Oh I really like that phrase: "Je vais surement commetre des erreurs"! I am often talking to my family and other people about my progress in French and so that gives me something different to say. Thank you!
I remember learning a form of asking someone to repeat with "plus doucement", which means asking someone to say it more softly, gently, as in more slowly and literally meaning more sweetly.
Votre expression 'Le français n' est pas ma langue maternelle' sont beaucoup plus positive que 'je ne parle pas bien le français'! Merci beaucoup Alex!!
Bonjour, je suis francophone du Québec et je viens de connaître ta chaîne. Paradoxalement tes leçons de français sont parfait pour m'aider à comprendre mieux l'anglais car tu fait une traduction simultanée. Ton accent britannique m'aide aussi car le débit semble plus lent. Merci
@@FrenchinPlainSight He's right Alex. I came to France with no language, to work for English-speaking bosses and clients. Over time, my vocabulary has improved but that's only part of it. I heavily relate to your material and get a lot out of every video. Greetings from Arras.
@@FrenchinPlainSight Also, the workbook link takes me to a general website but it does not help me find your work book. What search terms to use, mate?
@lllordllloyd Hey thanks for the heads up about the link. Here's the right one bit.ly/3qMPU7L Glad you resonate with my videos. That's why I make 'em :). Keep an eye out for more.
I think having these canned phrases ready to go is a great idea, and the ones you suggest are all very useful! I would suggest saying "J'ai pas compris tout" or "J'ai pas tout compris" instead of "J'ai pas compris" unless you're completely lost because, in my experience, they will switch to English (if they speak English) if you say "J'ai pas compris." Another one I find very useful is "Je suis désolé de vous déranger, mais..." and then make whatever request you need to make (of course, you previously said bonjour).
Great input. Thanks David. Many of the expressions can be modified with adverbs, and mix them with others to make even more natural phrases. "J'ai pas tout compris" is the correct construction. :)
Yeah I don't like admitting anything at all, because the minute you show you're struggling, people often think they're helping you by switching to English. It's a failing of mine, but if I really haven't understood everything (often the case) I just let them go on believing that I have, as long as I get the gist. Then I go and practice in private. Of course this is ok as long as I haven't been asked something important and I've missed the key words. On the other hand, if I don't want to speak rapid French,, I've often found it the case that I can't admit to any French at all, since the appeals for 'slowness' are never met. It seems that the French really like to speak at breakneck speed.
@@thedavidguy01 Hi Guy! You should rather say : " je n'ai pas compris " which is correct. If you say "j'ai pas compris ", it's a popular way of talking, but not entirely correct, because you forget the negativ "ne". In the same way, don't say : " j'aime pas " But "je n'aime pas". And à propos (about) the expression : " je suis désolé..." which many French use all the time, i don't like it. This expression exists for about 30 years. It sounds excessive to me. You should rather say: " excusez-moi mais... " For example: " Excusez-moi, mais je ne vous ai pas compris..." instead of: " désolé mais je vous ai pas compris.." 😉
I got an insect bite and had to go to a French chemist to have it checked. I prepared what I wanted to say and it went relatively well, until the chemist ask me something about my reaction to the bite. I think she used the verb 'raye' (which has an accent on the 'e' and in English means 'scratch'. I had no idea what this word was at the time and didn't know how to proceed from there. When I got home, I reflected on this and looked up how to say: "Could you explain your meaning in another way", which in French is: "Pourriez-vous expliquer ce que vous voulez dire d'une autre maniere". This is longer than: "Est-ce que tu peux repeter" but it might help in certain situations where a single key word is not being understood.
i know Im asking randomly but does anyone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid lost my password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me
@Tyson Maddux Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and Im in the hacking process now. Takes quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Je suis francophone du Québec ! Votre façon d'expliquer et de vous exprimer est vraiment super, non seulement pour ceux et celles qui désire bien comprendre et s'exprimer en français mais tout autant pour ceux et celles qui veulent bien parler l'anglais !! Vous êtes très articulé sans être "peteux de broue" comme on dit chez nous !! I dont no how can i translate it in english sorry but vous êtes vraiment intéressant à écouter!! Merci beaucoup! Myriam :)
As an italian with a medium intermediate english level I find your channel so helpful in learning french from scratch! Apparently it fits me watching this first video. Cheers!
