Test your French
Français, la belle langue, can be a devil to master with all those irregular verbs, silent letters and the dreaded masculine/feminine!
If it’s all Greek to you, try your hand at the following exercises and see if you can’t impress your neighbours at the next apéro!
N pour non!
Match up the words, all beginning with N with their definitions.
(Why not try to work them out first just from the definitions?)
1 noix
2 nid
3 nuque
4 nourrisson
5 nénuphar
6 nombril
7 navette
8 natte
9 net
10 neuf
a bébé qui se nourrit du lait
b nouveau
c trou rond au milieu du ventre
d coiffure avec les mèches croisées
e petit fruit avec coquille
f propre
g plante qui pousse dans l’eau
h voyage court et regulier
i contruit par un oiseau
j l’arriere du cou
Answers: 1e 2i 3j 4a 5g 6c 7h 8d 9f 10b
Le or La?
Communication is far more important than perfect grammar. In fact some people might tell you that a few mistakes and a pronounced ‘eengleesh’ accent are rather sexy! However, some words change their meaning completely depending upon whether you use the correct gender (le or la).
Here are just a few…
le pub – pub/bar
la pub – advert
un somme – snooze, nap
une somme – sum, amount
un crème – coffee with cream
une crème – cream
le capital – capital (money)
la capitale – capital city, capital letter
le cours – lesson
la cour – courtyard, playgound
un air – air, look
une aire – area, (services)
un boum – bang, explosion
une boum – party
le merci – thanks
la merci – mercy
le mode – method, way
la mode – fashion
le moule – mold
la moule – mussel
le vase – vase
la vase – silt, mud
le voile – veil
la voile – sail
