82.

Conjunctions / Connecting Words

auparavant before de même similarly par exemple for example

d'abord first en/de plus moreover pour / afin de in order to

par contre / en on the

ensuite / puis then d'ailleurs besides
revanche contrary

on the other
plus tard later plutôt rather d'autre part
hand

après after surtout especially au moins at least

malgré / en dépit
alors so quand même anyway in spite of
de

ainsi thus au fait by the way sauf except

cependant /
donc therefore en fait actually however / yet
pourtant

finalement /
finally c'est-à-dire that is to say même si even if
enfin

quand / en d'autres in other

when par conséquent Consequently
lorsque termes words

aussitôt / dès c'est pour ça

as soon as that's why comme si as though
que que

tant que as long as parce que because néanmoins Nevertheless

depuis since car for / because en outre Furthermore

puisque /
bien que although since en conclusion in conclusion
comme

alors / tandis while / in brief / in

à cause de because of en bref
que whereas short
Idiomatic Expressions with Tout

en tout cas in any case

tout le monde everyone

tout de suite right away

de toute façon anyway

tout à fait completely

toutes sortes de all kinds of

pas du tout not at all

malgré tout in spite of it all

tout à l'heure in a little while

Acronyms

Agence Nationale de l'Accueil des Etrangers et

ANAEM PC Parti communiste
des Migrations

ANPE Agence nationale pour l'emploi PDG président-directeur général

Association pour l'emploi dans l'industrie et le

ASSEDIC PJ pièces joints
commerce

BCBG bon chic bon genre PS Parti socialiste

Poste, Télécommunications et
BD bande dessinée PTT
Télédiffusion

BN Bibliothèque nationale QG quartier général

Régie autonome des transports

BNP Banque nationale de Paris RATP
parisiens

BP boîte postale RDC rez-de-chaussée

CAF Caisse d'allocations familiales RER Réseau express régional

CDD Contrat à durée déterminée RER Réseau express régional

CDI Contrat à durée indéterminée RF la République française

CDS Carte de séjour RF République française

Cie Compagnie RMI Revenu minimum d'insertion

DALF diplôme approfondi de langue française RV rendez-vous

DEA diplôme d'études approfondies SDF Sans domicile fixe

DELF diplôme d'études en langue française SIDA syndrome immunodéficitaire acquis

DOM- Départements d'outre-mer et Territoires d'outre- Salaire minimum interprofessional de

SMIC
TOM mer croissance

EDF Electricité de France SNCF Société nationale de chemin de fer

ENA École Nationale d'Administration SPA Société protectrice des animaux

FLQ Front de la libération du Québec SVP s'il vous plaît

FNAC Fédération nationale des cadres TER Transport express régional

GDF Gaz de France TGB Très grande bibliothèque

HLM Habitation à loyer moderé TGV Train à grande vitesse

Institut National de la Statistique et des Études

INSEE TTC toutes taxes comprises
Économiques

MGEN Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale TVA taxe à la valeur ajoutée

MJC Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture UE Union européenne

MLF Mouvement pour la libération de la femme UDF Union pour la démocratie française

Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié

MRAP UMP Union pour un Mouvement Populaire
entre les peuples

OMI Office des Migrations Internationales VF version française

ONU Organisation des Nations Unies V version originale

OTAN Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique du Nord VOST version originale sous-titrée

OVNI Objet volant non identifié VTT vélo tout terrain

PV procès-verbal X l'École Polytechnique

Informal Ways of Speaking - [ mp3 of sample sentences ]

Similar to the reduced forms in English (wanna, gonna, doncha, etc.), there are several informal ways of
speaking in French. You will hear these forms very often, but you do not have to speak this way if you don't
want to. However, you must be able to understand reduced forms in order to understand real spoken French.
You may see these forms in informal written French (such as on blogs or in chat rooms), but you should still
write the formal way.

1. Tu + verb beginning with a vowel

The most common contractions with tu are t'as and t'es, which replace tu as and tu es. You can also
contract tu + other verbs that begin with a vowel, such as t'aimes or t'ouvres, which replace tu aimes
and tu ouvres.

