What is the difference between what I wrote and the actual answer. I though “n’ont” would be an appropriate contraction of “ne sont”

I completed A-level (British qualification, equivalent to le Bac) French three years, and was almost fluent. I could discuss complicated political and economic matters with professionals just as well as I could strike up a conversation with a stranger.

Since then, I haven't had any reason to speak french and have almost completely lost my conversational ability. I recently visited Lille and struggled to stumble through every interaction. I could understand what was said to me, but I could barely respond.

I still absolutely adore the language and culture, but it's very demoralising and frustrating that I can no longer express myself as I once could :(

J’ai remarqué cette phénomène, surtout aux réseaux sociaux, où des gens n’utilisent pas le bon temps.

C’est pour la plupart les jeunes qui font ça, donc peut-être c’est un genre d’argot? Ou est-ce qu’il y a vraiment autant de gens qui ne savent pas ecrire en français?

J’ai vu le passé composé au lieu du présent comme dans ce « screenshot » et aussi l’infinitif au lieu du passé composé.

Most language-learning lists of resources are to either entry-level, or are standard/broadcast French which lends itself to the intermediate spectrum of learners.

But for those studying or striving for a C1 and C2 level, it goes beyond standard/broadcast/textbook/classroom French. It overlaps with how people speak to each other in the street, with their informal usage of language, and with how different tiers of society converse. It involves grasping jokes, degrés of irony cultural and regional irony, and clarity of vocabulary which support its grasp.

Most people find it difficult to identify digital resources which can provide such input. Alothoug movies, films, and television shows/sitcoms can be good sources help move one towards C1/C2 levels, they are often too rigid or choreographed to offer the same colloquial level and spontaneous manner of speech that reflects how people really talk to each other off screen.

Below is a list of links I put together which offer the normal day-to-day style speaking that isnt taught in classes, and that is of a level that help support C1/C2 Canadian/Québec language acquisition. It’s mostly comprised of REELs, because they often are some of the best reflections of how people speak in real life, both in terms of vocabulary, and style.

This list can help transform your algorithm to so you’re blast you with mega-input content to work towards getting you towards, and honing your C1/C2.

Bonne chance !

Listen to as much media as you can. There are two types of media… 1. broacast media (standard international broadcast French, like Radio-Canada), and 2. common speech (colloquial French).

People the phone talk like the latter, not like the former. Broadcast French is good to an extent, but don’t just rely on that. You’ll need lots of other input to get better with colloquial French.

For standard, international French spoken everywhere in the world (in Canadian/Quebec accents of course):

• Hundreds of podcasts from Radio-Canada OHdio: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio

• Live Radio (ICI Radio-Canada Première): https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere (And if you’re driving across Canada, you can click through the various city versions as you drive through them in all provinces)

• QUB Talk Radio: https://www.qub.ca/emissions - hundreds of past shows. It’s a less formal than Radio-Canada level French, but is still a step above street-talk level French.

• And if you want accent listen exercises, explained in slower in standard French that you can repeat to work your accent, this guy has your reels.

For street-level Canadian French (colloquial / registre vulgar French), how people talk in their daily lives and in their homes:

• Talk Radio - https://radiox.com/# (click through the émissions heading to access many weeks worth of archived shows). This is a politically conservative radio station, and some shows can get political, like Maurais Live, which are not to everyone’s liking. But many others, like the Spacecast, le sexploratrice, le show du weekend, Le last call, etc are non-political and are just chat. However, it is common-man/woman, often crude street-level French. It’s one of the rare sources of 24hr daily new content from Monday-Friday (weekends are music), with how the masses speak every day.

  • You can watch many of their shows on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@radioxquebec
  • Daily highlight segments of the show, Ouillet en direct: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1cEmQ7iMy2/
  • Daily highlight segments of the call-in nighttime show, Last call. Let’s just say it doesn’t attract the brightest callers, but can sometimes be worth a dumb laugh: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19huYRaPUt/

• Here are segments from Canada’s most-watches Television program. Tout le monde en parle, with 1.5 million viewers when it broadcasts every Sunday evening. It covers the most talked about events and goings-on of the week: https://www.facebook.com/ToutlemondeenparleRC/reels/

• If you like over a hundred prank calls on the radio that will leave you in tears, Radio Énergie is a radio station that pranks the public live on air. You can access many of them here: https://www.facebook.com/MarioTessierOfficiel. My favorites are the kinds like this, like this, and like this. I’ve spent hours listening to them, p#ssing my pants in my car, or walking around wearing earbuds while looking like a crazy man laughing to myself.

