Basic French Lesson #10 (Part 2 of 2)

[veselin320]

have one background for each lecon

[floragazi]

Bon jour Remy ! Comment ca va ? Merci :)

[nikolajnewyork2]

5:37 au Japon :-)

See M or F for: Skandinavien Og Danmark og Sverige og Norge og Island og Færøerne: et en Scandinavie, le Danemark et la Suède et la Norvège et l'Islande et les îles Féroé

[nikolajnewyork2]

5:37 au Japon :-)

[floragazi]

Dear Remy here you said " A`" means "at " ( which is a preposition and it should be like that) but after a while you again said "A` " is an article .If it was just a slip of the tongue , it's okay but I actually got a little confused. Please clarify .

[jremy7]

@floragazi

Must have been a slip or the tongue.

[Tapajara]

"The Philippines" is plural because it is a contraction for "The Philippine Islands".

[Tapajara]

In English, the country surrounding the lower Gambia river in west Afria is correctly referred to as "The Gambia" as opposed to simply "Gambia" which is incorrect. On the other hand, "Zambia" is correct for the south-central country just north of Namibia/Botswana.

[R4YMI]

@jremy7

Interesting lesson, I listened to it with much care (I’m French). However, you didn’t say anything about the countries which the article is a “ L’ “ (like l’Irlande, l’Allemagne etc.)

Except for this point, again, it was a useful lesson for people who want to start to speak the French language, and shows us how this is a difficult language to learn (in particular Anglophone people).

Is this correct?

[R4YMI]

@ jremy7

Bonne leçon, que j'ai suivie avec intérêt (je suis Français). Cependant, vous n'avez rien dit au sujet des pays dont l'article est un " L' " (par exemple, l'Allemagne, l'Irlande etc.).

Excepté ce point, encore une fois, c'était une leçon utile pour ceux souhaitant débuter leur apprentissage du français, leçon qui témoigne bien de la difficulté de cette langue (surtout pour les anglophones).

@ MegaFrance1995 : Un bel exemple d'un français qui ne parle pas sa langue correctement :/

[cripysv]

How do u say Romania? :) M or F? :D

[jremy7]

@cripysv

La Roumanie

[jremy7]

You're most welcome :-)

[nirokill]

thank you for teaching me this french language in my school was hard because they was teaching hard and i was not understanding what they say about french but now cause of u i am better thank you very much.

[AimeeViolette]

what if there is a clash of vowels? J'habite à Ottawa? Et j'ai toujours avait des problems avec les prépositions "au" et "en" pour les noms de pays.

[jremy7]

@AimeeViolette

Good question. The word à doesn't force a contraction if the following word starts with a vowel. Go figure.

"That's French for Ya"

[MegaFrance1995]

@hangingouts

Je suis français et en vérité il n'y a pas de règle pour savoir si c'est masculin ou féminin, quand le français est vôtre langue maternelle on entend grammaticalement si c'est correcte ou pas. Un français ne se trompera jamais parce phonétiquement c'est pas jolie: par exemple "Le France" n'est pas jolie phonétiquement pour les français alors que "La France" est beaucoup mieux.

[Armand2Maupertuis]

@MegaFrance1995

En réalité, la fin des mots permet très souvent de savoir quel est le genre. (google fourmilab francais gender)

[BelgianSigma]

@hangingouts French is my mother tongue and in fact there's no real reason for a word to be feminie or masculine ^^ Canada is masculine ( le Canada) but Russia is femine ( la Russie) but why??? Nobody knows =)

[eterneluluby]

tu viens d'où, je reconnais pas ton accent!

[mysungo]

WHAT ABOUT HONDURAS?

[oOJesuteOo]

@hangingouts

Il n'y a pas de raison particulière, c'est comme cela et il faut les apprendre, c'est tout^^

[necromancer584]

cette leçon avec les anglais mot "at" ...je veux que de déchirure mon cheveux dehors. oui, je suis mauvais aux français, lol. i try, XD.

