French students in love: Photo of a window by stained glass artist Achim Herget of La Turbie on the Côte d'Azur.
I know lots of couples who are learning a language ensemble. It’s a nice sort of marital activity, to take language lessons so you can work on your French (or whatever language you’re learning) together. Ron and I have done this, and just today I talked to our friends Melaina and Clarence, who have started private lessons as a couple.
The other day a French person suggested to me that couples who are both learning French should speak a couple of hours of French together at home each day. This made Ron and I laugh. We’ve tried it a couple of times, I think we lasted five minutes.
This might work if you’re advanced students, and/or at the same level. But most likely, you’re just going to compound each other’s mistakes, or the better student will be continually correcting the other, not necesssarily the healthiest situation in a relationship. We do sprinkle our conversation with French phrases now (some expressions just work better in French), but speaking only French to each other at home, now that’s a hard one.
But for those of you who would like to try it, I have listed some of those delicate marital expressions for those special moments that occur in most relationships from time to time. These will also come in handy should you ever snag yourself a French Significant Other. Bonne Chance.
Lynn’s List of Handy Marital Expressions, in French
You’re right. Tu as raison.
You’re wrong. Tu as tort.
I screwed up. Je me suis trompé. (NOT to be confused with Je t'ai trompé, an admission of adultry).
Well in my opinion… À mon avis…
As you wish. Comme tu veux.
Stop your bitchin’. Ne grogne pas.
You don’t care/I don’t care. Tu t’en fiche/Je m’en fiche.
I’m very busy. Je suis débordé.
When you’re in hot water:
It’s my fault. C’est ma faute.
Calm down, let’s talk about it. Calme-toi, il faut en discuter.
I’m sorry, can you forgive me? Désolé. Est-ce-que tu peut me pardonner?
I was just kidding. C’était une blague.
I love you so much. Je t’aime tant.
Please, let me do that. S’il te plaît, permets-moi de le faire.
Many of these expressions will work better if prefaced with a terms of endearment:
Mon Lapin---My Bunny Rabbit
Mon petit chouchou--fuzzy origins: either my little cabbage or my little cream puff
Mon Trésor--My Treasure
Mon Cheri, Ma Cherie--My Darling
Mon Ange--My Angel
Or you can preface them with an exclamation:
Ma foi! Good Grief
Merde! (you know this one)
Mon Dieu! (OMG)
Good luck with that. Now, speaking of language: I’m in the process of writing an e-book on the very BEST methods for learning a language as an adult. I’ll be adding input from our readers and fellow bloggers for the book soon, so please stay tuned for more info!
Favorite Reads: Our BOOK GIVEAWAY continues this week, and we'll pick the four winners just before next week's post. Kristin Espinasse of the French Word a Day blog has given us four copies of her fabulous new book, Blossoming in Provence
Our Reader's Blogs: Winter is a perfect time to head over to Rachel's blog, And Then Make Soup. This week you can double-dip: she's makig a white bean dip which then morphs into a lovely soup. Find more winter cheer over at Herm's place: Poems, Photos and Such. Herm, that gorgeous photo looks just like my neighborhood. And speaking of Kristin, her husband Jean-Marc Espinasse blogs about wine and his vineyard at Rouge-Bleu. See photos of the harvest and more.
