Quelques Mots Similaires #8

Number-based expressions

À deux pas d'ici - Nearby

À nous deux - En garde

À quatre pattes - On all fours

À six pieds sous terre - Buried

À un de ces quatre - See you soon (casual)

Attendre cent-sept ans - Waiting forever

Aux quatre coins du monde - All over the world

Avoir deux mains gauches - Being very clumsy

Avoir deux mots à dire à qqun - Having someone to scold

Avoir du mal à joindre les deux bouts - Struggling to earn enough

Avoir la boule à zéro - Being bald/shaved

Avoir le cul entre deux chaises - Not knowing what to do (casual)

Avoir le moral à zéro - Being depressed

Avoir les deux pieds sur terre - Being realistic

Avoir un cheveu sur la langue - Having a lisp

Avoir un poil dans la main - Being lazy

Avoir zéro défaut - Being flawless

Blague à deux balles, f - Crappy joke

Brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts - Spending too much

Ça fait deux - It's incompatible (Moi et les maths, ça fait deux)

C'est reparti comme en quatorze - Here we go again

C'était moins une - It was almost too late

Chercher à midi à quatorze heures - Complicating things

Cinquième roue du carosse, f - Third wheel

Comme pas deux - Better than anyone (casual)

Compter deux par deux - Skip count by twos

Couper la poire en deux - Finding a compromise

Couper les cheveux en quatre - Being very/too meticulous

De deux choses l'une - Here are the options

De mes deux - useless (Voiture de mes deux!)

De première nécessité - Absolutely essential

De seconde main - Secondhand

Deux fois, ça va, trois fois, bonjour les dégâts - It will be a mess

Deux-pièces, m - Two-roomed flat, Bikini

Deux-roues, m - Two-wheeled vehicle

Deux-temps, m - Two-stroke

Dire à qqun ses quatre vérités - Telling smn a few home truths

Dire qqc cent fois - Repeating oneself

Dormir sur ses deux oreilles - Being at peace with oneself

Durer trois plombes - Taking a long time (casual)

En deux coups de cuillère à pot - Very quickly

En deux temps trois mouvements - very quickly

En huit - Of next week (Jeudi en huit)

En quinze - In two weeks

En un mot comme en mille - In a nutshell

Entre les deux mon coeur balance - I don't know what to pick

État second, m - Trance (after medication, drug, illness)

Être à deux doigts de - Being very close to

Être au septième ciel - Being very happy

Être haut-e comme trois pommes - Being little (for a child)

Être plié-e en deux - Laughing very hard

Être tiré-e à quatre épingles - Being very well dressed

Être uni-es comme les doigts de la main - Being very good friends

Faire deux poids deux mesures - Having double standards

Faire d'une pierre deux coups - Killing two birds with one stone

Faire les cent pas - Pacing

Faire les quatre cents coups - Being up to mischief

Faire les trois-huit - Having an eight hour shift

Freiner des quatre fers - Digging in heels

Grand huit, m - Rollercoaster

Jamais deux sans trois - All things come in threes

Je te le donne en mille - You'll never guess

Le mot de cinq lettres - Shit (Merde)

Les deux font la paire - They are two of a kind

Les deux mon capitaine - Both options are reasonable

Les quatre fers en l'air - Flat on the back

Manger comme quatre - Eating a lot

Ménage à trois - Love triangle

Merci mille fois - Thank you so much

Mille-feuilles, m - Cream slice

Mille-pattes, m - Centipede

Mouton à cinq pattes, m - Something exceptional

Ne faire ni une ni deux - Deciding without hesitating

Ne faire qu'un (avec) - Being one with

Ne pas avoir un radis/rond - Being broke (casual)

Ne pas gagner des mille et des cent - Not earning much

Ne pas se le faire dire deux fois - Not having to be told twice

Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins - Going straight to the point

Ne rien savoir faire de ses dix doigts - Being lazy, uncapable

Neuf fois sur dix - Nine times out of ten

Nombre premier, m - Prime number

Paris ne s'est pas fait en un jour - Rome wasn't built in a day

Prendre son courage à deux mains - Plucking up courage

Quatre à quatre - Very quickly

Quatre-heures, m - Snack

Quatre-quarts, m - Pound cake

Recevoir cinq sur cinq - Understanding stg perfectly

Remettre les compteurs à zéro - Starting over

Repartir à zéro - Starting over

Semaine des quatre jeudi, f - The month of Sundays

Se mettre en quatre (pour qqun) - Doing a lot to give a favour

Se mettre sur son trente-et-un - Dressing up to the nines

S'en moquer comme de l'an quarante - Not caring (casual)

Se parler entre quatre z'yeux - Talking face to face

Se ressembler comme deux gouttes d'eau - Looking identical

Se saigner aux quatre veines - Depriving oneself

Tomber sur un os - Hitting a snag

Tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche (avant de parler) - Thinking before speaking