[markozz2007]

Hi Remy, regarding this particular video, shouldnt we also deal with the clash of vowels "e" on the following?

J'abitE En France.

Cheers.

[lumiere2020]

@markozz2007 No, you shouldn't. It's really 'J'habite en France.' you can't say 'J'habit'en France.' Well with the liaison it sounds like it, but it's 'J'habite en France.'

[TheFabregas360]

why did you say j'habite?and not je habite

[lumiere2020]

@TheFabregas360 Because it sounds weird. It's... a little like 'I am' and 'I'm'... even if 'I am' doesn't actually sound weird. With H and vowels you juste have to contract 'je' in 'j'.' It's the way to say it.

[n3rdz0rz]

@TheFabregas360 Because the "h" is mute, so there would be 2 vowels following themselves.

[TheN92]

Is Mexico fenminie or masculine?

[jremy7]

@TheN92

Le Mexique

[TheN92]

@jremy7 Thank you!

[togsniper]

lol! somethimes looks like that the hand is doing the talking..

[ViktorBluhme]

What about the Netherlands?

Danish is gender-specific, too :(

[lumiere2020]

@ViktorBluhme It's 'Les Pays-Bas' so 'J'habite aux Pays-Bas'...

[Drummergenetic]

You're the best French teacher EVER! Please return soon! 

[battlespec]

How about India? Is it masculine or feminine? Thanks

[alqitta]

@battlespec : feminine, because, you would say : J'habite en Inde

[CharonAcheron]

@battlespec

India is feminine but "La Inde" sounds awful to french people so you drop the "a" and go for "L'Inde" so you would say " J'habite en Inde"

[hivewasp]

french is overly complicated and full of exceptions... j'habite a la france? nope; en france.. but j'habite a la mer works ... so a+la isnt always 'en'. :s

Well; german would be worse in any case :D

[mssavoirfaire94]

how does he exactly say US in French? I couldn't understand.

[Sosoriginale]

Bordel, pourquoi je me met à regarder des vidéos de cours de français ? Waaah c'est trop amusant de voir que certains galère alors que nous on a le français sur le bout des doigts ;p reciproque pour l'anglais, quelle galère :(

[calaway90]

Our teacher connected à + article as followed:

à + le = au

à + la = à la

à + les = aux

So, the second one is wrong? Because you say it's "en".

Thanks in advance.

[hivewasp]

@calaway90 apparently only for countries; you could have a l' as well for 'L'Australie"; which would again become "en". But stuff like "I go to the beach" is "Je vais à la plage" not "je vais en plage". can't really generalize so much in french; exceptions and obscure rules everywhere :)

[finchric]

bonjour remy, i am from philippines.. i think philippines is plural because it is composed of thousands of islands..

[kokerata]

@finchric thank you for clearing this doubt :)

[wintergirl133]

merci tellement tellement de ces vidéos! Elles me dépannent une tonne! Je suis si heureux que je comprenne finalement une certaine substance. Je suis déjà dans une classe française, mais ceci me met chemin en avant des autres étudiants. Vous devriez considérer comme étant un professeur!

[graphicben]

Merci!

[Yverasje]

Bonjour Remy, Merci pour les grandes leçons!!! You helped me alot!!

But being a proud Dutchygirl as I am, I have to say that you forgot a country in your list. Next to Les Etats Unis and Les Philippines the're is another one in plural...our great Les Pays-Bas! (The low lands).

But anyway... Thank you for the fun lessons!! I really really enjoy them!

[cawmila]

portuguese has gender too... becomes easier for me

=)

luv your videos

[baigandine]

@hangingouts Do you really have to ask why France is feminine and Japan is masculine? :p

[zslash99]

@hangingouts

You may guess that country names whose last letter isn't a "e" is masculine and the others are feminine.

But I should verify with an exhaustive list if it works all the time.

So don't think it'a real rule,

That's exactly the kind of things a French native speaker doesn't need to know if there's a rule or not, he... knows, that's all ! :(

But cities have no gender, you can say "il" or "elle" as you want.