T'as fini de manger ? Have you finished eating?

T'es fatigué ou quoi ? Are you tired or what?
T'as beau essayer, t'y arrives pas. No matter how much you try, you won't succeed.
T'as rien compris ! Laisse-moi t'expliquer. You didn't understand! Let me explain it to you.

2. Unstressed e

The letter e is often dropped between two consonants (e caduc) if it is unstressed, such as in samedi,
and also at the end of short words, such as ce, de, je, le, me, que, se, te. It's also common in future
and conditional tenses of verbs: donnerai = donn'rai; aimerais = aim'rais

Il s'lève de bonne heure. He gets up early.

C'est c'que je veux. That's what I want.
Faut que j'parte maintenant. I have to leave now.
Avec ce travail, je ne manqu'rai pas d'argent. With this job, I won't lack money.

3. Reduced forms: il(s), elle(s), puis, parce que, quelque

The pronouns il and ils reduce to y, while elle and elles reduce to è when followed by a consonant.
When followed by a vowel, il and elle reduce to l' whereas ils becomes y z' or just z' and elles becomes
è'z'. The word puis is more commonly pronounced pis, parce que is pronounced pasque, and quelque
is pronounced quèque.

Y pense qu'elle l'aime, mais c'est pas le cas. He thinks that she loves him, but that's not the case.
On va aller au restaurant, et pis après on se fera un ciné. We'll go to the restaurant, and then after
we'll go to the movies.
Pourquoi tu dois m'obéir ? Pasque je suis ton père ! Why must you obey me? Because I'm your
father!
Y a quèque chose la-dessous ! Regarde voir ! There's something down there! Look!

4. Use on instead of nous

The pronoun on is used much more often to mean we than nous. It always take the third person
singular form of the verb even though it's always plural in English.

On peut y aller ? Tout le monde est là ? Can we go ? Is everybody here ?

C'est pasqu'on est frères que je te fais confiance. It's because we are brothers that I trust you.
Pourrait-on accélérer ? On va pas assez vite ! Could we speed it up? We're not going fast enough!

5. Drop ne in negatives
 Although the ne in negatives should always be written, it is very rarely used in informal speech.

Ça va pas ! C'est nul ! That doesn't work! That's stupid!

Si tu veux pas voir ce film, lequel veux-tu voir ? If you don't want to see this movie, which one do
you want to see?
Je peux pas m'acheter cette voiture. C'est pas possible. I can't buy myself this car. It's not
possible.

6. Drop -re at end of words

You usually do not pronounce -re at the end of a word, whether it's a verb (mettre) or adjective
(notre).

Allez, à bientôt ! A un de ces quat' ! See you soon one of these days!
C'est pas vot' problème, c'est not' problème. It's not your problem, it's our problem.
Y faut pas êt' si bête. You shouldn't be so stupid.

7. Word order in questions

Word order in questions is less difficult to master in informal spoken French. Inversion and est-ce que
are generally not used, and word order is simply subject - verb - question word OR question word -
subject - verb.

Tu fais quoi ? What are you doing?

On va où ? Where are we going?
Il parle de quoi ? What's he talking about?

Pourquoi t'as dit ça ? Why did you say that?

Quand elle va arriver ? When is she going to arrive?
Quelle heure il est ? What time is it?

In addition, ça frequently follows an interrogative to add emphasis, such as in qui ça ? or c'est quoi,
ça ?

8. Forget grammatical rules

Sometimes you can forget the grammar rules that you have learned when speaking informally. An
example of this is using à to show possession (in grammatically correct French, you should use de).

On est dans la chambre à Cyril. We are in Cyril's room.

Another example is using (r)amener to mean to bring things (back) to some place. In grammatically
correct French, you should only use (r)amener with people, and (r)apporter with things.

J'ai ramené les livres à la médiathèque. I brought the books back to the library.

