Now, Onto What You Came For…

tips for college classes that nobody tells you

1. don’t load your hardest classes in one semester. find out which classes within your major are rumored to be tough and divide them out throughout your time in college.

2. don’t show up to class earlier than 10 mins early. the class before yours will likely still be in there finishing up, and you’ll either walk in in the middle of a lecture or have to stand outside for a long time. just get there 5-10 mins early and you’ll be fine!

3. create a group chat for all of your classes. find a few friends from class and make a group chat! this can be either on imessage, groupme, or whatever is most popular to use at your school. this can be your go-to place to ask questions about assignments, due dates, etc. before asking the professor!

4. as for class participation, quality>quantity. in most college classes (with the exception of huge lectures) participation accounts for a chunk of your grade, and some professors take that grade very seriously. however, this doesn’t mean you should raise your hand and talk whenever you find the opportunity- your professor (and your classmates, for that matter) will appreciate you much more if your comments and questions are less frequent and have more to add to the class. 

5. the readings listed under a date in a class are due for that class, they are not homework for the next class. this is one of the biggest issues college freshman have at the beginning of their first semester. unless the professor specifically says otherwise, if the syllabus is set up to list each class individually with the readings underneath/beside the class, they are due for that class, not the next one.

6. make yourself known to your professor! this is especially important for a large lecture, where they won’t get to know you otherwise. stop by their office hours or go up to them after class and introduce yourself- making a connection with your professor can open more doors than you may know!

7. rate my professor is not always accurate. professors can get better or worse, and different people have different experiences. though it’s a great tool and you can still use it to see what people think, if you’re stuck with a professor that is ranked low, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a bad time in that class.

8. sometimes it’s okay to just skim your readings. you’ll find out soon enough if your professor basically goes over exactly what the reading says every class. if so, you only need to skim it over and take light notes. don’t spend hours closely reading a textbook that your professor is just going to go over word for word the next day (unless it helps you- if so, do it!)

9. the guy in class that answers every question isn’t smarter than you. that’s it.

10. if you come from a lower income area or a worse school district than your peers, you may be playing the “catch up game” for a while. it’s okay! i personally go to a college where most students here come from wealthy families across the world and were sent to the best high schools possible. if you, like me, come from a mediocre public school, you may feel like you’re a beat behind your peers when it comes to background knowledge. don’t give up. work hard, you’ll catch up with them soon. (also- they aren’t smarter than you just because they had better opportunities than you did growing up. at the end of the day, you ended up at the same college)

♥French Vocabulary : flowers ♥

une fleur = a flower

un fleuriste = a florist

un pétale = a petal

une rose = a rose

un bleuet = a cornflower

un lys = a lily

une marguerite = a daisy

une tulipe = a tulip

une violette = a violet

un tournesol = a sunflower

un oeillet = a carnation

fleurir = to bloom

un jardin = a garden

une graine = a seed

creuser = to dig

arroser = to water

coloré = colourful

(by Francesco Hayez)

French Prepositions

and how else they can be used

I don’t know about y’all, but prepositions are the WORST. They hardly ever directly translate between languages and when they do, there are so many exceptions it doesn’t even matter. So, I’ve done some research and I’ll try to make the list as comprehensive as possible :) 

OKAY ! So here is the most basic “to and from” list. 

But as you know, French is not that easy. You will also see de and à frequently interspersed between verbs and even used as adverbs and adjectives. Below I have listed a few verbs that take these prepositions. 

Verbs that require the preposition à

Aider (quelqu'un) à (to help someone to)

S’amuser à (to amuse oneself)

Avoir à (to have to)

Apprendre à (to learn how to)

Avoir de la peine à (to have difficulty)

Commencer à

Continuer à

The preposition à can also be used to indicate place, time, manner or possession

À droite (on the right)

À loisir (at leisure)

À la compagne (in the mountains)

À la française ([in] the french way)

Cette voiture est à toi? (This car is yours?)

Verbs that require the preposition de

S’arreter de

Cesser de

Choisir de

Décider de

Se dépêcher de (to be in a hurry

Essayer de

Finir de

Oublier de

Refuser de

Verbs that can be followed by both

Conseiller à (quelqu’un) de (faire quelque chose)

Défendre à… de

Demander à…de

Dire à… de

Offrir à … de

Permettre à… de

Promettre à… de

Proposer à… de

Suggérer à…de

Hope this helps !!