Example: Paris est belle, Paris est beau.

[Nichime]

I believe that for those of us that speak Spanish is going to be easier to tell the difference of gender ....

[monnie0725]

je suis emonnie..j'ai a question...wat is "a" with an accent on the top of it

[mixag3]

@monnie0725 This is a little world that we use in many situations, and it's quite difficult to explain how. I think that it is something like "to" I'm going to Paris, Je vais à Paris. Or, another example, Je suis à la maison, I'm at home. Here, it is a substitute for the "at". You may find "à" in others circumstances: à plus tard is what we use for "see you soon"

[Sosoriginale]

@monnie0725 "A" with accent it's at. à = at.

[Andres91RV]

How do you say Colombia?

J'habite à ____

[Annetteng]

Bonjour Remy,

what about 'les Pays-Bas' ?

J'habite aux Pays-Bas ?

:)

[RedGoddess85]

J'habite a la plage.

[Malintorresocasio]

I have learned a bit of french by different methods. Using the subtitles of movies in french on DVD I have seen before. And other ways but these videos have helped alot cause u specify why it's said a certain way, how to say it, different ways to write them. I have learned alot just by paying attention and writing down everything I've seen and making little notes of the things I know I could have doubts about in the future. Thanks alot jremy7 u have helped alot. I'll keep watching...

[NydgerSM]

excellent good focus on the stress of the words ...

[pelizete]

You speak French so sex. I love it

[lollipop3157]

Hi my name is Amber and I live in Indiana. (J'habite A Indiana.) and I'm 13. I have just today discovered your videos and I have really been wanting to learn French. My French accent has improved 110 percent in just half an hour. I'm beggining to be able to pronounce French words just by looking at them and everything. This is one of the most bizzare things, learning a different language and thanks so much for all the time you spent on the videos they're really helpful.

[caroiae]

philippines is plural, that's why we put (les)

[jacobs246]

how do you say argentine? (argentino)

[was2526]

merci beaucoup remy, its been a wonderful experience and i am loving it. thanks. do u have more than 17 videos or lessons like 18 or 19.

[oiram32]

Thank you very much for your lesson, they are very helpful!. I can speak italian, german and english so I can find a lot of similarities! :-)

[AucunePeur]

Les Pays-Bas est aussi pluriel. Et, juste à mon avis, "à + la = à la". "En", dans ce cas, avec les pays féminins (ou les états féminins) est une autre façon de dire "dans"..sinon, "en" remplace "de+quelque chose". C'est juste que je pense que si vous leur dites que "à + la = en" ils vont dire quelque chose comme "Je vais 'en' bibliothèque" et c'est pas correct hein ;) mais enfin, vous êtes un bon prof. Bonne chance !

[AucunePeur]

Les Pays-Bas is also plural :P Et aussi, juste à mon avis, "à + la = à la", "en" est une exception, une autre façon, dans ce cas, de dire "dans", avec les pays féminins. Sinon, "en" remplace "de + quelque chose" :)

[malkinlewis789]

Philipines is feminine

[BGyrich16]

Just incase anyone is wondering.... It's called The Philippines(Plural) because it refers to "The Philippine ISLANDS". Just thought I'd let you guys know. By the way Remy, thank you for these video's. You're quite a teacher.

[lizatony969]

BGrich16, I'm sorry, I tried to give you a thumb-up, but I clicked on the thumb-down. I don't know how to correct it. However, thank you for sharing. :)

[maldivgal]

countries ending wth E are feminine excpt for mexique.

thts y france is feminine n japon is not.

hope this helps.

btw jremy7: thanx for da great videos. htey r great help. m a student of basic french n tomorrow i have speaking test. this is a great help. thanx again. merci beaucoup!!!

[jremy7]

You just have to learn them one at a time... Sorry.

"That's French for ya!"

[BORGESBOY]

grazie per le tue lessioni parlo spagnolo e italiano ma ho bisogno d'imparare inglese e francese.