Tous les trente-six du mois - Once in a blue moon

Treize à la douzaine - In large quantities

Trente-trois tours, m - Long-playing record

Troisième âge, m - Senior citizens

Un à la fois - One at a time

Un-e de perdu-e, dix de retrouvé-es - Plenty more fish in the sea

Un homme averti en vaut deux - Forewarned is forearmed

Un jour ou l'autre - Some day

Vingt dieux - Holy crap (casual/old)

Vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre - 24/7

Voir trente-six chandelles - Seeing stars

Y regarder à deux fois - Thinking before making a decision

*Qqun/Quelqu'un - Someone; Qqch/Quelque chose - Something

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French Classical Mythology Vocab

Correct me if anything’s wrong~

mythologie - mythology

une dryade - dryad

une nymphe - nymph

une naïade - naiad

une sirène - siren

un(e) centaure(sse) - centaur

un(e) satyre(sse) - satyre

un faune - faun

les olympiens - the Olympians

un héros - hero

un dieu - god

une déesse - goddess

un demi-dieu - demigod

un mortel - mortal

un monstre - monster

cornes - hornes

une hydre - a hydra

un griffon - griffin

un messager - messenger

une harpe - harp

une légende - legend

le labyrinthe - the labyrinth

céleste - celestial

la prophétie - prophecy

l'aventure - adventure

la mer - sea

un navire - ship

la rivière - river

les bois/forêts - woods/forests

une île - island

la guerre - war

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What to do during lockdown

(and work on your French):

Work on your pronunciation

Read some classics

Read some fanfiction

Listen to podcasts

Listen to TED Talks

Listen to music

Listen to the radio

Watch french movies (detailed, by period and type)

Watch dubbed/subtitled movies: The Simpson, Cesar and Cleopatra, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Red Shoes, La Vérité

Watch cartoons

Watch youtubers

Watch let’s plays: 1 2 3 4 5

Work on some MOOCs

Learn about black holes, Pompei, giant animals, gladiators, the Dreyfus affair, Charles Manson, ants, Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, smelly cheeses, Mozart, the Bermuda triangle, meditation…

Follow french subreddits

Search our social media

Visit the Louvre online

Check my practice tag

And make sure your priorities are in order!

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French Covers of English Songs

I’ve seen posts about French songs and French Disney songs, but there are also lots of French covers of famous songs that are originally sung in English, and I don’t think they’ve been mentioned on tumblr before (within the langblr community at least), so here’s a not-so-comprehensive list I compiled:

Photograph - Ed Sheeran (cover by Kéo)

Hello - Adele (cover by Sara’h)

All of Me - John Legend (cover by Sara’h)

7 Years - Lukas Graham (cover by Chloé Stafler)

Diamonds - Rihanna (cover by Exo)

I Hate You, I Love You - Gnash ft. Olivia O’brien (cover by Sara’h)

See You Again - Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth (cover by Marvin Dupuis)

Chandelier - Sia (cover by Natacha Adréani)

All I Want - Kodaline (cover by Djodie Grz)

All these songs are in French; of course the lyrics aren’t exactly the same but they’re pretty close the originals (well, the ones I’ve heard at least; I’ve yet to check out the entire list… I did hear at least a snippet of each song though).

I wrote the English titles instead of the French ones so that you can easily recognize the songs. Each of these artists has many more French covers so be sure to check out their channels.

Also, I made a PLAYLIST right here where I put all the covers I found (the ones that sounded reasonable at least) and I’ll keep adding to it. Or you could just search Youtube for “french cover songs” or “cover français” and you’ll get a whole bunch of songs and playlists as well. Enjoy ;)

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Hey did you know I keep a google drive folder with linguistics and language books  that I try to update regularly 

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How to easily tell if a word is feminine or masculine in French?

Depending on the word category or it's ending? You can guess whether it is masculine or feminine. However there are exceptions but knowing the strategies will help you identify French nouns gender with about 90% accuracy.

👉Check out my latest post to find out more about these strategies that will help you learn easily French nouns gender. Click here.

If you are also looking to learn French and are having a tight budget, check out our language learnings discounts and deals page, it might be of help.

À bientôt

LEARN FRENCH WITH CHANTY

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Hybrid Note Taking Style

A note taking method that blends the best of paper and digital note taking that I’ve been exploring lately. So far it’s working really well for me :) Hope it helps! 

Hybrid Note Taking Method

Problems with other note taking systems

Each note taking system has its pros and cons. Here are some of the problems I found with (fully) paper and (fully) digital note taking systems.

Paper

Can’t use the search function on your notes.

Can’t add images and other types of digital files easily.

Difficult to keep overview between notebooks.

Can’t share these as easily as digital notes.