Fillers in Speech

Fillers in speech are words that don't add any real meaning to the sentence, except for maybe emphasis.
Examples in English include uh, um, well, I mean, I guess, you know?, so, ok, etc. You should get used to just
ignoring these words when you hear them, so that you can focus on the key words in the sentence.
 1. Quoi is the most common filler that I hear in everyday speech. It can be used to add emphasis to
emotions or thoughts or to show impatience. It is usually said at the very end of the sentence.
2. Voilà is often used with quoi at the end of the sentence.
3. A la limite is mostly used by young people, and can be translated as I suppose or I mean.
4. Tu vois ? is the closest approximation for you know?
5. Bon begins or ends a thought, similar to ok. It also can express anger or impatience, similar to fine!
(Ah, bon ? actually means "really?" and not "good.")
6. Ben (pronounced liked bain) adds emphasis to questions, statements, commands and yes or no.
7. Bon ben is used to wrap up a thought or conversation. Translated as ok or well.
8. Donc emphasizes a question or command.
9. Alors emphasizes an interjection and yes or no.
10. Moi is commonly added to commands involving the senses. The closest translation in English is "just."

Regarde-moi-ça ! Just look at that!

Recognizing French Slang Words

Several suffixes are commonly used to form slang words from regular words. This may help you determine the
meaning of the slang word, which you probably cannot find in a dictionary, by identifying the root word, which
you can find in a dictionary. For example, folle is a regular adjective meaning crazy. Follasse is the slang word
derived from the adjective that means crazy woman.

- aille (r) - ard - arès - asse - ace - oche

- os - osse - ouille - ouse - ouze - uche

Common Expressions

Je n'en reviens pas - I can't believe it

C'est du gâteau ! - It's a piece of cake!
Revenons à nos moutons - Let's get back to the subject
Ça saute aux yeux - That's obvious
C'est dans la poche - It's a sure thing
Quand les poules auront des dents - When pigs fly
Ça ne tourne pas rond - Something's wrong
C'est pas vrai ! - You're kidding!
Ce n'est pas la mer à boire - It's not the end of the world
C'est pas sorcier - It's not rocket science
Je vais jeter un œil - I'll take a look
Ça n'a rien à voir avec... - That has nothing to do with...

Common Intensifiers / Adverbs

carrément - completely
rudement - very, terribly
super - very, ultra
vachement - very, really

Oh la vache ! - Oh wow!
Proper Names

A la tienne, Etienne ! - Cheers!

Ça glisse, Alice ! - It's slippery!

Tu parles, Charles ! - You bet!

Regional Slang

Idioms

appuyer sur le champignon - to go very fast, accelerate (lit: to push on the mushroom)

avoir d'autres chats à fouetter - to have better things to do; other fish to fry (lit: to have other cats to whip)

avoir un chat dans la gorge - to have a frog in your throat (lit: to have a cat in your throat)

être dans ses petits souliers - to not feel comfortable (lit: to be in little shoes)

être haut comme trois pommes - to be small (lit: to be high like three apples)

faire d'une pierre deux coups - to kill two birds with one stone (lit: to do one stone, two blows)

ne pas être dans son assiette - to not feel yourself (lit: to not be in your plate)

ne pas être de la dernière pluie - to not be born yesterday (lit: to not be born with the last rain)

passer une nuit blanche - to have a sleepless night (lit: to spend a white night)

pendre la crémaillère - to have a house-warming party (lit: to hang a chimney hook)

se creuser la tête - to think really hard (lit: to dig in one's head)

se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter - to think oneself is better than everyone else (lit: to come out of
Jupiter's thigh)

se mettre le doigt dans l'œil - to make a mistake (lit: to put one's finger in one's eye)

sucrer les fraises - to be senile, crazy (lit: to sugar the strawberries)

tomber dans les pommes - to faint, pass out (lit: to fall in the apples)
80. False Cognates

Les faux-amis or false cognates are a common pitfall among language students. The following are some
common words that you may be deceived by:

Abus is used to mean excess or overindulgence, and usually not abuse.

Disposer means to arrange or to have available, not to dispose of.
Une injure is an insult, not an injury.
Actuel and actuellement mean current and currently.
Avertissement is a warning, not an advertisement.
Une recette is a recipe, not a receipt.
Fournitures refers to supplies, not furniture.
Original means new or innovative, while originel refers to origins.
Humeur means mood, not humor.
Formel is used to mean strict, not formal.