Live-French.net | FLE » Grammar and Vocabulary

Learning French with kids books

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:05:23 +0000

Last week, I bought a book for my 5 year old son called ‘Martine monte à cheval‘. I thought it would be an excellent book to increase my son’s French vocabulary.

It reminded me of the question I am often asked as a French teacher:

what book should I read to improve my French?

It’s true that as adults, I’m sure we would prefer books for adults. However, there are plenty of kids books (and the collection of Martine is a classic from my youth) that could increase your French vocabulary and your overall level of French.

Some French vocabulary

If I take this book I’ve just mentioned as an example, you will find a nice little story that includes most of the terms that are link to horses. I’m just noted a few of them from the book. Do you know these words?
- le cheval
- la jument
- le poulain
- la selle
- les étriers
- la sangle
- l’écurie
- le manège
- le fer à cheval
- l’équitation
- le gallop
and many more.

Why learning French with kids books?

There are many advantages to use kids books to learn French:
1. It’s usually a short story, so it’s easier to follow and to learn from
2. It’s aimed at kids, so the sentences are short and simple but brings good vocabulary
3. It’s usually in the present tense
4. You can (and should) read them many times to make sure you remember most of the vocabulary
5. You always find good expressions to use in every day situations

So, if you ever wonder what books you should read as a complement to your French conversation lessons, whether you have a beginner or an intermediate level, check out the kids sections of your French book shop!

French Vocabulary around Elections

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:03:49 +0000

As you may know, France had some elections last weekend. It’s a great opportunity to learn some new French vocabulary around the topic of the elections.

French elections

French elections are of different nature. You have:
- les élections présidentielles where people need to choose the President
- les éléctions régionales where you vote for your regional council
- les élections municipales where you vote for your city council
- and many more.
The people who vote are called the électeurs. They vote for un parti de gauche ou de droite.
In France, you need to be at least 18 years old to vote (verb:voter). In the last elections, le taux d’abstention was very high.

Elections in your country

The système électoral in your country might be very different to the one in France. Can you think of any difference? For example:
- Who can vote in your country?
- How do you elect your President?
- Do you have many levels of councils like in France?

Discuss all this and many more topics through online French conversation lessons with one of our teachers at Live-French.net.

Conjugation of French verbs

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:10:02 +0000

One of the most difficult topic students finds when they learn French is how to conjugate French verbs.

Groups of verbs in French

First of all, let try to separate the problems. French verbs can be split into 3 groups:
- the first group: verbs that end with -er in the infinitive. They follow the pattern of parler for example. They are regular!
- the second group: verbs that end with -ir in the infinitive. They follow the pattern of finir for example. They are also regular!
-the third group: verbs that are not part of the first group or the second group, they follow very different patterns. As you may understand, they are irregular verbs!

Resources to learn how to conjugate French verbs

I usually recommend this website -http://www.leconjugueur.com/ – to learn and review third group verbs. (You should be able to conjugate first group and second group verbs without any problem.)

Whatever your level, French conjugation is a difficult topic. Make sure you know by heart the most common ones.

Good luck!