On Location French – 13 May 2013

130513-roseBonjour tout le monde! Welcome to my last blog post about my year abroad here in St Brieuc.  I can’t believe how quickly this year has passed – it’s flown in!  I’ve just finished my last week at school, and it was so nice to see my pupils’ reactions when they found out I was leaving.  An expression I’ve been hearing everywhere is est-ce que tu as hâte pour rentrer? Avoir hâte is to look forward or be excited about something, so this phrase means ‘are you excited to be going home?’  You could use this in lots of situations, such as j’ai hâte pour le weekend, I can’t wait for the weekend.

Even though I’m down to my last few days in France, I’m still learning so many new French words and phrases; it’s like the final rush to learn everything before I go back to Scotland! In particular, I’ve been discovering lots of new expressions connected to food.  I recently visited a teacher’s house for lunch and to meet her family.  We had a lovely afternoon speaking French, and I learned the expression ‘aller avec le dos de la cuillère.’ This means to go about something in a backwards manner, or even ‘to beat about the bush.’  You can also reverse it by saying ‘ne pas y aller avec le dos de la cuillère,’ to signify the reverse, someone who rushes into things.  Another food-related expression is ‘avoir une bonne fourchette,’ literally meaning, ‘I have a good fork.’  You can use this to say you have a big appetite, a good alternative to ‘j’ai faim,’ I am hungry.  One of my favourite phrases I’ve learned recently is ‘avoir du pain sur la planche,’ which means there is a lot of work left to do, or you have a lot on your plate.

It’s now time for me to say goodbye to St Brieuc. I know I will definitely miss living here and miss la vie française, the French life. It’s also time to say goodbye to you, my readers here on this blog.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my time in France and have picked up some French along the way. Bonne continuation et au revoir!

2 thoughts on “On Location French – 13 May 2013”

  1. THANKS!
    Just had the ultimate compliment thanks to revising with Coffee Break French for the last couple of months. After a brilliant few days in Paris our Hotel receptionist assumed I’d lived in France or studied in France!

    Most grateful for all your help and encouragement just to get on and speak French again

    Helen

    Reply

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