Hello everybody!
I've been doing some work on adjectives this week, and the correct placement with all of that stuff. Trying to get it straight in my mind has been more difficult than I'd thought it would be! It seems that everything I read up on this topic comes with a different set of exceptions to the rule, although I do believe things are slowly sinking in!
I've also been reading a lot around
reasons for studying French, as I thought it would be an interesting topic to write about, as well as perhaps providing some useful practice for a number of things.
Je me souviens avoir appris le français quand j’étais à l’école,
et c’était un de mes matières préférées. Elle me stimulait, car c’est très
passionnant d’apprendre une langue étrangère. C’était une compétence vrai, par
rapport aux autres matières, qui semblaient plus académique, et sans but.
J’étais bon en français. Aujourd’hui, je trouve toujours
que c’est vraiment passionnant. J’ai recommencé mes études décembre dernier,
car je voulais développer un’habileté – en bref, je voulais être
bon en français
encore! Je voudrais un nouveau emploi aussi, et j’espère que cela m’aide avec ça!
Je pense que c’est très important de connaître
plus d’une seule langue – on ne peut pas exiger des autres à parler l’anglais
tout le temps. Au moins, c’est impoli! Je voudrais aller en France, et je
voudrais parler aux gens du pays sans demander s’ils parlent ma langue.
J’adore mes études, et il me fait plaisir d’apprendre toutes
ces choses – c’est vraiment génial! Je comprends beaucoup plus qu’avait, et ça
me fait heureux. Le français est une belle langue musicale, avec beaucoup de l’élégance
et du style. Je ne sais pas s’il m’aidera trouver un nouveau emploi, mais je
continuera l’apprendre, quand même.
So here we go!
Je me souviens avoir appris le français quand j’étais à l’école
This is an interesting start, I think. "I remember learning French when I was in school" - a fairly innocuous sentence maybe, but that 'avoir appris' is an example of the past infinitive - because we've got two verbs in succession, the second verb used is in its infinitive form, as usual. But because the action of learning here took place before the action of me remembering it, we have the past infinitive. This is basically the infinitive of the auxiliary verb, with the past participle of the main verb, but I thought it was interesting and wanted to point it out!
C’était une compétence vrai, par rapport aux autres matières
I really enjoyed French at school - it felt like something really worthwhile, to me, as opposed to other subjects. I think the only subject I preferred to French was Music, which I was really interested in as a teenager, and will no doubt form the subject of an upcoming blog here!
J’étais bon en français
Of course, I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet here! A lot of this blog post up to now alternates a lot with the
passé composé and the
imparfait. I've talked about this before, of course, but it's interesting to see how these tenses usually weave in and out of each other! But it's now time to move on to the present.
Je pense que c’est très important de connaître plus d’une seule langue
I don't know about you, but I feel that it is very important to know more than one language. I find it quite rude when you see people on holiday just expect the natives of that country to understand them, without even trying. I've read many times that it's this exact attitude that is the cause of the French national stereotype - it's not the French who are rude, however, for being affronted by such a lack of effort!
'Seule' is one of those adjectives that can be placed either before or after the noun, and in this position (before 'langue') it means "sole" as opposed to "lonely", which is the meaning when it is placed after the noun. There are so many
lists out there of adjectives, and it's another one of these aspects of learning the language where you just have to learn a list...
Je comprends beaucoup plus qu’avait
It's no lie, in the six months since I started to learn French once more, I feel as though I've learnt more grammar than I ever did during the seven years in classrooms! I mean, I have an A level in French and I never once studied even the Conditional mood! Of course, the payoff is that I think I had a much larger vocabulary back then than I do now, and so I need to concentrate on this!
Le français est une belle langue musicale
Here we are with these adjectives again! So 'belle' is one of those that always goes before the noun, while 'musicale' is one that gets placed afterwards. It often results in constructions like this, with nouns surrounded on all sides! I've definitely got to try and sort out a lot of my muddled notes on adjectives, so stay tuned for a blog post on that topic!
Je ne sais pas s’il m’aidera trouver un nouveau emploi
I sort of wrestled with this last sentence, as I'm not sure if it's one that requires the subjunctive. "I don't know if it will help me find a new job" - that's an expression of doubt there, after all. But I'm using 'savoir', so I guess it's the indicative? (Incidentally, I've settled on using the future tense for what I think is the first time in one of these blog posts - again, there's a blog coming on that topic, soon!)
Anyway, that's my somewhat garbled story for learning French! As always, let me know if I've made any mistakes in the comments - and while you're down there, if you are also learning French, why not share your own reasons for learning this wonderful language!
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