[jremy7]

Sei il benvenuto. Godere di imparare l'inglese e francese :)

[nlwztshuma]

Bonjour Remmmy, how can i say i am a zimbabwean, Je suis Zimbabwean. The problem is to pronounce my country.

[jremy7]

Zimbabwéen (m)

Zimbabwéenne (f)

I'll send you a message with a link to the proper pronunciation :)

[matty1258]

is the french word for Wales plural, Pay du Galles

[jremy7]

Le pays de Galles

Le Prince de Galles = The Prince of Wales

[matty1258]

thanks, merci

[jremy7]

De rien :)

[yadmaable]

hi, comment ca va, je suis....., hey, how do you know if the word is feminine or masculine

[masterimasim]

I am back learning French from yah!!!

[oo7teatime]

je suis Tea, j'habite a Zagreb..merci

[blueskysuburbangrave]

My comment didn't show up here so I'm gonna type it again. Just want to tell you how appreciative I am of your videos, I'm re-watching them all right now and I think you're a great teacher with an equally great sense of humour. ("Sounds like a scratched record here."!!! It brought a smile on my face!) Thanks again for your efforts. :)

[jremy7]

Thanks for you kind comments.

The reason why they didn't show up at first was that I need to approve all comments in order for them to post.

Rémy

[blueskysuburbangrave]

You're such a great teacher, Rémy! I'm re-watching all of your videos, and your "sounds like a scratched record" made me chuckled. :P You have a fantastic sense of humour. Thank you sooo much for these vids!!!!

[stars4huan]

Bonjour Remy, je suis une fille chinoise qui h'abite aux Pays-Bas. Je vais aller en France a la fin d'Aout (is that correct French?) I think it's great what you're doing, you make learning French easy and accessible!

[Enjoinorway]

If the city's name starts with A. for example Arendal... will it be j'habite Arendal?

[jremy7]

One might think so but... no :)

J'habite à Arendal

"That's French for ya"

[PeAcY6969]

Beautiful video, i love your work !

[shiwu117]

Bonjure J'remy!!!

comment ca va?

J' habite aux India.

[jremy7]

Tu habites en Inde :)

[mapdark]

"J'habite à" works with MOSt cities EXCEPT A FEW EXCEPTIONS .

Like The vatican or Cairo for example.

These would be J'habite AU Caire , J'habite AU vatican.

[serulinghitam]

merci ...

[jremy7]

Tu habites en Slovaquie

[Miro211294]

Bonjour,

J'suis Miro.Comment ce va? Ce va!

My questinon is: I`m from Slovakia so should i say J'habite en Slovakia. or J'habite au Slovakia.?

And how should i pronounce it.

Thanks for your answer. =]

[CHOTIRMALL]

j'habite a Hongkong

you have to memorize "le" "la". There is no shortcut.

[jremy7]

Very good CHOTIRMALL. You got it :)

Rémy

[CupcakesREvil666]

couldn't you also put j'habite dans le canada?

or doesn't that make sense.

[jremy7]

You'd be understood but it isn't correct per say :)

[lizzieloolah95]

Bonjour-Ca va

J'habite a Nottingham, en centre d'Inglaterre.

Bon video, merci beaucoup pour votre temps

[nmania03]

bonjour ju suis bharath

commen sa va ?

me! sa va bein bharath (india)

[sarahsusane]

bonjour remy!!! i just wanna ask if how would you determine a feminine or masculine country in french? thank you so much:)

[beyazgolum]

como sava

je suis beyazgolum

j'habite a emirates

tries bien

[eastnsr]

Merci beaucoup Mr. Remy, but i have a question since my city's name start with " a " so how can i pronounce the two vowels of : J'habite à Aleppo ,also i want to know whether i have to say la syria OR le syria ???

[jremy7]

Tu habites à Aleppo en Syrie :)

"That's French for ya......"

[kfgw]

J'habite Kongkong

[AkumaXKami]

Bonjour Remy!

J'habite à Montreal!

[jremy7]

Tu habites au Canada

[Le Canada]

Tu habites à Ottawa

[jon21c]

how would you say:

i live in canada?

j'habite un canada?

and for ottawa?

j'habite un ottawa?