  The comedian radio hosts pose as fake customer service reps, and so many of the things brought up will be as they’re said in customer service calls.

• If you like fishing, check out the reels by l’ADN du pécheur: https://www.facebook.com/DNdupecheur/reels/

  • and here’s another guy’s fishing reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19UhNejP1r/

• if you like cars, and working on cars, who moonlights as a liquidator, check out the reels by Mechanic Guillaume Loiselle: https://www.facebook.com/guillaume.loiselle.2025/reels/

  • and here’s another mechanic’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14vLD9B5QbX/

• If you like working out/nutrician:

  • check out this guy’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/jimmy.gariepy.2025/reels/
  • and here’s another guy’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1UKEd7E6kj/
  • and another’s: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DZVEjVEoi/
  • and another’s (this guy breaks down nutrician into nutrician 101 for dummies): https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CQxHDoSix/
  • and another’s: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19shtUDqRF/
  • and a trainer/bodybuilders’s / father’s / businessman’s reels from a guy who moved to Edmonton: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1EBxuveBHk/
  • and another trainer’s videos: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1FugwDSLAM/
  • and another’s: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1GxJavMth6/

• If you like business and want to listen to a business influencer talk about all sorts of things, check out this guy’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/mike.nhmaisonneuve/reels/. And here’s the same guy, but through his company’s official corporate reels: https://www.facebook.com/belleflamme.ca/reels/

• And in other related business themes:

  • a landscaping company’s guy’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1F3Fn6hHgZ/
  • and another landscaper’s reels: (his personal reels - https://www.facebook.com/vincent.picard3/reels/), (and his Professional reels - https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19ouPhaqov/),
  • a guys on client/customer building: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EZZ5RshEz/
  • This guy has reels on leveling-up business through scaling and marketing: https://www.facebook.com/hackmancharles11/reels/
  • A construction company/contractor’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1KUzpjyhsc/

• If you like agriculture, and want to listen to a farmer/rural-like talk about his daily stuff, here’s a young farmer’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/alexandre.bisaillon.5/reels/

• If you like politics, and want something that’s middle ground (centre), this young guy has hundreds(?) of reels that break complex political subjects down into simple explanations (Note, he recently put his name in to run for political office at the provincial level): https://www.facebook.com/FarnellMorisset/reels/

• If you want a life-hacks tips and tricks guy, this is your man: https://www.facebook.com/share/1FhST5LXNV/?mibextid=wwXIfr

• If you want to learn about blacksmithing and hear a guy talk about it, this guy has lots of cool reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HMxeobKai/?mibextid=wwXIfr

• If you want an Eastern Ontario French accent, you’ll get it from this renovation guy from Embrun, east of Ottawa.

• If you want an accent from the north coast, you’ll get it with this guy’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/share/1FV9ftZyim/?mibextid=wwXIfr

• If you want a Brayon accent from Northwest New Brunswick (from Edmundston, which is different from Acadian accents, found in Eastern/Southern New Brunswick and elsewhere in the Atlantic provinces), then she’s your point person. She’s a beauty-product seller, so often talk about beauty products, and just a mish-mash of other stuff: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19YRAkQmhx/

  • and here’s another Brayon accent, again from the Edmundston area, a dad who just blah blah’s about anything: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CBvSnYcip/

• If you want to listen to a young guy just blah blah’ing about his life (relationships, other people, losing weight, work, etc), you can listen to this guy’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/frank.perron.207544/reels/. He speaks with a very colloqual register from St-Hyacinthe.

