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

Flea market browsing and antique hunting, shopping…Now is time to “marchander”, “to bargain”!

To find antiques, go to “le marché aux puces”, the flea market. “Le marché aux puces est le samedi.”, “The flea market is on Saturdays.”

Now that merchant’s old bicycle is overpriced. Just tell him “C’est trop cher”, “It’s too expensive.”

You want to lower the price of this antique phone (after all, it doesn’t work!), “Vous pouvez baisser?”, “Can you lower the price?”

A tip to find cheap antiques, look for a “brocante” sign in villages. “Une brocante” is an rustic antique store, generally cheaper.

You only want to spend 5 euros on that cute silver spoon? “Je n’ai que 5 euros”, “I only have 5 euros.”

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 house-related vocabulary to become a master in knowing French homes. Here is the recap of this week’s phrases for your reference:

If you are lucky and have a backyard, “un jardin”, you can sunbathe in the summer.

And if you don’t have a backyard, you can still open “la fenêtre”, “the window”, for some fresh air.

Take a look at your neighbor’s life by getting up “le toit”, ‘the roof”.

What do you do with your “garage”, “garage”? Park your car? Store your things?

You are “casanier” (male) or “casanière” (female) if you are a homebody “Je suis casanière en hiver.” In the winter I am being a homebody.

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!

It is always useful to know the slang for “money” in a foreign language, if only not to get ripped off and to understand when people talk about what is in your wallet…

 So many different ways to say “money” in French! Those greedy French.

 Before we get to those words I would like to mention a French argot specialist. His name is Michel Audiard and even if you probably never heard this name before, you need to know that he is one of France’s pride.

Michel Audiard (Born in 1920, died in 1985) was a famous screenwriter who is known for his acid, humorous, and “argotique” writing. And, if you happened to watch movies written by Michel Audiard, you surely came across  a multitude of French money-related slang.

If you would like to check out one of his movies, I recommend Les tontons flingueurs (translated as ” Crooks in Clover” or “Monsieur Gangster” in English). This movie was made in 1963 and is a melange of gangster movie (yes, France has gangsters, too) and comedy. Probably 90% of the French have seen it at least once: it’s a classic. Now, the colloquial French in it might limit your comprehension at some parts, however with perseverance (and subtitles) you will enjoy it as much as any French person.

 And…one scene is ENTIRELY in English! There it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fRuExSRaBA&feature=related

 Anyway…I got carried away. Now is the time for some serious slang.

 You probably know that the standard word for “money” in French is  L’argent. Here are our five alternate (and much cooler) words:

 - Le fric (the most commonly used one)

- L’oseille (feminine)

- L’artiche (masculine - rare but its sound is particularly typical of the argot)

- Le blé  (literally this means “wheat” )

- Le pognon (comes from the word poignée, “fistful” )

 Hope you enjoyed!

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!

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!

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…