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Phrase One: Ça va? Ça va. (’How are you? I’m fine.’)

After greeting and saying hello to someone, you will need to ask how she or he is. It’s a matter of politeness.

The Question and Statement With ça and va:

While in France you’ll often hear these two sounds [sa-va], which are part of the phrase Ça va ?, meaning “How are you?”

Be aware though, these two tiny words can be either a question or a statement.

To differentiate between the two, you need to listen to the speaker’s intonation. When the intonation rises, it will be a question: Ça va ? (’How are you?̵ When the intonation is slightly falling or constant, it will be a statement: ça va (’I'm fine’).

Phrase Two: S’il vous plaît. (’Please̵

This phrase is a must for anyone who has de la galanterie (’some courtesy’).

The original meaning of S’il vous plaît was not only to be polite but also to ask whomever you are speaking to whether he or she would be pleased to do a favor for you, such as answering a question or passing the salt at the table.

Formal “please”: S’íl vous plaît

You’ve guessed it: we use s’il vous plaît [see-voo-play] in French in formal situations or with people you are addressing using vous (the formal ‘you’). It simply means “please” in English.

Informal “please”: S’íl te plaît

If you’d like to say “please” with close friends, colleagues, in a relaxed context, or in short with people you talk to by using the informal personal pronoun tu, use s’íl te plaît [seel-tuh-play].

In this series of mini-lesson tweets on Twitter, we help you perfect your house-related vocabulary to become a master in knowing French homes. Here is the recap of this week’s phrases for your reference:

Have you ever had a neighbor who kept complaining about “le bruit”, “the noise”? Or maybe you are the one who complains…

Your female neighbor is “la voisine”, and your male neighbor is “le voisin”.

Neighbors in their whole have a name in French, “le voisinage”.

A lot of “repas de quartier”, “block parties” are organized throughout French cities.

And if you live in the French country, you can go to the annual “fête du village” (fem.), like a block party, only for a whole village.

Now, if you live the French country, and have no neighbors, then you probably live by “un champ de blé”, “a wheat field”!

Enjoy!

In this series of mini-lesson tweets on Twitter, we help you perfect your public transportation vocabulary to become a subway master in France. Here is the recap of this week’s phrases for your reference:

When users are mad at strikers from the Paris subway they say “RATP: Rentre Avec Tes Pieds”, “RATP: Go home by foot”.

Need you daily dose of caffeine while riding the train? Ask “Où est le wagon-restaurant?”, Where is the restaurant car?

When you missed your train and try to negotiate with an agent, start with “J’ai raté mon train”, I missed my train”.

Tired of public transportation? Get in a cab! Tell the driver where you go with “Je vais à …”, I am going to…

Using public transportation allows us to avoid “les embouteillages”, traffic jam.

Have you heard of “le vélib”? It’s a public bicycle rental program in Paris.

Bicycles in Paris have to ride on the bus lane, “le couloir de bus”. Dangerous!

In this series of mini-lesson tweets on Twitter, we help you perfect your public transportation vocabulary to become a subway master in France. Here is the recap of this week’s phrases for your reference:

Don’t wait for ever at that bus stop on a Sunday, and ask “Ce bus fonctionne le dimanche?”, Does this bus work on Sundays?

Are you given the look by someone you just bumped into? The basics: “Excusez-moi”, Sorry.

You’d better validate your ticket before you get on the train, “Où est-ce que je composte mon billet?”, Where do I validate my ticket?

Going to the Riviera and nver coming back? Ask for “un aller simple”, a one-way ticket, at the ticket booth.
Taking a day trip outside Paris and need a round trip ticket? Ask for “un aller-retour”, a round trip ticket.

Some country train station don’t have English signs. Look for a “guichet” sign to find the ticket booth.

Why is the train station empty? Why is the subway not working? There might be “une grève”, a strike.

When you ride Paris subway, you ride with la “Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens”, “Autonomous Management of Parisian Transportation”.

In this series of mini-lesson tweets on Twitter, we help you perfect your public transportation vocabulary to become a subway master in France.  Here is the recap of last week’s phrases for your reference:

When the bus map doesn’t make any sense to you, “Quel est le prochain arrêt?”, What is the next stop?

Don’t take the wrong bus, “Vous vous arrêtez à …(name of the stop)?”, Do you stop at (name of the stop)?

You need to find the right platform, “Où est le train pour (name of the city)?”, Where is the train for Bordeaux?

To be able to sit on the subway train, ride during “l’heure creuse”, off hours.

Vous descendez ici?

Someone stubbornly standing in the way of the bus door? Say “Excusez-moi, je descends ici”, Excuse me, I get off here.

Pregnant at rush hour? Say “Je voudrais m’asseoir s’il vous plaît.”, I would like to sit please.

Stay tuned daily for our tweets, and for those of you who haven’t started following us on Twitter, head there now and sign up!

