leçon I

Back by popular demand «yeah, as if» ...

There will be no responsibility taken for any inaccuracy nor misinformation in this passage. I'm hoping to be consistent with entries in the French Lesson series. It'll be more of a basic practical survival kit rather than explaining head spinning complex grammar, which'd take years (ask any French person!). Messages, questions, are okay to be left or sent to me. Will respond where required.

Nous commençons alors ...

Leçon I

The French language is so mellifluous and notably softer than its European counterparts.

One would need to find a real-time tutor to introduce you to the sound of the French alphabets, much like the first time you did your English lesson.

As said before, French has one set of bewildering rules, in regards with the pronunciation of the letter «e» - three sounds are to be produced just for what seemingly an innocent letter. Let's not worry about this tiny issue for the time being.

#Greetings – présentation

Bonjour : good day, hello «basically any time during the day until the sun goes down»

Bonsoir : good evening

Bonne nuit : good night «before one goes to bed»

Salut : hi, goodbye «very casual, informal, amongst mates, family members»

Coucou : hi «very casual, informal, amongst mates, family members»
*Merci  Pipit

Ciao, tchiao : bye «clearly an imported item from Italian»

#How are you

The formal form would be something like, lit. in English, «how go you?»

aller – to go

Comment allez-vous? «how go you, formal»
note: t a has a liaison, therefore one says ::komoñtalevu:: as if it was all one word

Comment vas-tu? «how go you, informal»
Tu vas bien?        - idem
Comment ça va? «how does it go, informal»
ça va?                - idem
ça va bien?         - idem
ça roule?            - extremely informal, street talk, only with mates
ça gaze?            - idem, slangy

#My name is

One may say

1. je suis … David «I`m David» or

2. mon nom est David «my name is David»

Just to let us know, the second option is not popular, would sound awkward if it is employed improperly and there`s a more common form using the reflexive verb  « s'appeler ».

s`appeler – to call oneself

This is matter of factly by far the common way to tell the world what a beautiful name you may have.

It needs to be conjugated and for now, we`ll do it for:

je «I»
tu «you, singular, informal eg. for children or between mates»
vous «you singular formal or you plural»

Je m’appelle David     «I call myself David»
::the spelling of appeler for je, I, receives an extra «l» simply for pronunciation's sake::

Tu t’appeles comment?     «how do you call yourself»

Comment vous vous-appelez? «how do you call yourself»
:: komoñvuvuzapele :: as if it was one word
*ñ denotes a nasal sound

And your reply may be one of the options above, though you should use

Je m’appelle … Peter.

Fin