French lesson: asking yes/no questions in French (secrets about questions in French) 

Merci, Miryam :)

Merci Bosco, the pleasure is mine. I do love what I do. I love languages. I think it is the most fascinating and enriching thing in the world :)

De rien. Ce fut un long travail, mais passionnant! Et ça continue, je ne m'arrête pas!

You're quite welcome, Andrea. The pleasure is mine! I'm glad you like these videos.

Merci Aaron. Glad you like it :)

De rien, Hossamn! Le plaisir est le mien :)

Merci, Michael!

Merci Malik. Did you see the other videos on this channel?

Yes almost all Vedio but make on advanced french

There are 3 advanced French videos on this channel. Did you see them?

Yes I watch all

I will put it on my to-do-list :)

Merci Plane of Inertia :) I think you are referring to "la dalle", am I correct? "une dalle" is really a huge container, which can explain why "avoir la dalle" means "to starve".

Merci Professeur, I was under the impression it was a SLAB, or TOMBSTONE, but I'll take your word as the source, being a pupil of the FRENCH LANGUAGE, I would like to get to know how it is thought/formulated, and also how its originated. "en outre" I firmly believe your excellent approach is absolutely correct, first establish the flow of thought, then define the nuance? Speaking french first, this point is to say what is said today, not what was used years ago, this thing we call language, which is a wonderful transfer of energies, or ideas, that can be utilized to improve the quality of LIFE? So I will watch all of your tutorials, and take your experience to heart, and mind, and hopefully "si je traviallez-vous beaucoup?" I will get it right? I have recommended your video to several people, but I encourage you to continue this art of learning language, and look forward to more info?

Je pense que j'explique la différence de manière assez simple. Le problème est qu'en anglais, vous n'avez souvent pas besoin d'utiliser un article devant les noms: I like wine / We need milk, etc... Alors voilà comment j'explique la différence à un anglophone: si vous pouvez ajouter l'article "some" devant un nom, et la phrase reste la même, alors utilisez du/de la/ des. Si la phrase perd son sens ou ne veut plus rien dire avec "some", utilisez le/la/les. Ex: I love (some) milk. (doesn't make sense with "some"): J'adore le lait. Ex: We need (some) milk. = Il nous faut du lait. Vous comprenez? Note: avoir besoin est toujours suivi de "de", no matter what.

I only teach online in a virtual classroom. I do private and small group lessons. Email me at alex@language-city.com.

No tense problems as far as I can see :) Oui, ce qu'on apprend à l'école a beaucoup de limites... Vous semblez déjà bien vous débrouiller!

Funny you're saying that, I have been seriously thinking about it for a while, looked for a native speaker to do it, but even though I talked to English-speakers, none of them knew half of what should be taught in ESL... so I think I will end up doing it myself. I have a few things I need to finish before I can get started. It will take a while though. Then when I am done with that, I will most likely do French for Spanish speakers and English for Spanish speakers. I am currently working with a Spanish teacher to do all this in Spanish for English speakers. This is all fascinating :)

You're quite welcome Valerie. The pleasure is mine :)

French old movies

How dare you criticize this incredible teacher!.........................................He probably speaks much better English than you do!............

Mauro Nava He’s just trying to help...

Sam Silva He has nearly perfect English. What’s the downside to correcting him? If I was saying a word incorrectly, I would want to be told

In American-English, maybe, but in English it is "goatee" with equal flat emphasis on both syllables. No emphasis on the first or second syllable. I'm English, the home of the English language 😉

Merci Robert! Yes, I think there is actually a pretty big gap between the way you read a sentence in French and the way you say those sentences orally. Native speakers don't realize how big the difference is, and they are not even aware that they speak that way. If you ask native speakers about what I teach, many might argue that I shouldn't teach that, and that they don't speak that way, but they do. It is just a fact. Record any random French people for a month, and you will see that everything I teach is very accurate, and I know it helps everyone a great deal. I think it's a bit of a waste of time to learn French the way they teach it in college or in other methods. It's completely theoretical. It's funny you mentioned the word "goatee", I argued with an American friend of mine about the pronunciation of this word. I was always sure that I had heard "goadee", but my friend said the same as you. It's always hard to undo bad habits!

