Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Lon or On Euphony in French Pronunciation
Lon or On Euphony in French Pronunciation Onà is the French impersonal subject pronoun, and normally shouldnt be preceded by l neither the direct object definite article In Old French,à onà was the subject case for the nounà homme, soà lonà at this time meantà les hommes. When the subject case disappeared in French,à onà stuck around as a pronoun, and retained the ability to take the definite article.à Lonà is much more common in written French than in spoken, because it is a formal, elegant construction, and writing tends to be more formal than speech. Today, this l is simply considered aà euphonicà consonant and is used in the following situations: 1.à After certain monosyllabic words that end in a vowel sound, likeà et,à ou,à oà ¹,à qui,quoi, andà si, to avoid aà hiatus. Sais-tu si lon a demandà ©Ã ? à (avoidà si on) à Do you know if someone asked?...et lon a dit la verità ©. à à à à à (avoid et on) à ...and they told the truth. 2.à After que, lorsque, and puisque, to avoid the contractionà quonà (sounds like con), especially if the next word begins with the sound con. Lorsque lon est arrivà ©... (avoidà lorsquon) à When we arrived...Il faut que lon comprenne. (avoidà quoncomprenne) à Its necessary for everyone to understand. 3.à At the beginning of a sentence or clause. This usage ofà lonà is not a question of euphony, but rather a holdover fromà là ©poque classiqueà and is thus very formal. Lon ne sait jamais. à One never knows. à à Lorsque je suis arrivà ©, lon ma dit bonjour. à When I arrived, everyone said hello. Note: For the purposes of euphony,à onà is used instead ofà lon Afterà dontà (le livre dont on a parlà ©)In front of words that begin withà là (je sais oà ¹ on lit)
Monday, March 2, 2020
Comme Is a Star of French Idiomatic Expressions
Comme Is a Star of French Idiomatic Expressions The French wordà comme means like, as or since and is used in a large number of idiomatic expressions. Learn how to say soaking wet, knee-high to a grasshopper, so-so and more with this list of French expressions that useà comme. Other cultures have found French expressions useful and have assimilated them into their languages. Comme ci, comme à §a, for instance,à is used in English and several other languages to mean so-so, fair, or just okay. The wordà comme, one of the most common and versatile in French,à can be a conjunction, adverb, or part of an adverbial phrase.à Like the Frenchà conjunctions parce que, car andà puisque, commeà is commonly used to draw conclusions or otherwise relate a cause or explanation with a result or conclusion. For example,à Comme je lis le plus vite, jai dà ©j finià meansà Since I read the fastest, Ive already finished. Common French Expressions Using Comme arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupeto be completely irrelevant chanter comme une casseroleto be a lousy singercomme cela/à §a(just) like that; that way; (informal) great, terrificcomme ci, comme à §aso-so;à faircomme dhabitudeas usualcomme il fautproperly;à respectablycomme il vous plairaas you wishcomme les autresordinary; everydaycomme on ditas they say; how its saidcomme par hasardcoincidentally; as if by chancecomme qui dirait(informal) as you might say; what you might think is/wascomme quoito the effect that; which goes to show thatcomme sias if; as though(adjectif) comme toutso (adjective); as (adjective) as can be comme tout le mondenormally; like everyone elsehaut comme trois pommesknee-high to a grasshopperjuste commejust / right asparler le franà §ais comme une vache espagnoleto speak French very badlytrempà © comme une soupeto be soaking wet
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