Love your channel because it's so practical. I have a suggestion for a video: Eating in a restaurant. I know you've already covered some of this but I'd love for you to delve deeper. Start with how to make reservations, then segue to arriving at the restaurant, what to say if they can't find your reservation. The biggest thing I'd like to hear is how to handle problems while at a restaurant. For example, what if the salad is grainy, like it hasn't been cleaned properly. How do you complain politely? How do you make sure you're aren't billed for it? And if you are billed, how do you dispute the bill? Another thing: It's not just about speaking but understanding the server and the host. Teach us common phrases by the server and host. e.g.: I went to a Paris restaurant and upon arriving was asked to wait at the zinc. Took me a long time to understand this means the bar.
Thanks so much for these! I was sure I knew a few, but it turned out they were in your "The French don't really use these expressions this way anymore" list, so it's good to know the better way to speak. One thing I'm curious about. Years ago, when I was staying with a French family, I asked them, "Que dit le chien? Que'st-ce que dire les oiexeux?" They didn't understand what I meant. They said, ' Rien. Ils disent rien." So I tried to explain saying (in French) that in America, the dogs say, "Woof Woof!" Or "Bow Wow", and birds say "Tweet Tweet" or "Chirp Chirp" So, I guess I'm asking how I could have phrased the question for my host family better?
Brilliant content, clear, very helpful, saving time and YOU ARE THE BEST Alex!!!! Nobody teaches us learners these tricks! Thank you so happy I found your channel.
J'adore vos vidéos, elles sont très utiles et inspirantes, je dis toujours "j'oublie comment dire ..." ou "j'ai oublié comment dire ..." (plus parce que j'aime dire "oublie" and it helps me remember past tense construction), c'est ça quelque chose que les gens disent en France?
Merci beaucoup pour courage, je etudie la francais le troisieme livres. J'habite ici a Brussels. Am enjoying your explanations and finding it easy to understand, I think am completely okay with conversation now hahahah I used to fear to say wrong words or pronouncing badly. You have truly helped me.
Merci pour ton super travail je suis française mais ce que tu fais par passion aide non seulement les non francophones à apprendre nle français mais aussi les non anglophones à apprendre l’anglais j’ai du apprendre le français quand j’étais adolescent quand je suis venue vivre en France le français est maintenant si naturel que je ne me rend plus compte combien cette langue est compliquée, souvent illogique donc ton "c’est quoi ce bordel"? me fait énormément rire thanks for this amazing work see you soon because i’m now your follower i’m so eager to learn how to speak English fluently merci beaucoup à bientôt love from France
Hi. I have moved to Paris a year back and trying to learn French since then. Your videos are really nice and I can totally relate to them. Like in this one where you said that I know it in back of my mind but it just doesn’t come out of the mouth and I end up looking stupid just nodding. Wanted to check do you also take pvt classes on zoom maybe
Hi Sailee, I do offer some private classes. It depends what you're looking for. Please email me at alex@frenchinplainsight.com and give me some more details. I will get back to you.
Salut Alex. Je suis une nouvelle abonnée. Merci énormément pour ces astuces. Très intéressant. Je te souhaites un Joyeux Noël 🎄 et pleins de cadeaux sous le pied de sapin et joyeuses fêtes de fin d’année. Bon continuation..... salut de Brisbane, Australie. 🎄🥰
Hello Alex,your vids are very helpful. Thank you and well done. I was wondering if you wrote TEF exams or can give pointers to folks intending to write same. Thank you!
Bonjour Alex et je vous remercie pour faire cette vidéo en fait toutes les vidéos. Alors, est-ce-que on peut aussi dire, "C'est à dire"? Pardonnez-moi, si j'ai fait des erreurs de la grammaire. Passez une bonne journée!