It is probably the same in most languages. I know examples in Japanese and German of "book" vs "spoken". When writing... speaking too, older Americans will complain that Americans are forgetting the "King's English".

Robert Brede yes, goatee pronounced as you say...with a distinct break...

In the video, Alex is (a) pronouncing it with the accent on the first syllable, (b) putting the T at the end of the first syllable, (c) not aspirating the T-so it sounds like "goady." These are all incorrect: The T is always aspirated here (not swallowed) and belongs at the beginning of the second syllable, which is the stronger syllable. So it's like saying "go tea." All English words with the (French-derived) suffix -ee are pronounced with the stress on that final syllable. The vast majority of these words pronounce that suffix as a long E. For example, addressee, amputee, escapee, refugee, trustee. About 10-20%, I would say, pronounce the -ee as a long A: divorcee, fiancée, matinee, puree, negligee, soiree, toupee. These are obviously imported foreign words that were gradually assimilated into English until they were considered no longer foreign. (Whether or not we write the acute accent in the English word is generally a matter of style, but some words (like fiancée) more often than not appear with the accented E.)

Merci Mayling. That's very nice of you. I just love languages. I could do this all day. Wait, I do do this all day :)

Sorry Mayling, I forgot to answer your question: yes, we do offer both private & group lessons. Email me at alex@language-city.com to learn more. We have not completed a specifically business program, but in my opinion, business French should be part of a whole. It is a bit hard to make it stand on its own. It is possible but...

Merci Siva, heureux que ça vous plaise!

I know, isn't it sad that many schools and books seem to focus on the inversion that we never use without ever explaining the difference of speech registers between the 3. They might as well not teach it at all! :)

Merci! Very honestly, there isn't a single way. Different people have different ways that they like, they enjoy and work for them. I think the way I teach is overall the best: it's a combination of simple straightforward explanations to rule, a gradual acquisition of vocabulary used by the French themselves everyday (unlike what's taught in books), the many idiomatic expressions & phrases, all combined in a course. It's truly what you would've learned in immersion in about 10 years with me by your side 24/7.

You're quite welcome, Mary :) So many people think the inversion is the way to go while we pretty much don't use it! Now you know :)

Ha ha :) I know, I agree. I mean, it's either that they don't know the difference, or they don't care, or maybe they just don't realize the difference it makes to know that. I think many teachers don't think about it and don't think it matters...

De rien , monsieur!

Oui, Adiel, precisely. I've been asked this question a lot, and I know it may seem counter intuitive, but yes, the "on" means "we", so we have the past participle agree accordingly.

No. It's a different "study" for us in French. We would say "Je fais des études d'ingénieur, d'histoire..."

Excellent. Thanks for the speedy reply.

De rien Darnella :)

De rien, John!

Merci, Candolad :)

rattikan saelim t

Thank you very much very interesting and helpful God bless

I know, it would be nice :) Well, I mean, you can use it, but very very few people will.

Bonjour Kimberly, I think a native French speak would rephrase it a bit most of the time, and say something like :"J'ai passé 5 mois dans une école en Angleterre" or "Je suis allé en Angleterre pendant cinq mois pour mes études". You'll notice that the French who speak broken English will talk a lot about their "studies" (translated literally from French). Now to answer your 2nd question, you would use "est-ce que" or "subject verb" for informal writing. That's what we all do when texting.

I know, and that's why I'm always a bit perplex when someone tells me he has a B1 or B2 level... It doesn't mean much to me. Language schools don't prepare people for real life experience. In other words, they just don't know how to teach languages. Merci!

Bonjour Aaron, merci! That's very nice :) Well, I would say this is just a small drop compared to the entire French course that I have developed to allow people to become completely fluent. If you like these videos, the rest is even better. People can purchase the whole course or part of it, or they can subscribe to the whole course for $19.95/month. I'm very proud of this course. I think it is an absolute thing of beauty :) www.language-city.com/product/subscriptions-french-ii-iii-iv-v-advanced-french/

Merci Eve :) It's always nice and encouraging to get this kind of feedback! I'll do my best to add more. I know how the French are. They won't let you use your French, they'll speak English to you every chance they get. the secret might be to get away from Paris...

Merci! You're quite welcome! I was in San Diego just last weekend. I love that city! A bientôt et profitez bien de la France!

