Thursday, March 27, 2008

Fruits de mer

un fruit (pronounced fru - ee) = a fruit
la mer = the sea

fruits de mer is, now that I think about it, a quite interesting way of referring to seafood (literally, sea fruit)

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Monday, March 24, 2008

Joyeuses Pâques!

Pâques = Easter (pronounced pak)

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Soupçon

un soupçon = a suspicion; a little bit, a trace of (pronounced soop - son)

E.g.
J'ai des soupçons = I have suspicions
Veux-tu un soupçon de vin ? = Would you like a drop of wine?

soupçonner quelqu'un de quelquechose = to suspect someone of something
Je le soupçonne de fumer en cachette = I suspect he secretely smokes

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Guili

guili guili (pronounced guee-lee guee-lee) is what you say when tickling someone!

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Friday, March 14, 2008

Pareil

pareil = the same (pronounced pah - raye)
E.g. c'est pareil = it's the same
see also même:
e.g. J'ai le même T-shirt = I have the same T-shirt
C'est du pareil au même = It makes no difference (same as "C'est kif-kif")

And my favorite:
C'est blanc bonnet et bonnet blanc = It's all the same. Literally it's white hat and hat white

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Monday, March 10, 2008

Bavoir

un bavoir = a bib

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Un(e)

un / une = one. Some expressions with un/une:
  • s'en jeter un (derrière la cravate) = to knock back a drink (literally to throw a drink behind one's tie :-)
  • être comme pas un/une = to be extremely / to be the greatest + adjective. E.g. Il est menteur comme pas un = he's the greatest liar, elle est fière comme pas une = she's extremely proud
  • un pour tous et tous pour un = all for one and one for all

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Monday, March 03, 2008

Les aléas du métier

(un) aléa = a hazard
e.g. les aléas du métier = occupational hazards

(un) métier = a job, profession

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