• if you want to hear a guy who clears snow and does road maintenance for a living, just blah blah’ing about everything, check his reels: https://www.facebook.com/LeGroupeDumar/reels/

  • and here’s another guy who just blah blah’s: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BisVzVZ2b/

• If you want to hear opinionated rants in a hard-core back-woods accent from the Beauce (in which f’s, ch’s, sh’s, j’s, and g’s are pronounced with an “H”), you can listen to this anti-union anti-woke super-conservative construction worker’s reels: https://www.facebook.com/Jocleconstruction/reels/

• If you ever wondered what C3 French humour would ever sound like, if such a thing ever existed, check out this normal guy’s endless combo of dad jokes and politically incorrect jokes (on his autobody shop’s Facebook page): https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1E2RxJzh1G/

• If you want to learn about nature’s going’s-on in forests, she’s your person: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DF2ij8r9Y/

• If you want reels in Chiac (accent / Frenglish-like French), from Southwest New Brunswick around Moncton, this is your guy: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CRY1i1DgY/

• A comedian’s reels that he just creates as he’s out and about doing things: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19vUNFLpch/

• Here’s a life coach / business motivator: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1J8kVWsKjF/

Anyway, this gives you many thousands of hours of content to choose from, and that you can stream while doing your drive, laundry, shopping, cooking, etc. Hopefully this helps in your language learning journey :)

I have to pass DELF with 65 points or higher to graduate. I've tried everything: wacthing french shows for all age groups, reading french books, hypnopedia, duolingo etc. etc. etc. It's driving me crazy. I do not enjoy the French language, I wanted to study Spanish but they wouldn't let me so now I can't graduate unless I pass DELF but I cannot write, speak or listen to the language at all. My reading comprehension is pretty good but thats it, and that's only because I gather context clues. I cannot form new sentences or understand what I'm listening to. All the exams I've passed so far I've passed thanks to memorization but I can't use that method anymore.

I can't understand it, so when I watch shows I need closed captions, but French people very rarely use CC and even when I do find it it beats the purpose bc I'm not supposed to be reading. I've tried reading training books but it gets boring immediately cause every sentence there are at least 2 words or phrases I have to look up. Duolingo is completely overrun with AI slop. Geniunely I don't know what to do anymore. Please, anyone who has a tactic, something that worked for them, something UNBORING... I beg of you, help me.

I've been learning for a bit and I saw this random guys youtube post, just wanted to verify if this is actually what a C1 level would sound like??

Bonjour ! Je suis francophone depuis ma tendre enfance, mais c'est très récemment que j'ai un peu rehausser mon niveau de Français.

J'ai été sollicité il y a à peu près deux semaines pour donner des cours à des adultes compatriotes, de ce pays francophone, afin qu'ils se réconcilient avec la langue française à l'oral mais surtout à l'écrit (ce sont des travailleurs).
Le problème est que je n'est jamais suivi des cours de pédagogie, ni de linguistique. Je ne sais vraiment pas par quoi je dois commencer dans la préparation de mon cours.

Si vous avez des conseils, ou stratégies pour réconcilier ces futurs étudiants avec le français et ses règles, je vous suis déjà reconnaissant...

ps: la formation n'est censée durer qu'un seul mois.

The Institut Français in my city and films I've watched all use bon soir in place of bonne soirée. Is this just colloquial usage? I am sure I'm hearing it right. Do you use bon soir instead of bonne soirée when you didn't greet with bon soir first?on soir

Sometimes I hear people using “cher (name)” while addressing someone they know, usually in a somewhat formal setting. I’ve heard it used various times in diff situations such as a ceremony or conference, a work event, a social gathering or a wedding. I sometimes see it in emails or on linkedin posts but not really in very informal settings like insta or tiktok.

I don’t mean as a greeting like “Bonjour monsieur, » but more interjected in the middle of a sentence. Like « c’est une excellente idée, cher Jules ! » or « je te remercie vivement, chère Juliette ! » or « je vous félicite, cher Nicolas, pour cette belle réussite ! » What level of closeness and formality do you think this usually requires? Is it mainly for colleagues and people you know mainly in formal settings?