I love that you brought this up. No language is either entirely easy or hard. It's all relative to: - Your native language. - Your experience with languages. - Whether you're talking about pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary... People tend to make general statements. It makes for easier conversation. I'm learning Danish and I got asked today if it was difficult. I said "I'm sorry, I can't give you a simple answer. Yes in some ways, in others, no." French and English share a lot of vocabulary. You can guess the French form of an English word quite often. In that case, it's easy. But, French has a lot of conjguations where English doesn'r. In this context, we'd say French is really hard. If you're Spanish, you're used to conjugations so the concept is easy but memorising the French ones is hard.... I've thought about this question a lot in 10 years as you can see. Keep going, and just know that it's normal that it's hard. But don't forget to notice when sometimes it's easy :D Tout est relatif dans l'apprentissage d'une langue :D
When you ask these things about not understanding, repeating, slowing down etc., should you apologize first ('Je suis desole...' or even just 'pardon' or 'excusez-moi...'). Or are the French not really big on apologies?
The French appreciate those polite phrases perhaps even more than where I'm from (UK). I just don't recommend apologizing for your level of French. I explain why in this one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vZn6xHuyR-8.html
Bonjour d’abord je veux te remercier pour ta vidéos, ils sont très utile et m’aider beaucoup et deuxièmement j’ai une question, comment puis-je pratiquer ma parole si j’ai personne avec lequel parler qui parle francais
Bonjour. Merci beaucoup de ton commentaire :). Je te conseille de trouver un prof/tuteur de conversation ou un partenaire de langue pour échanger gratuitement, plusieurs fois par semaine, chaque semaine. Je recommande fortement www.italki.com/i/BE6aA6?hl=en-us Grâce à Internet, on peut pratiquer n'importe quelle langue :). Après, si tu veux plus de structure, je pourrais t'aider avec le coaching :)
Salut Cwazy Bella! If you're near a college or university, there may be a French club or "French table" that gets together for conversation where all levels are welcome. They may not be meeting during the pandemic, but there might even be some virtual meetings.
Hi. There are some questions that I want to ask You might find them silly but they are really essential for me. Can we say : comment l'acteur s'appelle ? You said that in everyday life people don't switch between pronouns ( subjects) and verbs when they ask questions so is that correct in writing or in formally writing? What I noticed is that there are tons of ways to ask questions in French language so are all of these ways acceptable? Why do they say :comment ça marche when there is " ça" but they say comment marche l'ordinateur ( for example) ? " ça" came before the verb marche but " l'ordinateur" came after it. Merci J'ai envie de apprendre le français mais je le trouve très difficile.
It's not silly. I totally see why you would feel overwhelmed with this! I think it's a question of "what is completely grammatically correct French and what is everyday spoken French?" In the latter, the French modify stuff, break rules, add stuff, etc. So, "comment l'acteur s'appelle ?" is completely grammatically correct, but in my experience, the French would rather SAY "comment s'appelle l'acteur ?" or even "comment il s'appelle, l'acteur ?" "Comment marche ça ?" is something I would never here. It sounds so strange to me now, after 5 years in the country. I am guessing that you don't live in a French speaking country? Let me say that it's great that you're curious about that. You should stay curious! However, you also need to be pragmatic. This is one subtlety that shouldn't stop you practicing your speaking. There's no way you can learn all the little nuances of spoken French without being around it a lot, either in the country or by simulating it at home. So, I recommend you keep learning, keep speaking YOUR French (Comment marche ça ?) and improve bit by bit :) Tu le trouves très difficile parce que tu passes trop de temps à comprendre les subtilités qui ne te serviront pas à ce stade de ton apprentissage. Note toutes ces choses intéressantes sur lesquelles tu tombes et puis passe à autre chose.
The first year in school I was very bad in french so I got private lessons by a french native speaker. She NEVER spoke a german or english word to me! That is my advice for you here too. Your "french" sounds very british, try to speak smoother and faster and try to increase the modulation of your voice. And if you don´t know a french word try to paraphrase it. That is much more polite that to use an english word. I would hate that as a french. And the most important sentence for you: Voulez vous coucher avec moi ma chérie?
I often said / say a sentence like: Doucement Madame / Monsieur, s'il vous plaît! Je ne suis pas un locuteur natif. With this I can at least let drop a hint that I am not as stupid as my miserable French might suggest.
Hi, "locuteur natif" would sound weird to a French, some might not even understand, be simple, use "je ne suis pas français(e)", it will be perfect! And thanks for trying!