How to say “beautiful” in French? Here’s the bizarre answer!

19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire once wrote Le beau est toujours bizarre. (The beautiful is always bizarre). Although he wasn’t talking about the word beau itself, he might as well have been. Beau and its feminine form, belle are the French words for “beautiful” or, depending on the context, “handsome”.  That seems pretty straightforward. But …

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4 common meanings of c’est bon

When you’re learning a language, some phrases seem like a dream come true, easy to understand and translate. C’est bon is one of those, as its name coincidentally implies. Or, rather, it can be.  Let’s take a closer look at this phrase that’s often confused with its cousin, c’est bien, and whose meaning ranges from …

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Quoi: More than just “what” in French) | With audio

There are some words that just seem perfect. Quoi (often misspelled qua)isn’t the prettiest word in French – at least not in my opinion – but when it comes to using it to express astonishment or outrage, there is nothing more satisfying. Quoi?! – it makes me think of an outraged cartoon bird honking in …

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How to Say I Miss You in French (And Avoid a Common Mistake)

When I met the man who would become my first serious French boyfriend, the first thing I learned was how to master flirty text messages in another language. The second was how to say “I miss you.”   It wasn’t because those flirty text messages failed — I had to go back to America. We …

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Get out of Here! How to Use and Conjugate Sortir like a Local

Sortir (to get out) is a verb full of exceptions.  It’s irregular, and it can have either être or avoir  as an auxiliary verb, depending on the meaning you want to convey. Like that one friend we all know, it may be complicated, but it’s also really helpful.  So, let’s take a closer look at …

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French Numbers: How to count from 0 to 1 Billion | With Audio

Numbers are undeniably important when it comes to interacting with other people, from telling someone how old you are, to finding out how much something in a store costs, to maybe even exchanging numbers with that cute Frenchie you’ve been chatting with. French numbers aren’t quite as straightforward as numbers in English; at a certain …

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