French Help

[dirt monkey AL]

I figured that since there's a Japanese language thread, there should be other language threads open … and I thought I saw some threads about other languages a couple of months ago, but now I can't find them.

So I'll just ask here. Please, help or redirect me to the pages I can't seem to find anymore ...

Anyway, I was dared to learn French, and it was going pretty well for a while until I tried to chat with said French girl that dared me. She explained a few things to me, but the one thing that I still don't quite get is this:

! @these:
! > Dirt: Luffy: Je suis le roi de pirates~!
Sabs: Good!
Sabs: Luffy non suis le roi U___U
Sabs: Luffy vais etre le roi
Dirt: … I thought it'd be «Luffy ne est pas le roi.»
Dirt: aah
Sabs: Oh no I didn't mean like that xD
Dirt: then, I'm confused
Sabs: Before you say "I am king of Pirates" but I was only trying to joke xDD
Sabs: He is not king yet xP
Sabs: That's what I mean
Dirt: non = not yet?
Sabs: Non is no
Sabs: Luffy is not king of pirates
Sabs: He will be xD
Dirt: you use suis in that?
Dirt: I thought it was first-person
Sabs: Yes you would
Sabs: Hmmm how to explain again x9
Sabs: there is not really a word for is
Sabs: Is that the word you try to use?
Dirt: I know être, suis, es, est, and sommes
Dirt: oh, and sont
Dirt: I don't know the past or future tenses though
Sabs: Nu not what I mean xD
Sabs: hmmm
Sabs: I am saying Luffy is not the king
Sabs: But there is not is in french
Dirt: no "is"?
Sabs: I am probably confusing xDD
Sabs: Right!
Sabs: there est sois all those can be use
Sabs: You speak in Luffy's eyes but I speak my own, so maybe that is why you are confused? xDD
Dirt: I ... guess?
Sabs: xDD hard to explain on internet
Sabs: Sorry Love~
Dirt: XP
Sabs: You just going to have to find someone who is good with French AND english

So now I'm here. Does anyone have any clue what she was trying to tell me?

[igalsfy]

it doesn't make sense at all but what i understand is that you used present when you were supposed to use future, because luffy says "i'm the one who's going to be the pirate king" which translates literally as "je suis celui qui va devenir le roi des pirates" or "je serai le roi des pirates", in the simple future form.

but all in all, what your friend told you is über crap and impossible to understand.

now, what did you want to say?

[dirt monkey AL]

No, no, that is what I wanted to say. I was just being silly. I try to have fun when I'm learning new languages.

I was also trying to talk to her about using possessive pronouns.

! @protection:
! > Dirt: I'm still trying to get the hang of masculine and feminine nouns
Dirt: I was saying mon chatte for a while
Sabs: My cat~
Sabs: x]
Dirt: XP
Dirt: ma chatte
Dirt: mon chat
Sabs: Mon celebe xD
Dirt: heaven?
Sabs: Nu
Sabs: Bitch
Dirt: XP hahaha
Dirt: nice
Dirt: Luffy: Est-tu mon celebe Sabs?
Sabs: xD
Sabs: Qui
Dirt: wait …
Sabs: Hm?
Dirt: XP did that wrong ...
Dirt: Be my bitch, Sabs?
Sabs: You could use that no worries
Dirt: XP so I did do it right?
Sabs: well I dunno xD;;;
Sabs: What are you trying to say?
Dirt: will you be my bitch?
Sabs: ah
Sabs: Veux-tu etre ma celebe, Sabs?
Sabs: The other way you can use too
Sabs: But more like asking her
Dirt: ah? but above you said mon celebe
Sabs: *but it is more like asking her xp
Sabs: My bitch
Sabs: Ahh you are using Luffy?
Sabs: Or you?
Dirt: Luffy
Dirt: Luffy: Veux-tu être ma celebe, Sabs?
Sabs: You would probably want mon
Sabs: It is not really a masculine faminine thing
Sabs: Hmmm how to explain
Sabs: Luffy would probably say ma more Hmmmm
Dirt: ... and I would say mon?
Sabs: Lemme think
Sabs: oh you?
Sabs: Mon
Sabs: But you can use ma
Sabs: It isnt a feminine masculine thing x9
Sabs: Im trying to think how to explain
Dirt: ^^;;;
Sabs: You know how Luffy calls them his nakama but it is sometimes hard to figure out what he means by it
Dirt: sure
Sabs: Because he is just different xD;; It is like that
Sabs: Personality wise

[igalsfy]

ok.

just so you know, "celebe" doesn't exist. "salope" might be the word you want to use. but salope is whore. bitch is literally "pute"

[dirt monkey AL]

Gah … What the hell has she been telling me then?

Haha, I know pute, and putain. Another friend taught me them before Sabs dared me to learn.

But basically, I probably shouldn't be listening to anything she says?

[igalsfy]

i think she explains incredibly badly what she wants to say. take for example the "ma" and "mon" stuff. the expression "veux-tu etre mon amie?". it's not really hard to explain. basically in the sentence: "you are my whatever". if whatever is feminine, you use "ma" for "my". but if whatever is feminine and begins with a vowel, then you use "mon". it's just because of the linking between words that is so important in french speaking.

and of course you use "mon" anytime "whatever" is masculine.

not more difficult than that. but yeah, if you're not french i suppose it's really hard to explain, in fact…

[dirt monkey AL]

I understand that far, but I guess what was confusing me is that she changed it from mon to ma just suddenly and the word itself (which apparently doesn't exist) didn't change, and I didn't know why.

I also understand that some words can't change gender. Like la personne is always going to be feminine no matter who you're talking about or le professeur will always be masculine.

Hmm … are there words that can change gender but don't change in spelling? Might help a little if I know whether it's just a no or if it's rare.