[xbass11]

and how do u say:

I LIVE IN MEXICO? ( cause im mexican lol)

j`habite au mexico??

hope u can reply me ! =DDD, maerci remy, au revoir

[jremy7]

Tu habites au Mexique.

Le Mexique.

[TheLeadGuitar]

Thank you so much Remy! This was one of the best explanations I've ever seen.

[metalmusi]

je suis Juan, j´habite en( or au) Texas?

[jremy7]

Tu habite au Texas.

(C'est le Texas)

[metalmusi]

merci beaucoup Remy

[metalmusi]

is it pronounces like TeXas, or tessas?

[jremy7]

Le TeXas :)

[mapdark]

Tek-zas

[Joyeuxbaby25]

Bnjour Remy, comment ca va? moi ca va, merci (:

I have a couple of questions..

How can you tell if a country is feminine

or masculine? For example.. Colombia?

And how do you know if the "x" is silent

or it is pronounced like and "s"?

for example Deux and Six.

Merci beaucoup,

Au revoir*

[jremy7]

I'm afraid you have to learn those thing one a a time.

[xwii007x]

Je suis Danny j'habite à California.

[jremy7]

Tu habites en Californie

à + feminine country or state = en

La Californie = California

[xwii007x]

Wow, considering you talked about this is the lesson I made a really bad mistake.

Thanks

[stonerforlife69]

Bonjour Remy,

J'suis Justin, J'habite a phoenix.

How'd i do?

[hunfitz]

You said 'enlongate'. It is written and pronounced 'elongate' like in elongation.

[Gh0sTPro]

Alizée! The only reason to learn french =)

[dools324]

Remy-

If I am in France and I say 'J'habite a Chicago,' will it sound natural? Or would it be better to say something similar to 'I'm from chicago.' ?

[jremy7]

"J'habite à Chicago" would sound natural. Absolutely.

[jremy7]

the "u" and the "a" do not clash so there is no need for the '

However in the spoken language the U might be dropped.

As for Alizée, I can't think of a good reason why she's say Yapon. Perhaps you can send me the link to that video.

[Kaliriz]

the true is that i can answer becuase my computer is dissapointed me

[SeiFong]

Just to say that I know one more "plural country", in french we say "Les Émirats arabes unis".

"United Arab Emirates"

[governmentgolf]

Merci Merci!!! I find your videos really good!!

[lunawj]

Thank you very much for your answer Remy.

[lunawj]

Hello Rémy,

You taught us here about the rule of à +la=en, à+le=au and à+les=aux. But what about in these two cases:

(1) Je vis à la campagne.

(2) Je vais à la montagne.

May I apply the rules you taught here to these two sentences above? If not, how do I know when to and when not to apply this rule that you taught us?

Merci beaucoup pour ton aide,

à plus,

Jenny

[jremy7]

a+la = en if followed by the name of a country.

I should have been more precise.

[valsdelopio]

Actually is correct je vais a la montagne, etc. Notice the difference between I live IN France etc. and I go TO the mountain. J'habite en France (I live IN France), Ja vais A la montagne (I go TO the mountain). If you interchange them, is like if you were saying I go IN the mountain, and I live TO France. Hope I was clear.

[valsdelopio]

don't apply the rule in the two cases you gave. The reason is in "Ja vais a la montagne" you go TO a place. In J'habite en France, you are IN a place. So if you are going TO a place, use a la, a le, a les, if you are IN a place, use en, au, aux.

[leojboby]

deuxième partie??

What does this mean

[jremy7]

Second part

deux = two

[leojboby]

is the AU sound exactly like the O sound in ON?? Or more like the sound i have yet to distinguish, OU? Or is it something else?

[rockerz1999]

why is there "aux" sometimes?

[jremy7]

à + les = aux

Je vais aux toilettes ( i'm going to the toilet)

[rockerz1999]

merci,

that explains it,

i didn't watch till the end..