French adjectives that precede the noun (BAGS/BANGS)

bags/bangs stand for Beauty-Age-Number-Goodness-Size

When composing sentences in French the adjective always goes after the noun. For example: j'aime cette robe rouge. (I like this red dress.)

However when using BAGS/BANGS these particular words are placed before the noun.

This is also true for ordinal numbers: la deuxième mois de l'année est fevier (The second month of the year is Febuary).

B- beau, belle, joli, jolie, vilain, vilaine

A- Nouveau, nouvelle, vieux, vieille, jeune

N- [j’ai cinq ans], [prendre la première classe]

G- bon, bonne, mauvais, mauvaise, meilleur, meilleure

S- petit, petite, court, courte

If you’re not sure if an adjective comes before or after the noun, think ‘BANGS’

lets try some examples: ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

1. She is a beautiful girl :

(A) Elle est une belle fille.

(B) Elle est une fille belle.

2. They have a new car:

(A)  ils ont une voiture nouvelle.

(B)  ils ont une nouvelle voiture.

3. Enfin! My first day in my new office:

(A) Enfin! Mon premier jour dans mon bureau nouveau.

(B) Enfin! Mon jour premier dans mon nouveau bureau.

(C) Enfin! Mon jour premier dans mon bureau nouveau.

(D) Enfin! Mon premier jour dans mon nouveau bureau.

*answers tagged

NOTE:  There are some exceptions to BAGS/BANGS when it comes to some words, ‘Grand(e)’ is one of them. depending on where the adjective is placed, it can change the meaning. The BAGS/BANGS adjective before the noun could mean it figuratively vs after the noun meaning it literally. *Grand is an exception so it does not follow BAGS/BANGS rule.

ex:  Monsieur Phillips est un grand homme.

Mr. phillips is a great man.- figuratively M. Phillips is a great person. You always hear great things about  him from other people.

ex:  Monsieur Phillips est un homme grand.

Mr. phillips is a tall man  - literally, M. Phillips is a tall man; 7 ft to be exact.

pt2 Exceptions with BAGS/BANGS

Diary Writing in French

cher journal - dear diary

- you can talk about how your day was - this is a great opportunity to apply your knowledge of past tenses. 

How to say that you had a good day -

j’ai passé une très bonne journée

j’ai passé une excellente journée

j’ai passé une belle journée

j’ai eu une merveilleuse journée

j’ai passé une journée fantastique

How to say that you had a bad day -

Je n’ai pas eu une bonne journée

j’ai eu une journée affreuse - a really bad day

j’ai eu une mauvaise journée

j’ai passé une journée difficile 

How to say that you had a busy day - 

j’ai eu une journée des plus occupés

j’ai eu une journée chargée

la journée d’aujourd’hui s’est avérée fort occupée

How to say that you had a quiet/relaxing day - 

j’ai eu une journée tranquille

j’ai passé une journée tranquille

j’ai profité d’une journée de détente

Talking about time -

hier - yesterday

hier soir - last night

hier matin - yesterday morning

hier après-midi - yesterday afternoon

demain - tomorrow

demain matin - tomorrow morning

demain après-midi - tomorrow afternoon

demain soir - tomorrow evening

le lendemain - the next day

cette semaine - this week

la semaine dernière - last week

la semaine prochaine - next week

ce mois-ci - this month

le mois dernier - last month

le mois prochain - next month

cette année - this year

l’année dernière - last year

l’année prochaine - next year

when talking about a coming day e.g. next saturday = samedi prochain/le samedi suivant

To add a dash of drama -

et mon cul, c’est du poulet ? - yeah right!

faire du cinéma - to be a drama queen

j’ai du mal à croire que - I can’t believe that

jai vraiment foiré sur ce coup là - I really stuffed up!

je n’arrive pas à y croire ! - I can’t believe it

je n’en crois pas mes yeux - I can’t believe my eyes

je n’en reviens pas ! - I can’t believe it!

mon cul ! - my arse! (when you don’t believe someone, say if they’ve been lying to you)