Digital

Not as ‘romantic’.

Sometimes less engaging.

Lack of physical presence can lead to you forgetting about it.

Can be more difficult to do things like sketching, making schemes, making illustrations etc.

Benefits of Hybrid

I like using hybrid methods because they bring you the best of both worlds.

Easily searchable.

Information in your notes is traceable.

Makes it easier to find and carry out actions e.g. finding extra info.

Doesn’t damage books.

Allows you to embed different types of files.

What you’ll need

Source material (e.g. book, academic paper)

Any kind of notebook :)

Digital note-taking app → I like Notion (it’s free).

Step 1 - Read & number the material

As you go, use a pencil to lightly put numbers into the margins whenever you deem something worthy of noting down or remembering. This will help you locate the source of specific parts of your notes later.

Step 2 - Write Q&A-style notes

Write the information down in question-and-answer style. Come up with useful questions that link to the material you want to remember (e.g. Q → What is the main problem with using platform-based planning for new ventures? A → Assumptions underlying the plan are used as fact rather than best-guess estimates to be tested and questioned). Use the numbers you placed in the margin of the pages to specify the source of the information you used for each answer.

Example → Chapter 1 page 27 note 3 becomes 1.p27.3

Step 3 - Write actions as you go (Supporting notes)

Supporting notes

Write down your thoughts, anything you’re curious about, things you want to look up, things you’re confused about, actions you’ve been inspired to do, etc. For example → ?m Maybe I can apply this to my visualization assignment? / ! Look up what 'plurality of the future’ is / fex Organizational transformation through design. I find this a great way to support and manage the learning process.

Action key

Keep a small action key in which you have an overview of what your action marks mean (e.g. ?m→ questions to myself, f → find, fex → find example, ?? → I don’t get it, ! → general actions)

Don’t be afraid to customize your actions!

What you’ll get

Actionable notes

Your paper notes will contain a structured and easy to read overview of actionable items that came up during the reading. This can be questions you need answered, reminders to find specific information, etc. This will make them a lot harder to forget to do!

Easily traceable sources

With the codes you’ll be able to tell easily and quickly where the information you’ve written in your notes came from.

Searchable & review-ready notes

Notes will be (mostly) made in question-and-answer style. This will allow you to easily review using active recall. All you need to do is cover/hide the answer and you can check how well you truly know the material.

Thanks for reading!

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Hi I was just wondering if you could give me a few more examples of sarcastic/ironic phrases? Because that's how I speak so often in English that it feels weird to speak a language without my personality (if that makes sense) 💓💓💓

Hello,

You’re opening Pandora’s box here! Here are a few:

When someone has achieved something meaningless: T’es un as, un champion, un génie… Si tu n’existais pas ça, il faudrait t’inventer (If you didn’t exist, we’d have to invent you); C’est pas sorcier (It’s not witchcraft): You don’t need to be a magician to know how to do that,

When someone isn’t too bright: Il n’a pas inventé l’eau chaude/le fil à couper le beurre/la poudre (He hasn’t invented warm water / butterwire / powder), Il n’a pas la lumière à tous les étages (He doesn’t have the light on at every floor),

When someone tells you about something you don’t care about: Ça me fait une belle jambe (It makes my leg look good) ; (Ferme) ta gueule, pour voir? C’est mieux (Let’s see: try to shut the fuck up? (silence) That’s better),

Ce n’est pas demain la veille: It’s not tomorrow the day before (It’s not about to happen) ex: Maybe one day we’ll all live in peace but c’est pas demain la veille,

When someone is being fussy: Tu vas pas en chier une pendule?! (You’re not going to shit a clock, aren’t you?); C’est la fin des haricots! (That’s the end of the beans) : We all gonna die; C’est pas tout mais je vais y aller (That’s not all but i’m going to go): I’m bored to death, I’m off; Pleure, tu pisseras moins (Cry about it, you’ll have less to pee).

When someone gives you unpleasant news: C’est la meilleure de l’année (’it’s the best of the year’): that’s the dumbest/worst thing i’ve ever heard; Tu te fous de ma gueule?: you’re shitting me, 

When someone presses you to go to an event you don’t care for: Ah bah ça serait dommage de rater ça (That’s be a shame to miss that),

- Is that you? - Non, c’est le pape (It’s the pope),

Something called antiphrase ironique, very popular : saying ‘What a great day’ when it’s raining, ‘Fantastic’ when something breaks…,

And many more! All of my expressions posts.

Hope this helps! x 

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this is the (extremely generic and basic) essay framework that i use for most of my papers! keep in mind this doesn’t account for the requirements of specific classes, subjects, or topics/questions at all, but i use it as a general starting point.

other essay masterposts: essay preparation, the 5 paragraph essay, how to research, writing essays when you don’t know where to begin

transcript coming soon!

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