma vie.... depuis l'âge de 11 ans!

Lol :) Merci Theavi! It's nice to see excitement for French!

There are several of us working hard to fill that gap :) Merci, Joe!

Merci Neil :) I think that when the subject is interesting, there's no need to put on a show. Glad you like it!

Very true, less is more, helps the essential material stand out.

I didn't know that! Merci pour cette information :)

J'apprends italien aussi. Laissez-moi regarder si ça vient d'italien

Merci, monsieur :)

Thank you for your kind words. It's always nice to hear. There are even more "faire" expressions. This is only the beginning! The rest of it is available in the French IA course at www.language-city.com/our-classes/french/#french-ia-class-registration.

Yes, I noticed that a bit late... I did change it recently :)

De rien, Tomas. Content que ça te plaise :)

Merci Lowzenza. I have been preparing more videos, but it's taking a bit of time, but there will be more :)

Merci beaucoup! It would be great if you did a small video on practicing pronunciation. I cannot get the "u" in la rue...been trying for years!

I have already posted 2 videos on pronunciation, and I am preparing more. Here are the 2: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qzUDFLckscQ.html & ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2hv5n2ntNDM.html

thanks so much!! subbed :)

Right, they don't (over)use "hacer" the way we do. They usually go with other verbs. Overall, keep in mind that those who created French rules wanted the smartest and the elite only to master French, so they intentionally made rules complicated.

It's not phonetic, but french pronounciation of words you are reading actually do stick to a system very closely. Unlike English that is truly not phonetic and doesn't really have any system for pronouncing words you are reading.

Salut Toby, thanks for all the compliments. Well, when I was a kid growing up in Paris, France, I would go over my entire text book and exercise book within the first week before the school year started. I learned everything and did all my exercises (for the school year) in about a week. #1 step is self-motivation. Then, in general, I would say there are 2 major things that all schools and methods lack compared to what I do: pronunciation patterns used by native speakers in a conversation: what sounds come out of 2 words being blended together, such as "Je suis" (Ch'ui), or "Je ne peux pas" pronounced "Ch'compren pas". That's one thing. 2nd thing is that the French (something that applies to most languages) use a huge number of idiomatic expressions as well as colloquial & slang terms that no one teaches. Therefore, most of what is taught in schools and self-study methods is nearly obsolete or irrelevant. I have designed my method based on the way I learned English, gathering all the pieces that I put together on my own, realizing that once you've passed an intermediate level, what is missing? What I just described: pronunciation patterns used by native speakers, and idiomatic expressions, colloquial/slang words & expressions, as well as structures that no book ever teaches and that we use everyday. I have created many lessons on structures used by the French that unfortunately, you won't find anywhere, which makes me think the authors of all these methods just copy what others have done before without bringing anything new. I could go on and on about all this, but I'll give you a couple of examples: "N'avoir qu'à + infinitive": we use it all the time, and no one teaches it. To be mad at someone: "en vouloir à quelqu'un", and there are half a million like these that no one will teach you. That's why most people finish their many years of studying French feeling frustrated. That being said, yes, spending time in France would be awesome, and you will learn for sure. Now once you're in France, don't hesitate to be proactive: ask questions, don't be afraid to make mistakes. That's what I did. I asked Americans: "Do you have another way of saying "to throw up"," and I took notes: "to puke, to spew, to blow chunks, to hurl...", and more. But I kept asking, and I continue to do so :)

+Language City Thank you so much for your detailed response! It is true, it's a shame that we're taught classroom french, as opposed to real French... (actually, what does n'avoir que à + infinitive mean? :p). I have decided I will go to France for 6 months to a year to learn French more fluently. Can I ask though: 1. do you think it's imperative that one doesn't speak their native language AT ALL when abroad while trying to learn another, as it makes learning the language a necessity rather than a desire? 2. I know it's a very variable and difficult question to answer, but how long do you think it'd take (with already an a level/high school level of french, and top of my class) to learn french to fluency; by which I mean, understanding films/newspapers/songs/95% of people/conversations ?

Sorry Toby, I just saw your response just now. I recently wrote a lesson on "n'avoir qu'à + infinitive". It's a structure we use all the time in spoken French, and you will never see a single page on it in any French book. My translation is "Why don't you + verb". Ex: Tu n'aimes pas ma maison? Tu n'as qu'à partir!" = "You don't like my house? Why don't you leave!" Literally "You only have to leave". Keep in mind we pronounce it "T'as qu'à + infinitive".

Merci, Marty :)

That's very nice to hear. I'm glad you like it. Merci!

I recommend Here And Now Institute in Chennai,India 6 month immersion course

I would never go by what Google says. Sometimes, it is so far from the correct translation what it says means nothing. "Je travaille" just means "I work / am working" or "I study / am studying". I would translate "to work out" by "faire du sport". That's what the French would say. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a colloquial way of saying "I work out". The noun "a workout" would be "une séance d'entraînement". To say: "I'm going to work out.", a French speaker would say "Je vais faire du sport" or "Je vais m'entraîner.

French is so interesting - you have a long sentence to say clockwise but faire du sport covers all sorts of sport but I'm guessing there are English equivalents I use never think about.

Merci :)

De rien :)

Merci Sinta!

Merci, Majeda!

Merci, Shazia :)

Bonjour Priscila, it does help to speak Spanish when you try to learn French, doesn't it? At least a little bit. Well, the use of tenses, sentence structures are the very much the same. Even many idiomatic expressions can translate word for word. Spanish is more straightforward in terms of pronunciation. We do combien plenty of sounds together creating new sounds, we drop syllables if not entire words... It's trickier. What makes it hard is that schools and methods never teach all that. People are left to figure it out on their own.

Priscila Marquez-Bourque, je suis anglophone américain et je trouve qu’il existe en français, comparé aux autres langues, « une bouche française » où les lèvres sont tendues et arrondies avec de la tension. En plus, la langue est tenue dans une position rigide dans la bouche avec le bout de la langue positionné contre l’aspect postérieur des dents antérieures. La bouche française est très rigide comparé à la bouche « paresseuse » des Américains. Si on essaie de parler le français et prononcer les sons français avec cette bouche relaxée américaine, on aura toujours un accent américain tandis qu’on parle français. Je dis cela parce que je pense comprendre ce que tu dis en comparant l’espagnol et le français. En espagnol, chaque syllabe est prononcé, mais en français des sons sont coupés. En français, les voyelles sont prononcées de la même manière tout le long du son de la voyelle. En anglais, le ton du voyelle change et s’affaiblit pendant sa prononciation. Je le trouve intéressant de comparer des linguistiques des langues variées. Merci de ta commentaire et merci Alex de tout ce que tu nous enseigne. À+...

No. There are quite a few "mettre" expressions, but not nearly as many as "faire" expressions. Our French IA course covers all the most useful faire expressions, and there is much more than on this video.

De rien, Tricia, the pleasure is mine!

De rien, Tarzan :)

Merci Hilushenka :)