Quizzes & Puzzles0 min ago
French Have No Backbone/No Sense Of Humour.?
123 Answers
I've heard such comments. I'm reading Verdun 1916, and I live part-time in a French village. It seems to me that they have both. They certainly have a sense of humour, although people who don't understand French wouldn't know that. They certainly have backbone; we weren't occupied by an invading army and they were. How would the English have got on if Churchill and Dad's Army had failed? The spivs and right-wing profiteers would have had a field day.
Answers
"qui ne comprennent francais." qui ne comprennent pas le français.
19:30 Fri 04th Sep 2020
As JimF says in BA (well earned i.m.o.) if you don't understand French - you don't understand the French. It took me years to do so - and then I realised how deeply differently they think. This is not derogatory, I still love my many French friends and ex-neighbours and Mr. J2 talks about going back for at least part of the year, if not permanently. Nous parlons assez bien francais.
"if you don't understand French - you don't understand the French"
That's certainly true, though by no means unique to the French and their language. There is also the lack of shared cultural history, of course, which means that things that are obvious to French people are impenetrable to people who didn't grow up in that country. This is the reason that non-British people often do very badly on British quiz shows, especially with the initial "easy" questions - ask any Brit of a certain age which children's programme had the presenters John Noakes, Peter Purvis and Valerie Singleton and they'd have no trouble with the answer, but a French person would almost certainly have no idea what you were talking about!
Similarly, if a French person says "T'es complètement glécin, toi", are they insulting you, praising you or just having a bit of banter with you? Unless you'd grown up in France or can otherwise speak verlan, you'd be clueless.
That's certainly true, though by no means unique to the French and their language. There is also the lack of shared cultural history, of course, which means that things that are obvious to French people are impenetrable to people who didn't grow up in that country. This is the reason that non-British people often do very badly on British quiz shows, especially with the initial "easy" questions - ask any Brit of a certain age which children's programme had the presenters John Noakes, Peter Purvis and Valerie Singleton and they'd have no trouble with the answer, but a French person would almost certainly have no idea what you were talking about!
Similarly, if a French person says "T'es complètement glécin, toi", are they insulting you, praising you or just having a bit of banter with you? Unless you'd grown up in France or can otherwise speak verlan, you'd be clueless.
KARL, I don't know the latest about driving licenses. We keep a car here but not in England. I usemy UK license, and it may be that that won't be enough after 31 January. It may be necessary to get an international driving permit (I think that's what it's called - I go one last year but it proved not to be necesary.) This whole business is a pain for people like us; we won't suffer awfully, but everything is becoming difficult, more red tape etc.
Karl it depends on how you are using the word né
In the instance of 'je suis né' its used as the Participe Passé in the Passé Composé and will conjugate. Only neé is correct in 'Elle est neé
né takes on Gender when it directly follows a subject pronoun for example : M. Dupont, né à Paris
Mme Dupont, neé à Paris
The actual mistake in my post was at the very end where I missed an 'e' off Quebecoise which was a typo :-) -which I do a lot of in English too.
In the instance of 'je suis né' its used as the Participe Passé in the Passé Composé and will conjugate. Only neé is correct in 'Elle est neé
né takes on Gender when it directly follows a subject pronoun for example : M. Dupont, né à Paris
Mme Dupont, neé à Paris
The actual mistake in my post was at the very end where I missed an 'e' off Quebecoise which was a typo :-) -which I do a lot of in English too.
Latest Posts
Lord Peter Mandelson, Uk Ambassador
News2 mins ago
Quizzes & Puzzles3 mins ago
ChatterBank7 mins ago
News8 mins ago
Related Questions
Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.