du jour

What does it take to make your day... Français?

I'm not in France or a French-speaking country so I cannot easily absorb French through ma vie au quotidien. The French that's available to me is limited. There's one channel on la télé that leaves me saying "huh?" after the first five minutes. Weekly rentals at my local library of les disques vidéos has me currently at letter "F". That translates to 4 movies.

And les livres? Well I'm on page three of understanding Coke en Stock. I actually don't know what the title means. Looking it up online at WordRef and piecing it together gets me "cocaine in stock". I am definitely misunderstanding this aventure de Tintin.

Clearly, I have to make a quotidian if not herculean effort in addition to my homework to make the quantum leap in French. The following sites help - of course the trick is to visit them tous les jours!

Mot du jour Word of the Day
or if you prefer: un mot par jour A Word per Day

La Leçon du jour Today's Lesson

La Citation du jour Daily Quote

Une lettre d'information journalière française Daily French Newsletter

Un blog par jour A Blog per Day

Photographies quotidiennes Daily photos of places in France for la inspiration Arradon, Bastia, Cherbourg-Octeville, Paris, Rouen


du jour (actuel) current; aliment (fresh)
ma vie au quotidien my daily life
la télé television
le disque vidéo digital video disk (dvd)
le livre book
aventure de Tintin adventure of Tintin (comics)
tous les jours every day, daily; everyday, each day

La photo: Warehouse à Chicago en 1990

Play!

Le theme de cette semaine le site d'IllustrationFriday est "play". Of course the interpretation of the word "play" is left open to the imagination. Je choisis de jouer!

Prêt à jouer? Ready to play?
les jeux informatiques français French computer games

jeu de société board games

jeu de mots word games
mots-croisés, bourreau et les mots cachés
crossword puzzles, hangman and word search

écoutez et jouez listen and play the Frenchpodclass Game 55


Le theme de cette semaine le site d'IllustrationFriday est
The theme of this week on the website IllustrationFriday is

Je choisis de jouer I choose to play!

Le dessin: made with the help of one of Jean Tinguely's drawing machines, Tinguely Museum à Basel, en Suisse. Août 2005.

What it takes to be a man

Quelle est la différence?

He's kind and so is she. To the French: il est gentil et elle est gentille.
They are both beautiful and happy. In France: Il est beau et heureux et elle est belle et heureuse.
She's quite patient - but he?

elle, americaine: tu es impatiente!
il, française: impatient (masc.), impatiente (fem.), l'impatience
elle: you have the impatience of a woman then!
il - he smiles and chuckles. Apparently he also has a bon sens de l'humour.

It's not only the "le" that "makes a man". As with nouns, so with adjectives: the ending separates the femmes from the hommes.

Vive la différence?

Quelle est la différence? What's the difference?
bon sens de l'humour a good sense of humor
Vive la différence! Long live the difference

La photo: on the grounds of Real Alcázar (Plaza del Triunfo) à Seville en Espagne. Janvier 2006