[finalmajority]

Are all your lessons in Canadian french? Or am I mistaked?

[jremy7]

You are mistaken :)

[mapdark]

you are VERy mistaken XD

[Gwenangels]

Le seul petit problème dans cette vidéo est que " dans + la = en " et pas " à + la = en " c'est faux car on peut dire par exemple je vais à la plage ou encore je vais à la maison =) !

[punk2931]

how will you know if a country is a feminine or musculine?

[jremy7]

I'm afraid you have to learn each one...

[albrestevez]

Oh no.. lesson 10 is becoming difficult

:(

[xiltrox]

Bonjour Remy,

How would you say the US Virgin Islands in French. Would you use aux in this case? What about Maldives?

[jremy7]

Les îles Vierges des États-Unis.

Les Maldives

aka.

La République des Maldives

[beentherehitdat]

nice lessons

[boiifunny]

bonjor commet ca va bien lecon merci

[hanna99990]

Bonjour Remy

I've been watching your videos,they are really hopeful.I'm 14 years old and I would like to go to France someday.

I have a question,you said that "I live" in French is J'habite right?but my French teacher said that is Je vis

so Im confuse can you explain that to me please

Thank you

[jremy7]

Your teacher is right.

I used the "er" verb "habiter" because it's easier to "handle" or conjugate. So "vivre" is "to live" and "habiter" is "to reside".

Remember that I try to keep things as easy as I can :)

[hanna99990]

oh well now I see

thanks to you I'm passing my French class thank you very much Remy

"merci beaucoup"=]

[DoTaSoOo]

why dallas?

xD

[rightathere]

Pour Remy habite en Dalas, oui?

[rightathere]

?

Pour Remy habite a Dallas aux les Etates Unis.

[elche93]

"Parce que Remy habite à Dallas aux Etats-Unis?"

It's more right like this ;)

[Aritul]

Les Seychelles.

[Avaritia7]

Les Pays-Bas!

[rororo4]

Merciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­iiiii

[larusso727]

Remy, merci!

[anonymous76543210]

Philippines is an archipelago.. I'm from philippines but we live in canada now so i need to learn french LOL!!

[gusdog444]

phillipines is a bunch of islands. that is why it is plural

[Paladin20]

Indeed, it's the Philippine Islands, hence the plurality.

[rosca20]

j'aime beaucoup tes leçons:)

[jremy7]

Merci bien :)

[JazzItUp16]

Quick question. In this video you say that a (with the accent) means at. In your ninth video, you say bienvenue a la lecon... I was wondering if a had multiple meanings, at and to, and why isn't it en in the second example?

Thanks so much, your lessons are very helpful :)

[jremy7]

I must congratulate you on cross referencing what you're learning which is key.

"à" can indicate either destination or location (at or to)

[irwinbayot]

countries have gender that is so crazy. crazy but fun. I wonder how they decided that. Philippines should have been female.

Cote de Voire (is this country a French state?)

[jremy7]

You mean la Côte d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast). It was a French colony but it became an independent state in the 60s.

[MissusFingerBottom]

In most cases, do we drop the consonent at the end of words e.g. petit, deux. So for "dallas", we pronounce the "s" because we are sticking to the american way of saying it? just like le bahasa, we say "le ba-ha-sa" instead of dropping the "h", because people who speak bahasa pronounce the 'h"?

[xevious02]

the reason why "Les Philippines" is plural is because The Philippines is an island country. just like Les Etat"s" Uni"s" meaning more than one united states.

[LoricaLady]

It is good to learn that the sounds are generally shorter in French than in English.  However, sometimes it seems some sounds, for example l, are longer in French. - ?

[LeonidasI]

Beautifully explained wow.

[7ano0osha]

hey remy! i have a question, i noticed that the french say "Arabic Saudit" or smthing like tht, mind my spelling, instead of saudi arabia. so is "J'suis Arabic saudi" correct? and what about " J'habite en Arabic saudi"?many thanks for ur efforts in teaching us French, it has deffinately benefited me, and it's still is! :)