It doesnt necessarily seem like something you would say to someone you’re SUPER close with, like I cant imagine you’d say it to your sister or BFF? in that case you’d just say their name I guess? But also I don’t get the feeling you’d say it to someone you just met once like it might come across as strange if you don’t really know them. When and with whom do native speakers most likely use this phrasing? Could it come across as a bit old fashioned or too literary?

Salut à tous ! Je suis à Paris en ce moment et il m'arrive un truc assez fou que je voulais partager avec vous.

Petite précision importante : je parle couramment français. Ces derniers jours, j'ai eu plein de conversations super fluides en français et la plupart des gens me répondent d'ailleurs naturellement en français. Mais le truc bizarre, c'est que dès que certains comprennent que je suis italienne, ils basculent instantanément en italien.
Le plus dingue, c'est qu'on me capte même quand je ne décroche pas un mot !
Aujourd'hui, j'entre dans un musée, je me dirige vers la sécurité dans le silence le plus total. Les agents me regardent et me sortent un grand : « Buongiorno ,italiane c'ero». J'étais sous le choc. Un peu plus tard, je vais chercher deux cafés. Pour faire plus simple et rapide, je décide de passer commande en anglais. Le serveur me prépare mes cafés, me regarde avec un sourire et me dit : « Grazie, arrivederci ! ».
Mais comment vous faites ?! J'ai un panneau invisible au-dessus de la tête avec écrit "ITALIE" ? 😂

It was so satisfying! We talked about her husband and what he does for work, where her son goes to school, she asked what newspapers I would recommend and I talked her through the pros and cons of the ones we have in my library, we talked about how the library has changed through the years, and I couldn't believe it! I didn't think of what to say, my mouth just said the right things! Even after it I remember thinking, was that correct french? It was! And I just generated it on the fly!

Salut à tous!

Je suis étudiant en linguistique à l'Université d'État de Minsk (Biélorussie) et je travaille sur mon mémoire de fin d'études, consacré au slang des jeunes et aux expressions idiomatiques en français contemporain.

Je cherche des expressions figées (2 mots ou plus) qui sont utilisées par les jeunes aujourd'hui, de préférence apparues ou popularisées entre 2020 et 2026.

Ce que je cherche exactement :

• Des expressions composées de deux mots ou plus (pas juste un mot isolé, même si je prends aussi les mots seuls en note)
• Qui ont un sens figuré ou idiomatique
• Utilisées à l'oral, dans les textos, sur les réseaux sociaux, en banlieue, entre potes, etc.
• Avec si possible : une définition courte + un exemple de phrase

Si vous avez des expressions récentes que vous utilisez ou entendez autour de vous (dans votre ville, votre quartier, votre école, sur TikTok, Twitter, Insta…), je suis preneur !

Merci beaucoup pour votre aide, ça m'aiderait énormément pour mon travail.

Bonne journée à tous !

Ce dicton se trouve dans le deuxième volume du Cours de langue et de civilisation françaises de G. Mauger, un livre d'enseignement utilisé par l'Alliance Française pendant les années soixante. J'entends par « monsieur décoré » que le Français (stéréotypé) fait attention aux rangs sociaux, et par la phrase « qui ignore la géographie » que ce Français est indifférent au reste du monde. Mais pourquoi redemande-t-il du pain ?

Hi all! I am in desperate need of a quick translation. “To have her is to have the stars”

I’ve seen “L’avoir, c’est avoir les étoiles” suggested, but I want to make sure it’s grammatically correct

Would a native speaker phrase it differently?

Thank you endlessly to anyone who can help!!

bonjour a tous!

donc, j'ai un ami français et nous suivons l'un l'autre sur l'Instagram. Elle adore son famille et ses enfants, et elle publierai a tous beaucoup. Si je veux commenter sur son post, et je veux faire un compliment a son famille, puis-je dire "Félicitations a vos beau famille!"? Google me dit que c'est le mot pour "In-laws". C'est vrai?

Comment puis-je dire que je veux dire?