Merci Shervin :) I know, I noticed it myself. What made me feel good is that I asked a native speaker: "What's the noun that matches the verb "to pronounce", and he "answered "pronounciation". Not that it's an excuse to make mistakes, but it did make me feel good that even a native speaker got that one wrong :)

They are from latin, in latin it's clear which gender, but in french it isn't

Bonjour Klingburger! I'm glad this helps! Are you in Montreal? How is Quebec? I heard it's phenomenal.

Merci, C Emmett!

Merci! No, I'm not on Patreon.

@@LanguageCity OK fine, please let me know whenever you are running classes or any other endeavor I can support or subscribe to. These lessons are so good, and delivered which such detail.and genuine enthusiasm for the subject!

@@nspr9721 Oh I have an entire course that's just phenomenal in which I managed to gather every single piece of information you would have learned with me by your side, in immersion, for about 10 years. IT contains 90 hours of priceless video lessons, 30 hours of listening comprehension exercises, and nearly 200 written exercises, and more. I'd be happy to show you the course! Book a Zoom call with me @ www.language-city.com/apply.

OK cool. Done! Speak soon!!!

You only add that "t" on the inversion when asking questions. There is no contraction or letter to add for "elle".

As strange as it may sound, I can't always tell accents from one region to another in France with too much accuracy. I know I have a Paris "accent" because I grew up in Paris, but I've met people from Martinique who didn't have a different accent from mine. I can't tell someone from Normandy or Brittany. They have their own expressions, but in terms of accent, I can't tell... I can tell someone from the south of France, the north, from Belgium or Switzerland, and of course, from Canada.

De rien, Jenny :)

Merci, Renee :)

Merci Aman! Yes I do. And these videos are only the tip of the iceberg. I think all the rest of the curriculum is even better. Email me at alex@language-city.com. I will tell you all your options.

Regarding the double placement of adjectives, I think most books and methods overdo it and create differences that the French would not see or hear. It makes French more complicated than necessary. Your example is a good example of what I just said. In your example, I don't hear "odd" because it is placed before the noun. The adjective "odd" is "bizarre" or possibly "étrange", period. What you said about "plus" is correct. Regarding the use of "tu" vs "vous", it can be a very awkward transition, even for the French. You're supposed to know/feel when it is right or appropriate to switch to "tu", but if you go for it without asking permission, you run the risk of being told off. It has happened to me at least 2 or 3 times in my life. Very awkward. It's best to just ask.

Thank you so much for your thought-out reply! Just to clarify, would I pronounce the s on 'plus de' and 'non plus' but not 'ne..plus' or is the wrong way around?

I did understand, and you are correct :)

Merci Ali :)

Are you referring to one of my sentences in particular? It really depends on context and possibly regional English? I would need a bit more of a context.

"He is in." - meaning: he is present; he is there (so, you can go and speak with him.) "Is he in?" Is he there? Is he present? (in his office, in a bar, in a pub, in a house etc.). I am not sure how much is this expression idiomatic - but this is how one of the possible meanings of 'lá' has been explained to me (apart from the basic meaning of there). Might be that this ("to be in") isn't quite used in American English. But in this context the expression sounds like a good translation. Thanks for your reaction.

Oui, in that case, I totally agree.

Merci, Ana :) Have you seen my other videos?

Merci, Rorick :)

Merci, Gigi :) Tu as vu les autres leçons?

Oui, je vais continuer à regarder les autres leçons. C'est très utile pour moi!

"J'ai appris le français en fac dans les années soixante-dix." "la fac" is short for "la faculté", which is our public university system. A lot of people would naturally use that word.

Language City 19k views and 80+ comments and you provide timely great response. tres gentils! I am a fan!! xx

Well, it's not that much when you think of it! I am still way behind Rihanna :)

Language City courage!

You're quite welcome :)

De rien, Udeshi

Merci, Aisling :)

Ha ha! Glad you finally found it :) It's funny, other people in Belgium bought the course and loved it. I always expect people who go or live in France, but there are quite a few English-speakers in Belgium too! So, no, but it usually gives away the fact that you're not a native speaker. We don't always skip those "e" 100% of the time. I would say 10 to 20% of the time, people sometimes choose to pronounce them. But that's about it :)