The Learning French 100 Day Project
I’ve been studying French on and off for about a year. My interest in the language began when I started reading classical French novels by Balzac, Dumas, Flaubert, Stendhal, and others. I’m also a budding armchair historian of the French Revolution. In 2018/19, I spent Christmas and the New Year in Paris. Bonne Année !!
French is a beautiful, musical, romantic language, … and I’m keen on learning it.
For the next 100 days, I’ll focus daily on three French words—a noun, a verb, and an adjective—and use them in sentences. The results of my efforts will surely be hilarious, peppered with errors, and unequivocally bad French … but you gotta have the freedom to fail.
So, without further ado … let’s learn French! Allons-y!
VERB OF THE DAY
savoir : to know
PRÉSENT
je sais
tu sais
il/elle sait
nous savons
vous savez
ils/elles savent
L’IMPARFAIT
je savais
tu savais
il/elle savait
nous savions
vous saviez
ils/elles savaient
PASSÉ COMPOSÉ
j’ai su
tu as su
il/elle a su
nous avons su
vous avez su
ils/elles ont su
NOUN OF THE DAY
la vérité : truth, truthfulness, sincerity.
ADJECTIVE OF THE DAY
grave : serious.
MY SILLY SENTENCES
Elle n’a pas dit la vérité. (She did not tell the truth.)
Il m’a dit la vérité sur sa jeunesse. (He told me the truth about his youth.)
La situation était très grave et je savais pourquoi. (The situation was very serious and I knew why.)
Elle ne savait pas que son chien était stupide. (She did not know that her dog was stupid.)
Ma copine sait comment faire du vélo. (My girlfriend knows how to ride a bicycle.)
Elle le savait mais il ne le savait pas. Ils le savaient mais nous ne le savions pas. Je le savais mais tu ne le savais pas. C’est la vie ! (She knew it but he didn’t know it. They knew it but we didn’t know it. I knew it but you didn’t know it. Such is life!
Je suis entré dans la chambre. Je l’ai vue. Elle était très sérieuse. Elle n’a pas parlé. Je n’ai pas parlé. Nous nous sommes embrassés. Je suis parti. (I entered the bedroom. I saw her. She was very serious. She did not speak. I did not speak. We kissed. I left.)
Je connais la vérité ! (I know the truth!)