[jobebob]

@dirt:

I understand that far, but I guess what was confusing me is that she changed it from mon to ma just suddenly and the word itself (which apparently doesn't exist) didn't change, and I didn't know why.

I also understand that some words can't change gender. Like la personne is always going to be feminine no matter who you're talking about or le professeur will always be masculine.

Hmm … are there words that can change gender but don't change in spelling? Might help a little if I know whether it's just a no or if it's rare.

I'm pretty sure there are no words like that as French tends to be grammatically strict. Atleast I can't think of any right now haha.

One of the hardest parts of learning French is the "word genders" since there are no real rules that define if a certain word should be male of female.

Also i'd say "salope" is closer to bitch and "pute" is closer to whore.

[dirt monkey AL]

Thank you. That's good to know.

French spelling system does seem to have a bit more logic than English's, so that's always good. I like learning languages where spelling/phonetics make sense.

[Kamisama420]

I`m sorry dude, but there are a very few words that can change gender without the spelling changing, BUT, luckily, the only ones I can think of at the moment are jobs…

Ex: Un secrétaire, une secrétaire (secretary)

The masculine or feminine form is decided here based on if the secretary is a male or female. But for nouns ? I too can`t think of any.

Oh and yea, forget everything that girl told you… EVERYTHING !

[amai-mikan]

Not that it's a big deal at the moment since you're just learning, but you might want to learn the differences between Canadian French and France French. Canadian French is backwards :silly: lol. It's not really THAT important since it's mostly just the choice of vocabulary~ But I'd suggest learning the France way of speaking French over the Canadian.

[Kamisama420]

lol

I admit the France way of speaking it is easier. The Quebequer French first of all uses the old pronounciation of French. For example, in France "un" and "in" sound pretty much the same, but are completly different in Quebec. Also, in Quebec there are laws to preserve the language (considering its a small French island in an ocean of English, its a good idea), which makes them translate everything, which is not the case in France where they use quite a lot of English words where they could translate them, like "parking", "shopping", "happy meal", etc. (stationnement, magasiner, joyeux festin in Quebec)

The vocabulary is also different is some aspects ("voiture" in France, "char" in Quebec, although they know "voiture" anyway), and expressions are completly different. Quebequers also use a lot of curse words that they can change into nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or anything they like, which can easily confuse anyone trying to learn the language.

Its yours to see really which one youd like to learn, and provided a good teacher, the only difference would be the pronounciation.

Here are a few differences you might like :
FRANCE –--------------------- QUEBEC
Il fait froid---------------------- Y fa frette
Il pleut------------------------- Y mouille
Quest-ce que cest ?---------- Quessé ça ?
Et–--------------------- Pis / et
Je vais aller faire du shopping - Je vais magasiner

And others. XD

[jobebob]

@Kamisama420:

The vocabulary is also different is some aspects ("voiture" in France, "char" in Quebec, although they know "voiture" anyway),

Haha they use char in quebec, now that is oldschool

Also, correct me if i'm wrong, but don't they use the swiss-french way of counting for 70, 80 and 90?

[Kamisama420]

Haha they use char in quebec, now that is oldschool

Yea they use a lot of archaisms that are not used in France anymore. XD

I don`t know about the swiss-french, never heard it, but as far as the numbers are concerned, they say:

soixante-dix = 70
quatre-vingt = 80
quatre-vingt-dix = 90

Never heard of any other way to say those, is there any ?

[jobebob]

@Kamisama420:

Yea they use a lot of archaisms that are not used in France anymore. XD

I don`t know about the swiss-french, never heard it, but as far as the numbers are concerned, they say:

soixante-dix = 70
quatre-vingt = 80
quatre-vingt-dix = 90

Never heard of any other way to say those, is there any ?

Guess not eh, well both the swiss and belgians use:
septante = 70
huitante = 80
nonante = 90

[Kamisama420]

Woah… first time I heard those... interesting though.

[dirt monkey AL]

Now the counting … don't get me started on the counting. Very, very odd once you reach 70. Oh, and I'm just learning French from France.

[Kamisama420]

It`s not that odd lol

Soixante-dix (60 + 10)
soixante-et-onze (60 + 11)
soixante-douze (60 +12)
…
quatre-vingt (4 x 20)
quatre-vingt-un (4 x 20 + 1)
...
quatre-vingt-dix (4 x 20 + 10)
quatre-vingt-onze (4 x 20 + 11)

You`ll get used to it, no worries lol.

[jobebob]

I find the swiss way more logical then the classic way. It still sound slame when they say it though.

[igalsfy]

@Kamisama420:

It`s not that odd lol

Soixante-dix (60 + 10)
soixante-et-onze (60 + 11)
soixante-douze (60 +12)
…
quatre-vingt (4 x 20)
quatre-vingt-un (4 x 20 + 1)
...
quatre-vingt-dix (4 x 20 + 10)
quatre-vingt-onze (4 x 20 + 11)

You`ll get used to it, no worries lol.

when i was a kid and was reading the 101 dalmatiens, when they said there were "quatre-vingt-dix-neuf chiots", i didn't get it, because i couldn't count that far. so i thought there were 4+20+10+9=43 pups and never got where were the 56 remaining…

[dirt monkey AL]

@Kamisama420:

It`s not that odd lol

Soixante-dix (60 + 10)
soixante-et-onze (60 + 11)
soixante-douze (60 +12)
…
quatre-vingt (4 x 20)
quatre-vingt-un (4 x 20 + 1)
...
quatre-vingt-dix (4 x 20 + 10)
quatre-vingt-onze (4 x 20 + 11)

You`ll get used to it, no worries lol.

Oh. Well, that makes more sense. Thanks.