Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Don't put your métro tickets near coins or metal

The subway tickets have a magnetic strip. If it gets in contact with metal, it will become demagnetized and the tickets won't work: the machine will reject them. If that happens to you and there is a booth near by, cut of the line and go directly to the teller. Hand him/her your tickets and tell them they don't work, they need to be changed. And don't store your tickets in your wallet.... how practical!

In French, when using the word "cold" or "hot," you have to be careful because there are different constructions: c'est froid, elle est froide, j'ai chaud, il fait chaud... This lesson will explain which expression to use in what condition, and whether the adjectives "froid" and "chaud" change to agree with the subject.

French uses 3 verbs to say 'to cook' = cuisiner, faire la cuisine and cuire, and they are not at all interchangeable. It will sound really weird if you use one for the other, and I hear many mistakes with these verbs, so make sure you learn this by heart.

In Paris, there are about 16,500 taxis so you would think you could get one easily, no? Nope! Paris' cabs usually don't stop when hailed. Why? Because of the whole taxi organization in Paris.

Joyeuses fêtes de fin d'année à tous, and thank you all for your support of French Today.
I've published a couple of Christmas-related blogs that I thought I'd list here for your convenience:

Lots of students seem to believe that watching French movies is a great way to improve their French. It can be, but only if you have the appropriate level of French. You should be ready to "work" with the movie, not just casually watch it with the English subtitles on.

Many beginner and intermediate students are looking for French movies easy enough to understand. It's quite a challenge, so I asked my students and ex-students to help me put together a list of French films they found easier to understand, and these were the most popular results.

Today, I’m going to read a poem almost all French children know; they might have learned it as a poem, or as a song. It was written by Jacques Prevert, famous 20th century author who wrote simple poetry using everyday language, hence making him very popular in our school system - remember that French children have to memorize poetry throughout their studies, but particularly in elementary school to develop their memory as well as taste for French literature.

French writer of the 20th century, Louis Aragon was involved in Dadaism from 1919 to 1924. He then became a founding member of Surrealism in 1924, with André Breton and Philippe Soupault. In the 1920s, Aragon became a fellow traveler of the French Communist Party along with several other surrealists, and took out his card in January 1927.

Dans la nuit du 5 au 6 décembre, Saint Nicolas passe dans les maisons pour apporter aux enfants sages des friandises (fruits secs, mandarines, gâteaux, bonbons, chocolats et surtout de grands pain d'épices représentant le saint évêque). Dans certaines maisons qui s'inspirent de cette tradition, c'est même lui qui remplace le Père Noël, et qui apporte les cadeaux.