Sunday, December 29, 2019
Where Is the Mistake in Parlez-Vous Français
Whats wrong with the French phraseà Parlez-vous Franà §ais?à Thats an easy one: It contains a spelling error. It should be written: Parlez-vous franà §ais? with a lowercase f in franà §ais.à Heres why.à The French word franà §ais has three English equivalents: two nouns (French the language and French the nationality or person) and French the adjective. All three forms are capitalized in English. Language Names Are Lowercased in French In French, however, franà §ais is only capitalized when it is used as a noun identifying a nationality, such as the following: Les Franà §ais aiment le vin (The French like wine). When franà §ais is used as an adjective or refers to the language, however, the f is lowercase, notà capitalized: Jaime le vin franà §ais (I like French wine). Many beginning French students make this mistake, as do manyà Francophonesà who speak English well.à They capitalizeà franà §ais,à espagnol, and the like, whether the word is a noun, adjective, or language because nationalities and languages are always capitalized in English. Likewise, the names of all languagesà are lowercase, as with langlais,à leà portugais,à leà chinois,à larabe,à lallemand,à leà japonais,à le russe, etc. For French nationalities, the properà nounà and adjective are spelled exactly the same, but the proper noun is capitalized, while the adjective is not capitalized.à Thus, in French we write:à un type amà ©ricain (adjective) an American guyBUTà un Amà ©ricainà (noun identifyingà nationality) an Americanà Elle aime la cuisine espagnole. (adjective)à She likes Spanish food/cuisine.BUTà Elle sest marià ©e avec un Espagnol.à (noun identifyingà nationality) She married a Spaniard.Jai vu un animal mignon australien. (adjective)à I saw a cute Australian animal.à BUTà Jai vu un Australien.à (noun identifying nationality)à à I saw an Australian. Correct Usage and Their Meanings Un Franà §ais a FrenchmanUne Franà §aise a French womanLes Franà §ais the French people, the French OR FrenchmenLes Franà §aises French womanLe Franà §ais naime pas...à The average Frenchmanà orà French person doesnt like ...Le franà §ais the French languageparler franà §ais to speak Frenchen bon franà §aisà à in proper Frenchleà franà §aisà courant à fluent FrenchIl parle franà §ais couramment. He speaks French fluently.à la franà §aise French or French-style; (in) the French wayTerritoire franà §ais des Afars et des Issas à French Territory of Afars and Issasle franà §aisà seconde langueà French as a second languageunà leà §on deà franà §ais à a French lessonun cours deà franà §ais à a French courseuneà faute deà franà §ais à a grammatical mistake in Frenchà ©corcher leà franà §ais à to speak terrible Frenchchez lesà Franà §ais à among the Frenchfaire duà franà §ais (...en samusant, ...en maternelle, etc)à à to do French or the French way (...in having fun, ...in nursery school, etc.)leà malà franà §ais à main issues of French society, problems of France
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