Let me know if there is anything that you think I should add or if there are any corrections:)

What to do during lockdown

(and work on your French):

Work on your pronunciation

Read some classics

Read some fanfiction

Listen to podcasts

Listen to TED Talks

Listen to music

Listen to the radio

Watch french movies (detailed, by period and type)

Watch dubbed/subtitled movies: The Simpson, Cesar and Cleopatra, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Red Shoes, La Vérité

Watch cartoons

Watch youtubers

Watch let’s plays: 1 2 3 4 5

Work on some MOOCs

Learn about black holes, Pompei, giant animals, gladiators, the Dreyfus affair, Charles Manson, ants, Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, smelly cheeses, Mozart, the Bermuda triangle, meditation…

Follow french subreddits

Search our social media

Visit the Louvre online

Check my practice tag

And make sure your priorities are in order!

Here’s a short post that I made while procrastinating studying for my quantum mechanics class that is very heavy on the math :)

Quelques mots similaires #8

Le monsieur = gentleman

La madame = madam, lady

La mademoiselle = miss

Les mesdemoiselles = ladies

Les messieurs = gentlemen

Les mesdames = ladies

French fairy tales

Princess Rosette, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy : FR / EN

The fair with golden hair, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy : FR / EN

The friendly frog, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy : FR / EN

Aurore and Aimée, Jeanne de Beaumont : FR / EN

Beauty and the beast, Jeanne de Beaumont : FR / EN

Bluebeard, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

Cinderella, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

Donkey skin, Charles Perrault : FR / EN 

Little red riding hood, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

Little thumb, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

Puss in boots, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

Sleeping beauty, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

The fairy, Charles Perrault : FR / EN

Blondine, Sophie Ségur : FR / EN

Ourson, Sophie Ségur : FR / EN

Sophie’s misfortunes, Sophie Ségur : FR / EN

The little grey mouse, Sophie Ségur : FR / EN

(You can download the Wikisource PDFs legally for free at the top of the page as they are part of the public domain)

how to get the most out of duolingo

duolingo is a great app/website that you can use to begin learning a foreign language, but unfortunately you most likely won’t be able to fully learn the language if you only use duolingo. so, here are some things that you can do to get the most out of duolingo and to learn your target better.

1. read the lessons - most of the languages (especially if you’re learning in english) have little lessons. however, these are only available on the website, so if you use the app, you might want to occasionally check in online and click on the little lightbulb to read the lessons. they usually aren’t super in-depth, but for beginners it is super helpful and not as heavy as a textbook grammar guide.

2. don’t work too fast and always revise - if you’re knocking out a bunch of lessons a day thinking you’ll learn faster, this could be true, but most likely it’s not. if you work at a steady pace and remember to do it once a day (preferably at the same time – they say this is better for memorization) you will learn it better. if you do one lesson or maybe two a day and you still have time for more, go ahead and revise a little. when i first started french, i did two lessons a day and then always revised to make sure i remembered everything.

3. study the vocabulary - not all of the courses have this, but on the online version some of the courses have a tab on the top that says “words” and this is a great place to find all the vocabulary that you’ve been learning in your courses. go through the list and find all the words you don’t know that well or at all and make some flashcards or a set on quizlet and study them. learn how to spell them, pronounce them, conjugate them, and use them within a sentence. if you do this, you’ll always have a solid base to fall back on. this goes for learning conjugations, as well.

4. start learning your native language in your target language - after you’ve finished all the courses in your target language, feel free to revise daily. you might want to, however, start learning your native language in your target language. this might not be an option for all the languages offered on duolingo. for me, i learned english in french. this was helpful for picking up more phrases and seeing more common ways that french people write. if you’re feeling particularly confident and know your stuff really well, try learning a new language in your target language. for example, i did the spanish course in french, which definitely helped with my french phrasing while translating. 

5. don’t stop after you finish your course - if you’ve done it right, finishing your course on duolingo will give you a really good start to the language you’re learning. after you’ve finished, keep revising, but also go ahead and start learning your target language in different ways. i made a whole in-depth post on how to learn a language online here. some ideas are reading children books, watching youtube videos and movies, and talking to natives all in your target language. never give up because it will be worth it.