In French when you talk about ages you don’t say “I am 21 years old”: instead you say “I have 21 years”. Equally, when you ask the question “how old are you?” or “what age are you”, you actually ask “what age do you have”. Here are the phrases you’ll need: I’m (21) years old
To say “I live in…” in French you say j’habite à… . In this episode of Coffee Break French To Go, Pierre-Benoît asks the question, où habites-tu ? (informal) or où habitez-vous ? (formal). You can use the answers of our interviewees to help you learn to say where you’re from in French. In the first
To ask “how are you?” in French you can say d’où viens-tu ?, or in a more formal situation, d’où venez-vous ?. In this episode of Coffee Break French To Go, Pierre-Benoît asks this question to passers-by in the streets of his hometown, Pornic. You can use the answers of our interviewees to help you
To ask “how are you” in French you can say comment vas-tu ? or, more formally comment allez-vous ?. In this episode of Coffee Break French To Go, Pierre-Benoît asks the question to passers-by in the streets of his hometown, Pornic. You can use the answers of our interviewees to help you learn to answer
Welcome to our new series, Coffee Break French To Go! If you’ve been working through the lessons of Season 1 or Season 2 of our podcast or online course, then you’re ready to “take your French on the road”, and you can do exactly that with the help of Pierre-Benoît. In our first series, Pierre-Benoît
It’s the most visited monument in the world and at the time of its construction it was the tallest building in the world. Standing in the heart of the French capital, it is undeniably the global symbol of France. We’re talking, of course, about the Eiffel Tower, and in this episode Mark and Pierre-Benoît talk
An extraordinary voice and life story filled with success and tragedy in almost equal measure, the “Little Sparrow” is the focus of this episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine. Edith Piaf is known as one of the most widely known French singers, and you’ll learn more about her life and work in this episode.
Glitz and glamour are the name of the game in this episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine as we head to the south of France for the Cannes Film Festival. In our text we’ll find out more about the interesting origins of this key event in the international cinematic calendar, and we’ll also tackle
We’re heading to north-western France for this episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine to discover more about the Breton language and culture. As ever, you’ll be able to listen to Susie’s text and Mark and Pierre-Benoît are on hand to discuss the text. There’s a question from listener Tomás who wants to know when
In this episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine we’re talking “bande dessinées”, comic books. The French-speaking world has produced many famous bande dessinée including Tintin, the Smurfs and Astérix, and they can be a great way to expand your vocabulary and experience.a different reading format. Pierre-Benoît is on hand to explain everything in the
Knowing when adjectives go before or after the noun can be tricky, and it’s further complicated when you’re using des, the partitive article. Think of how you would say “some new houses” or “some beautiful books”. Do you use des or de? In this episode of Walk, Talk and Learn French, Mark spots an advert which suggests
Do you get confused between meilleur and mieux? Are you unclear about the difference between these two words? Do you struggle to know how to translate “better” and “best” into French? In this episode of Walk, Talk and Learn French, Mark spots an advert on a bus shelter in Paris which provides an example of le
In this episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine, we’re heading to the French-speaking area of Quebec in Canada and finding out more about how the French spoken there is different from the French spoken in France. We also look at the very useful expression il s’agit de, and learn about how to use this
The Past Historic (in French passé simple) is a special tense used mostly in written French to relate narrative events in the past. In this episode of Walk, Talk and Learn, Mark spots an example of the Past Historic on a film poster, and he explains the full conjugation of the Past Historic of regular
In the latest episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine, we’re heading to the “crossroads of Europe”, the city of Strasbourg in the heart of Alsace. Find out about the traditions, the food, the history and the culture of this beautiful part of the world. There’s also a discussion about how to express necessity using
You may be familiar with ne … plus meaning “no longer”, and ne … que meaning “only”, but what about ne … plus que? Do you know what this means? It’s a really useful phrase and in this episode of Walk, Talk and Learn, you’l learn to use it in a variety of situations. Make sure
Bonjour ! ¡Hola! Hallo! Ciao! This Friday 21st June is la Fête de la Musique – a celebration of music throughout France. To join in the festivities, we’re launching a new Coffee Break feature – ‘Tune for Tuesday’! Every week our team will select and share a song with you to introduce you to some new
In this episode of the Coffee Break French Magazine we’re taking a trip to the movies to see one of the all time classics of French cinema, Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête. You’ll learn more about the film and about the work of Cocteau, and there’s an interesting listener’s question about how to
The French Open – les Championnats Internationaux de France de Tennis – is an annual event which takes place at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. Since this is the only one of the four most prestigious tournaments in tennis, which is held in a country where English is not the official language, we thought we’d
In Episode 2 of Season 1 of the Coffee Break French Magazine, we discuss the French author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince. In the Q&A section, Mark discusses the difference between the imperfect and perfect tenses in response to Keith’s question. In each episode of this 10-lesson season for intermediate
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