Les voyageurs venant de l’Europe

Les voyageurs qui viennent de l’Europe

Les chiens aboyant doivent rester dehors

Les chiens qui aboient doivent rester dehors

So far I’ve been using Anki to learn these verb + à/de combinations, however I feel like it’s not an effective method for me because I’ve been doing it for several weeks now with very little progress. I know that there’s no rule for these and I need to memorize preposition that goes with each verb in the same fashion as I do with articles, but maybe there’s still some kind of pattern or mnemonic that helps to grasp it. If I’ll be frank, flash cards feel like a waste of effort at this point.

Bonjour, I'm trying to translate the phrase "Editor's Pick", describing a story that was singled out by the editors of a literary magazine as having merit/being worth reading.

I keep hesitating between "Choix de la rédaction" or "Sélection de la rédaction" or even "Sélectionné par la rédaction". Which one would work best?

Any insights from native or fluent speakers would be very much appreciated!

This is a subtitle and in English she says "Are you smarter than a man?"

or Una. The accented version is technically more correct, though.

I am looking for insight because I, an anglophone, am choosing a baby name but my kids go to a fully Francophone school.

​

Monday, October twelve, two-thousand twenty-six

​Good evening my dear brother and good morning to the people of the Mediterranean. It's rather cold, chilly actually, despite being autumn we still put the air conditioning on and it nerves me, but Halima insists that it is hot. It is not hot. It is October, what a mad-mad child she is, much like yourself. How is the weather in Tokyo? What did you have for breakfast? I had bell-pepper stuffed dolma with broiled carrots. I know that's not a breakfast food, but I did not feel like cooking. ​I got rather depressed last night after a fairly lovely morning and afternoon. I prepared a future manifesto of three scholarships & an additional fully-funded PhD and then sat in the rubble of the fact that I haven't even said hello to my first class or sat down for my first study session. I gave myself ​four mountains to climb while I still didn't take my first hike, yet alone bought the equipment. When you look at life, you start to believe all things are possible, good and bad, but things happen through cause and effect, action and consequence, not through extravagant planning, though that is the start, action they say is a manifestation of thought and I have many thoughts. ​Uncle Nabil took Fatima to work today. I am in the mood for chocolate and lemon wafers, but I have to remind myself that I want to reach fifty kilos. Results don't make themselves, do they? I'm doing great. I'll send you updates throughout my day and I hope you do the same. ​Take care of yourself. – Naema.

Lundi douze octobre deux mille vingt-six

​Bonsoir, mon cher frère, et bonjour aux habitants de la Méditerranée. Il fait plutôt froid, voire glacial en fait ; bien que ce soit l’automne, nous avons quand même allumé la climatisation, ce qui m’agace, mais Halima insiste pour dire qu’il fait chaud. Il ne fait pas chaud. On est en octobre, quelle fille déjantée, tout comme toi. Quel temps fait-il à Tokyo ? Qu’as-tu mangé au petit-déjeuner ? J’ai mangé des dolmas farcis aux poivrons accompagnés de carottes rôties. Je sais que ce n’est pas un petit-déjeuner typique, mais je n’avais pas envie de cuisiner. ​Je me suis sentie plutôt déprimée hier soir, après une matinée et un après-midi plutôt réjouissants. J’ai préparé un futur projet comprenant trois bourses et un doctorat entièrement financé, puis je me suis retrouvée face à la dure réalité : je n’ai même pas encore dit bonjour à ma première classe ni participé à ma première session d’étude. Je me suis donnée quatre montagnes à gravir alors que je n’ai même pas encore fait ma première excursion, sans parler d’acheter l’équipement. Quand on regarde la vie, on commence à croire que tout est possible, le bon comme le mauvais, mais les choses se produisent par cause à effet, par action et conséquence, et non par une planification extravagante, même si c’est le point de départ. On dit que l’action est la manifestation de la pensée, et j’ai beaucoup de pensées. Oncle Nabil a emmené Fatima au travail aujourd’hui. J’ai envie de gaufrettes au chocolat et au citron, mais je dois me rappeler que je veux atteindre les cinquante kilos. Les résultats ne viennent pas tout seuls, n’est-ce pas ? Je m’en sors très bien. Je t’enverrai des nouvelles tout au long de la journée et j’espère que tu feras de même. Prends soin de toi. – Naema.