As a French learner, deciding which preposition to use with locations, such as cities and countries, can be frustrating. Getting to grips with why we make these choices will help us make the correct decision. The Coffee Break French Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations, in which we demystify tricky French language
Do you know when to use a and the in English? These little words are called articles. They can be difficult to use correctly, because they are used in different ways in different languages, and in some languages they don’t exist at all! The Coffee Break English Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly
¿Está bueno o es bueno? Are both of these phrases correct? Do they mean the same thing? As a Spanish learner, at times, it can be difficult to know when to use ser and when to use estar to translate “to be”. And did you know that there are some adjectives that have a different meaning depending on
There are various ways the infinitive form of verbs can be used in German: on their own as an infinitive, with zu, or with um … zu. Remember that the infinitive form of a verb is the base form that you would find in a dictionary. The Coffee Break German Show is a podcast series of
Have you ever found yourself tongue-tied when trying to pronounce the Italian sound gli? You’re not alone! Gli is considered one of the trickiest sounds to master in Italian, mainly because it’s not commonly found in many other languages. But there’s no need to worry, as there are some techniques that you can learn to help
Knowing when to use qui and when to use que is a tricky topic for many French learners. In this article we’re going to practise qui and que to help you know when to use each of them. The Coffee Break French Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations, in which we demystify tricky French language topics. In the latest episode,
Do you know when to use in, on, and at in English? These little words are called prepositions. They can be difficult to use correctly, because they appear very often, and there aren’t many rules to follow! The Coffee Break English Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations to help you understand some
¿Ser o estar? That is the question. As you may already know, in Spanish there are two verbs that translate as “to be”, and knowing which to choose in each situation can be one of the biggest challenges for Spanish learners. The Coffee Break Spanish Show is a podcast series of short, informal conversations to
You may have already come across some long German words in your experience as a German learner – and they can be very long! Why does this happen? It’s mostly because German allows us to join different words together to form a new one, called a compound word. The Coffee Break German Show is a
How do we translate “the” into Italian? There are, in fact, seven options, and it depends on the grammatical gender (masculine or feminine) and the number (singular or plural) of the noun. The Coffee Break Italian Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations in which we demystify tricky Italian language topics. In the
Do you know the difference between qui and que? Both qui and que are relative pronouns – designed to replace a noun in a sentence – yet, each has its distinct role. When to use qui and when to use que is one of the questions we get asked the most by our Coffee Break French community. So, let’s explore both
Do you know when to use is it? at the end of a phrase in English? Is it? is a question tag. Question tags can be a little difficult to use in English, but once you understand the rules, they are very useful. The Coffee Break English Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly
When it comes to Spanish pronunciation, some aspects of it are relatively easy to get your head around. However, at times, things can get a little tricky when it comes to knowing which syllable to stress when pronouncing a word in Spanish. Like in English, the stress of words is not always on the same
When we start to learn German, one of the most important steps is to get our heads around cases of nouns and pronouns. For that reason, it’s time for a crash course on cases in German! The Coffee Break German Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations, in which we demystify tricky German
There are many expressions in Italian that are used very often, but which you may have to think twice about before translating directly from English. If you want to say that you’re hungry, for example, it may take a while before it feels natural not to use the verb essere (“to be”). In this article
French pronunciation can be a challenge, but understanding the rules regarding certain vowels and consonant combinations can make all the difference in your language-learning journey. In this article, we’ll focus on one very common letter than can have different pronunciations, depending on accents and the letters that follow – the letter e. The Coffee Break
Do you know the difference between like and as when you’re speaking English? Using like and as can be a difficult topic for English learners, because these words can be used in similar ways. The Coffee Break English Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations to help you understand some difficult topics in
Spanish is a very flexible language, in the sense that we can often move things around in the sentence and change the word order. However, sometimes a different word order can result in a difference in emphasis or in meaning. This is especially important to remember with some adverbs. The Coffee Break Spanish Show is
It’s time to get to know “you”! Saying “you” in German is slightly more complicated than in English, but what an important word it is. It won’t surprise you that the word “you”’ is one of the most commonly used words in English. It’s equally as common in German, but there are seven different ways
The verb avere was probably one of the first verbs you came across in Italian. Of course, its basic meaning is “to have”, but there are many useful everyday expressions that use avere in which the verb doesn’t translate as “to have”. The Coffee Break Italian Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations in which we demystify
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