In this series of mini-lesson tweets on Twitter, we help you perfect your public transportation vocabulary to become a subway master in France.  Here is the recap of last week’s phrases for your reference:

Because you don’t want to ride the subway without a ticket, “Un ticket, s’il vous plait”, “One ticket please”.

When you stopped paying attention: “Quel est cet arret?”, “What is this station?”

One thing you want to avoid in the subway is “l’heure de pointe”, rush hour.

If someone tells you “Prenez le 58″ when you’re asking your way, understand “Take the 58 bus”.

If you couldn’t avoid rush hour, stepped on someone’s foot and want to stay out of trouble: “Excusez-moi”, “I am sorry.”

Stay tuned daily for our tweets, and for those of you who haven’t started following us on Twitter, head there now and sign up!

In this series of mini-lesson tweets on Twitter, we help you perfect your media-related vocabulary in order to beat French people at conversing about the news.  Here is the recap of this week’s phrases for your reference:

“Un éditorial” gives you the paper’s opinion.”L’éditorial est sévère avec le président.”, “The editorial is tough on the president.”

Just so you know, the French for “buzz” is also “un buzz”. “Le discours de Barack Obama a fait un buzz en France.”

Subscribe to “un hebdomadaire” to get news every week. “Time” est un hebdomadaire”, “Time” is a weekly.”

Today’s word “un rédacteur en chef”, “an editor-in-chief”. “Le rédacteur en chef a le dernier mot sur le contenu.”, “The editor-in-chief” has the last word on the content.”

Another word stolen from English: “un blog”. “J’ai un blog sur le fromage”, “I have a blog about cheese.”

Do you watch “la série” “Lost”? Les français adorent la série “Lost”, French people love the show “Lost”.

When you want to watch a different program than what your girlfriend’s watching, you change “la chaîne”, “the channel”.

“Un pigiste” is a freelance writer, often a journalist. “Je suis pigiste pour plusieurs journaux.”, “I am a freelancer for several papers.”

 Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comment section!

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Have you ever heard of the word l’argot?

You might have heard of it as being the French slang. Well, it is true to some extent. But there is more to l’argot than just being slang.

 Today we’ll introduce you to one argot French word. But before we do, let’s talk about what l’argot really is.

The initial meaning appeared in the XVIIth century in France to generally designate professional thieves, beggars and  bohemians.  This group of people was literally called l’argot.

The word evolved to later designate the language used by this group of people. Just like any social group, they would use a vocabulary that would only exist among themselves. Now, having their own language not only identified each other as a group, it also allowed thieves and assassins to plan their crimes without being understood.

 Overtime, the word l’argot ended up designating every language specific to a certain social group of people. Therefore, there is today l’argot parisien (”Parisian Slang”), l’argot de la Bourse (”Stock Market Slang”), l’argot du journalisme (”Journalism Slang”), etc.

Here in the French Bazaar, we will mostly introduce you to l’argot parisien, not because we are Paris centered, but because this specific slang is the most used among French people. The Parisian Slang is also the one that directly comes from the original thief and bohemian’s argot we mentioned above.

Enough with history! What is our first word? It is…

UNE ALOUF (noun, feminine) - A MATCH

(Standard French: Une allumette)
It is very easy to use, you can simply say :

Tu as une alouf?  “Do you have a match?”

Or, in the plural form: Tu as des aloufs?  “Do you have any matches?”
My Dad (I know I keep talking about my Dad, but that’s only because he speaks the most eccentric French), back when he was a smoker, used to ask for aloufs all the time.

Our next word will start with “B”! We will see you around the corner of the bazaar…

Our idiom today is:

“Il n’y a pas le feu au lac”

“No need to rush”

Growing up in Southern France I would hear that idiom a lot.

Why Southern France? Because that’s where things go slowly. That’s where the turtle is considered one of the fastest animals…that’s where you take the time to enjoy every minute of your free time while doing pretty much nothing. That’s where impatient Parisians are driven crazy.

See? I am from Southern France and it takes me forever to get to the point here!

But wait…What does “Il n’y pas le feu au lac” mean exactly?

It literally means “The lake is not on fire”, which I find to be a very clever way to say “No need to rush”. Don’t you think it’s clever? I wonder who came up with that one. Someone clever. “The lake is not on fire” implies that there is no emergency, no reason to rush since the lake is not and will NEVER set on fire. You get the idea.

In which context should you use this idiom?

Well, you generally say “Il n’y a pas le feu au lac” when you feel rushed or pushed by someone. It’s a way to let this person know that he or she is being impatient without a good reason. You are telling this person “Slow down, slow down.”

The first time I heard this come out of my father’s mouth, I replied: “Which lake?”

I was not being clever or ironic. I was four.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from everyone here at FrenchPod101.com! We’re grateful to have listeners just like you, and we’re eagerly waiting for the upcoming year to learn French together!

And when the New Year comes around, be sure to make a resolution to study French with FrenchPod101.com!

Have a healthy and happy holiday season.

From Celine, Sam, Angele and the whole FrenchPod101.com Team!