French Lessons- Vocabulary

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Days of the Week in French

First, let’s take a look at the days of the week:
English French
Monday lundi (pronounced: lun-dee)
Tuesday mardi (pronounced like: Mardi Gras)
Wednesday mercredi (pronounced: mer-cra-dee)
Thursday jeudi (pronounced: ju-dee)
Friday vendredi (pronounced: von-dra-dee)
Saturday samedi (pronounced: sa-mey-dee)
Sunday dimanche (pronounced: dee-man-sh)
Notice that they are not automatically capitalized like they are in English. That is a very important rule, so make sure you keep it in mind! Learn to speak French

French Months of the Year

This lesson will teach you how to say the months of the year in French. The names of the months are considered to be international words. They are fairly similar in French and English languages and should be easy for you to learn. Note that in French, the months are not capitalized unless they occur in the beginning of a sentence. Besides that, all months in French are masculine.
French word English translation Pronunciation
janvier January zhah(n)-vyay
février February fay-vree-yay
mars March mahrs
avril April ah-vreel
mai May meh
juin June zhwa(n)
juillet July zhwee-eh
août August oo or oot
septembre September sehp-tah(n)br
octobre October ohk-tohbr
novembre November noh-vah(n)br
décembre December day-sah(n)br

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French Prepositions Used with Months

In order to say that something is going to happen “in” a certain month, French speakers use the preposition “en”, which is pronounced as [ah(n)]. If you’d like to say that something has been happening “since” a certain month, the preposition “depuis” should be used. The table below gives a few examples:
depuis décembre since December duh-pwee day-sah(n)br
un mois a month uh(n) mwah
une année a year ewn ah-nay
un an one year uhN nahN

Phrases and examples

Il y a douze mois dans l’année There are twelve months in a year Je suis né le 10 décembre I was born on the 10th of December
Comments Unlike English, the names of the months do not begin with a capital letter.
As you can read and listen to the sounds of the words for the months in French, you will notice that they are very similar to English and should not give you any problems in learning by heart. Listen and repeat as often as possible.

PROFESSIONS

engineer un ingénieur
mechanic un méchanicien
technician un(e) technicien(ne)
electrician un électricien
builder un maçon
secretary une secrétaire
cook un(e) cuisinier / cuisinière
policeman un agent de police
hairdresser un(e) coiffeur / coiffeuse
waiter un serveur
waitress une serveuse
unemployed en chômage

GREETINGS

Hello Bonjour
Good day Bonjour
Good evening Bonsoir
Good night Bonsoir
Hi Salut
Good bye Au revoir
See you soon A bientôt

GENERAL RESPONSES

Yes Oui
No Non
That depends Cela dépend
I don’t know Je ne sais pas
I don’t think so Je ne crois pas
I suppose so Je suppose que oui
I think so Je crois que oui
It doesn’t matter Ça ne fait rien
I don’t mind Cela m’est égal
Of course Bien sûr
True Vrai
With pleasure Avec plasir

QUESTION WORDS

Where? Où?
When? Quand?
Why? Porquoi?
What? Qu’est-ce que/qui…?
Who? Qui?
How? Comment?
How much/many? Combien?
Is/are there? Y a-t-il?

SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Congratulations! Félicitations!
Happy Birthday! Bon anniversaire!
Happy Christmas! Joyeux Noël!
Happy New Year! Bonne Année!
Happy Easter! Joyeuses Pâques!
Good Luck! Bonne chance!
Enjoy the meal! Bon appétit!
Have a safe journey! Bon voyage!
Have a good holiday! Bonnes vacances!
Take Care! Prenez/Prends garde!
Have a nice day! Bonne journée!

ETIQUETTE

Please S’il vous/te plaît
Thank you (very much) Merci (beaucoup)
Excuse me Excusez-moi
I’m sorry, but… Je regrette, mais…
That’s a shame Quel dommage
May I… ? Puis-je… ?
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Spoken French[/caption]

Personality Traits in French

Now let’s say you’re in France and a friend tries to set you up on a blind date. You’ll need to know some personality trait vocabulary in French. Let’s look at some basic personality trait adjectives in French:
Masculine Plural Masculine Feminine Plural Feminine English Translation
intelligent intelligents (an tehl ee jahn) intelligente intelligentes (an tehl ee jahntuh) intelligent
gentil gentils (jahn tee) gentille gentilles (jahn teeyuh) kind
avare avares (ah vahr) avare avares (ah vahr) stingy
sympathique sympathiques (sam pah teek) sympathique sympathiques (sam pah teek) nice/sympathetic
méchant méchants (meh shahn) méchante méchantes (meh shahn tuh) mean
créatif créatifs (cray ah teef) créative créatives (cray ah teev) creative
artistique artistiques (ahr tee steek) artistique artistiques (ahr tee steek) artistic
timide timides (tee meed) timide timides (tee meed) timid/ shy
sortant sortants (sohr tahn) sortante sortantes (sohr tahntuh) outgoing
branché branchés (brahn shay) branchée branchées (brahn shay) cool/connected
charmant charmants (shahr mahn) charmante charmantes (shahr mahntuh) charming
fidèle fidèles (fee dehl) fidèle fidèles (fee dehl) loyal
bavard bavards (bah vahr) bavarde bavardes (bah vahr duh) talkative
calme calmes (cahl muh) calme calmes (cahlmuh) quiet/ calm
organisé organisés (ohr gah nee zay) organisée organisées (ohr gah nee zay) organized
désorganisé désorganisés (day zohr gah nee zay) désorganisée désorganisées (day zohr gah nee zay) disorganized/messy
compréhensif compréhensifs (cohm pray ahn seef) compréhensive compréhensives (cohm pray ahn seev) understanding
bon bons (bohn) bonne bonnes (buhnnuh) good
mauvais mauvais (moh vay) mauvaise mauvaises (moh vehz) bad
paresseux paresseux (pah reh suh) paresseuse paresseuses (pah reh suhz) lazy
travailleur travailleurs (trah vah ee uhr) travailleuse travailleuses (trah vah ee uhz) hardworking
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