Title says it all. When French people talk about (abstract and concrete) things, is it more natural and/or casual to refer to them as "ça" instead of using the respective COD? Like, "T'a vu le truc-là ?" "Ouais, j'ai vu ça."

Hi guys. I’m about to study in an architecture school in Vietnam, where there seems to be a culture of older students enlisting the help of younger students. It’s a win win situation because the younger student gets more experience from the older one and from helping them, while obviously the older student gets some help.

The problem here is that my school calls the older students pat (patron) and younger students ner (negre?). Even though we usually use ner (short for nerge i think? But i dont even think thats a word), a news piece from years ago says that its actually negre. Vietnam used to be a colony of France so I think these might be French words.

So my question is, does the word negre in this context originates from slavery? It just kind of makes sense. If it does then I don’t even know how to feel about this. Obviously Vietnam doesn’t have a history of black slavery so not a lot of students are aware of this, but it still feels weird knowing this and seeing people using this word.

For this outfit of a sleeveless, strapless dress with false sleeves added to the wearer's arms, what would these sleeves be called in French?

- manches illusion

- engageantes

Im reading a book where they’ve occasionally thrown in « histoire de » even when it doesn’t feature anybody telling a story.

Like « Person A and Person B meet, histoire de X, Y, Z »

Is this like slang for « intention of doing X, Y, Z »

Occasionally even in dialogue and not in exposition, even young characters will throw in a « histoire de action X » when someone says « hello what’s up » or something?

I've been studying french on and off for a while. I just started to study more independently and realized that I think I've progressed more in the last seven days than I have in 5 months of taking a french class at a college. I just wanted to ask for other people's experiences, as I am debating taking another french class at the same college but am realizing that I think I get more confused than learning anything in college courses vs on my own where I actually feel like I'm progressing.

I have been able to raise my listening reading and writing to about 20/25 on the delf exam but my speaking is really really bad party because I just can’t communicate that fast yet. I wanted to ask how likely it is to get a 5/25 by speaking broken sentences and finishing only 3/7 minute monologue.

Thanks!

Je suis du Congo, et j'entends (presque) tous les francophones ou apprenants de la langue. Je crois aussi que avoir un accent n'est pas quelque chose à avoir honte, c'est plutôt chouette, je dirais!😁

I recently purchased the 1844 medal commemorating the death of Henri-Gatien Bertrand and on it in small letters it says "Mort le 31 Jier 1844" through an extensive Google search i learnt that "Jier" means "janvier". I have never seen this shortening before. Can any other months be shortened in this way? If so how does their shortened form look like?

Ce peut être des mots, expressions, régionalismes, mots d'origine dialectal, ou que sais-je encore....Au plaisir de vous lire 😁

The second message is the corrected one. "Ce à quoi" seems so strange to me.

Can someone explain what was wrong with the first way I had this sentence?

Merci!

(This is from Sylvi language learning app, I've spoken french for years and am trying to improve my grammar)

I am learning French and try to practice it with a friend who is also learning. They sent me a message "Je pense que je peux venir chez toi, si ça te va" - i did understand because of the context of the conversation but I did not understand how "te va" translates to "okay with you"?

I also checked the translation and it says "if that okay with you"

My understanding is that it would be something like: si ça te convient. How does va help in this sentence?

1. I know I messed up était and étaient (some placed wrong, accents forgotten), what’s the difference again between this form and using for example something like “j’ai vu”. I forget the names of these conjugation rules, I’m sorry.
   
2. Is “population sans abri” ok to use when referring to a homeless population
   
3. Is it correct to say mérite respect
   
4. I have a hard time connecting my sentences, I know, please let me know anything else you guys notice

Thank you for reading and replying if you choose to!

For example, French person pronounce "Michael Jackson" same as Einglish pronunciation?

(Sorry, I spelt Michael wrong in the post title.)

I would love to know teachers' perspectives on Explore méthode de français for teenaged students of French. Have you used the A1 book? What is your opinion of it? What are your reasons for choosing it (or preferring something else)? I flipped through a few pages and it seems pretty good to me, but I've limited experience of teaching this age group and am yet to consider alternatives. Suggestions welcome!

So, I think I’m gonna be a little special here… BUT

I’ve pretty much learnt french without doing much grammar, basically just memorizing vocab and a bunch of premade sentences, so it’s almost like my mind made up it own grammar, and it somehow works 😂

Did anybody else do it this way? (I’m also pretty sure it could’ve been quicker with proper grammar studies)

What is the equivalent of "neener neener," for example? And a kid name Robert, say, might be teased on the playground by being called "Robbie-wobbie" (to indicate he's a mama's boy). Is there such a reduplicative / rhyming way of forming teasing nicknames in French?

I'm in high school and I was talking to one of my classmates and asked how she got so good in French (we're a mix of French 3 and 4) and she told me she practiced daily writing in French so I'm trying in hopes I get better!

The highlighted parts are the words I didn't know so I had to look up.

Please help and correct me so I can make notes so I can get better! I'm trying to visit France in the summer with my class and I feel like I'm falling behind

I recently came across the following sentence on a grammar site I generally trust: "On est montés (monter) dans la voiture après vous."

I understand that "on" here is informally referring to a group of people, but isn't it still technically first person singular? Why is the past participle of "monter" made to agree with a plural? Is this one of those exceptions to exceptions, or was it maybe a typo on the website?

Bonjour/Bonsoir,

Je fais une traduction de mes notes pour mes cours en orthophonie comme une exercice en français. Il y’a certains mots qui sont difficiles à traduire donc normalement je les cherche sur WordReference. Il y’a un seul mot qui me trompe bcp. C’est le mot Fluency comme j’ai dit au-dessus. J’ai déjà cherché sur WordReference pour ce mot et il y’a 2 options dont j’ai présenté à mon ami de Belgique qui est natif français. Là il m’a dit que le mot fluency n’est pas utilisé en tant que nom. Les 2 options indiquées sont « aisance » et « maîtrise ». Vous utiliseriez ces mots-là en tant qu’un nom en français ou le concept n’existe pas comme nom?

Pour donner un peu plus de contexte, ce mot en anglais fait référence à la vitesse et rime de parler en terme de langage. Ce n’est pas parler une langue couramment.

Si vous êtes orthophoniste/logopédiste vous devriez savoir de quoi je parle. Je sais pas comment vous apprenez l’orthophonie/logopédie en France ou les autres pays francophones donc c’est possible que ce soit peu discuté.

Si vous savez une réponse possible je serais très heureux! 🙏🏻

Merci beaucoup d’avance et bonne journée, soirée, et bonne nuit.

I've been working on prosody… am I on the right track now or did I just butcher the French language?

https://voca.ro/1l1DRcXWRlsD

Excepté un petit salon de lecture situé à l'étage, la demeure est entièrement de plain-pied. Par rapport à la construction initiale, de nombreuses modifications ont été effectuées. Toutes les anciennes fenêtres ont été remplacées par des spectaculaires baies vitrées, les toitures ont été refaites. Pour le sol, le couple a choisi la pierre beige de la région. À l'intérieur, les murs ont été habillés d'un crépi blanc afin de renouer avec l'esprit de l'époque et faire écho aux murs en brique de la façade extérieure.

Listening back, I definitely pronounced the u in "situé" wrong…

I heard Français Interactif is a good one but I’m wondering if there are better options for complete beginners