Language Lesson : Week 31
December 20, 2009
82. Learn 2 new French words and 1 French idiom a week (27/143) (more info)
83. Learn 2 new ASL signs a week (27/143) (more info)
French Vocab:
cadeau (n. m) – gift : I love my gifts!. – J’aime mes cadeaux!
donner (v – conj)– give: What are you giving him? – Que donnez-vous le?
French Idiom:
à tout allure – at full speed, at top speed
ASL vocab:
gift – Both X hands move in a repeated motion forward. (video)
give –One closed AND-hand moves in a forward motion away from the body. The sign varies from one handed to two depending on the size of the item you are giving. (video)
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A “problem” I have with French is a lot of it I know only verbally, having picked it up by ear from my French-speaking relatives. Taking 2 years of French in college helped “correct” many things (like not realising French used double negatives – in spoken French one usually drops the “”ne” of the “ne .. pas” pair), but obviously not enough, since I could have sworn the idiom for “at full speed, at top speed” was “à tout à l’heure”! Great. So where does one go for lessons in French here in Springfield? :p
I believe “à tout à l’heure” means “see you soon” :) I’m not sure where to go for French lessons… I’ve thought about looking into classes at Lincoln Land to finish my degree in it. I’ll have to find some more info.
I always thought it was “a toute alors” haha… oops. But I knew what it meant because my French teacher used to say it to us all the time.
I would say “qu’est-ce que vous lui donnerez?” …with donner you give something “à” somebody else, so you can change the objet direct into “lui” which then comes before the verb. There’s only a slight difference in pronunciation between allure and à l’heure – the vowels are a little more open, but it’s super close, especially if it’s said quickly. Allure is féminin, so it’d be toute, which would maybe give another hint to the ear because there’s a slightly stronger emphasis on the “t” sound when it’s féminin…although with the liason to the “a” sounds it might not really come through.
There’s an awful lot of different ways to say the same thing and get your point across in French, and I’m hardly a professional, but I thought I’d just chime in with my perspective. Hope that’s okay…
As soon as I read this it clicked. You are completely right! Wow I have a ton of grammer to go back over… not just vocab :)
Thank you!!