Mot du jour Podcast – French Etc

It's freezing cold - French Expression

Part of Mots Du Jour | Vocabulary Lists

What does the French expression 'un froid de canard' mean? What does it sound like? How is it used in a sentence? Listen to Anne.

As the weather is getting colder and colder in France, I was thinking of that funny expression: un froid de canard. Literally, a cold of duck, a duck's cold. un froid de canard means that it's freezing cold. I think the expression comes from hunting ducks in the fall, when hunters stand in freezing waters for extended periods of time and they get frozen to the bones. un froid de canard, as many weather expressions, uses FAIRE, an irregular verb.

* " Moi, j'reste pas là à m'geler dans la voiture, t'es malade. Il fait un froid de canard."

* "I'm not gonna stay here and freeze, you're nuts. It's freezing cold."

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at dusk – French expression

Part of Mots Du Jour | Practice French Expressions

What does the French expression ‘entre chien et loup’ mean? How is it used in a sentence? Listen to Anne.

entre chien et loup – between dog and wolf. entre chien et loup means ‘at dusk’, ‘at twilight’. It describes that hour when it’s difficult to see well, between day and night, when you can’t really see if you’re looking at a dog or at a wolf. entre chien et loup is used a lot when talking about driving.

* « Ne conduis pas trop vite ce soir, on est entre chien et loup et on ne voit pas bien. »* “Don’t drive too fast this evening; at dusk, you cannot see well.”

Tenses and modes

présent : on est entre chien et loup

imparfait : on était entre chien et loup

futur : on sera entre chien et loup

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to make a mistake – French expression

Part of Mots Du Jour | Reflexive Verbs – List

se tromper – oneself to mislead. se tromper means ‘to make a mistake’.

* « Oh là là ! Je me suis trompé. Elle m’avait donné rendez-vous dans le VIème, mais comme elle avait écrit son message avec un chiffre romain, j’ai inversé et je suis allée dans le IVème. »* ‘Oh dear ! I made a mistake. She had given me a meeting point in the sixth arrondissement, but because she wrote her message with a Roman numeral, I switched the numbers and I went to the fourth arrondissement.’

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what a disaster – French expression

Part of Mots Du Jour | Strike and Protest Terms – Today’s French

What does ” bonjour les dégâts ” mean? How do you say ‘ what a disaster ’ in French? How is it pronounced? How is it used in a French sentence? Listen to Anne, a French native say it at FrenchHour.com.

bonjour les dégâts – hello the damages – In everyday French, bonjour les dégâtsmeans ‘what a disaster’.

* « Regarde cet arrêt de bus détruit après la manif. Bonjour les dégâts ! »* “Look at the this destroyed bus stop after the demonstration. What a disaster!”

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coup de foudre – French expression

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to go over the top – French expression

Part of Mots Du Jour | Le Festival de Cannes

faire son cinéma – to do one’s movies. In everyday French, faire son cinéma means to be dramatic, to be over the top about something, to draw the attention onto oneself, to be a ham, to ham it up. There is another word that means the same thing. It’s cabotiner. I love cabotiner. It feels like it’s coming from old times, and as a result, it’s not very used any more. However, faire son cinéma is.

* « Je vais pas lui demander car elle va encore faire son cinéma, comme d’hab. »* “I’m not going to ask her as she’s going to go over the top, as usual.”

French verbs – Tenses and modes

présent : je fais mon cinéma, nous faisons notre cinéma

futur : je en ferai mon cinéma, nous ferons notre cinéma

présent du subjonctif : que je fasse mon cinéma , que nous fassions notre cinéma

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things behind you – French expression

Part of Mots Du Jour | La Covid

What does ” tourner la page ” mean? How do you say ‘ to put things behind you ’ in French? How is it pronounced? How is it used in a French sentence? Listen to Anne, a French native say it at FrenchHour.com

tourner la page – to turn the page. In everyday French, tourner la page means ‘to make a fresh start’, to put things behind you’.

* « Je ne sais pas comment on va pouvoir tourner la page après la covid. »* “I don’t know how we will be able to put things behind us after the pandemic.”

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le premier mai – Mot du Jour

Part of Le Mot du Jour | Merry Month of May

le premier mai – the first May. le premier mai is also called ‘la fête du travail’ which means ‘work holiday’, or ‘labor day’. le premier mai is ‘May Day’ or ‘French Labor Day’. It is celebrated on May 1 every year. French workers and Unions march in the streets of all major cities after they bought a twig of lily of the valley.

* « Le premier mai, c’est la fête du travail. On achète un brin de muguet, on va au défilé des syndicats, et ensuite, on passe la journée avec les potes. »* “ May Day is Labor Day. We buy a lily of the valley, we march with the unions, and then we spend the day with our friends .”

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Le premier mai – May 1 in France

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fumer la moquette - French expression

What does the French expression ‘ fumer la moquette ’ mean? How is it used in a sentence?

fumer la moquette - to smoke the carpeting. fumer la moquette means two things. First, it means to smoke pot. I'm not sure where that comes from. Is it because you're ready to smoke carpeting if you don't have pot anymore, or is it that carpeting looks like grass?

Anyway, this expression is fairly new. Its second meaning, gaining popularity, is that someone is out of it, delusional.

* « Ils disent que leur retraite va leur payer un appart sur l'Île Saint Louis. Ils ont fumé la moquette. »

* "They say their retirement plan is going to get them a condo on the Île Saint Louis (in Paris). They're delusional."

This lesson is now updated on French Hour, Anne’s site to learn French.

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to be fed up – French expression

Part of All Levels | French Expressions – Daily Practice

What does ” en avoir marre ” mean? How do you say ‘to be fed up’ in French? How is it pronounced? How is it used in a French sentence? Listen to Anne, a French native say it at FrenchHour.com.

en avoir marre – to it to have enough. In everyday French, en avoir marre means ‘to be sick of it’, ‘to have had enough’, to be fed up’.

* « J’ai arrêté de lire cette histoire. Les personnages sont trop compliqués et j’en ai marre. »* “I stopped reading this story. The characters are too complicated and I’m fed up.”

PETITE VIDÉO

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 Further your French – Renforcez le Français

French Pronoun EN

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LOL – French expression

Part of Le Mot du Jour | Halloween and La Toussaint

MDR – mort de rire – dead of laughter. mort de rire or être mort de rire means ‘laughing out loud, to laugh one’s head off’, ‘LOL’, which is also used in French, in text messages  as MDR.

* « J’adore la blague que tu viens de me raconter. MDR. »* “I love the joke you just told me. LOL.“

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À la vie à la mort – French expression

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