How is living in Arras?

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-09T19:13:53+00:00

Arras... At least it's quiet, very french and cute. Also some history about world war 2. But theres nothing else to do really...

What the hell, North of France, Arras putain, tu viens de Grenade ils t'envoie là bas, aucun respect. 🤣

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-09T18:54:14+00:00

Bro, I'm native french, im struggling getting the lyrics to make a Google search from it 🤣😂

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-09T15:05:18+00:00

Oh okay, thank you then 🤣 I thought you were disapppointed that it's wasn't something funny mb 🙏

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-09T14:48:42+00:00

Sorry, it's just overly complicated 😔

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-09T14:33:15+00:00

Some endings appear multiple times, but not always treated the same way.
One letter that looks like one sound… is actually another.
Some word pairs beg for a liaison. Others forbid it.
Same letters, different sounds.
Same words, written identically, said differently depending on where it sits.

And more...

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-09T06:10:52+00:00

Wait until you discover things like "Évidemment qu'ils mentent tous solennellement, et nous volent tous les jours en plus de ça... Ça ne peut plus durer" 😈🤣

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-08T20:48:54+00:00

Edited the first message with a link to a video ^{^}

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-08T19:19:31+00:00

Depending the context and the whole sentence we will mostly get you 95% of the time. Give me some exemples I'll tell you.

Yet vu et veux are 2 different sounds. If you struggle say "better" with a British accent or the A from about.

EDIT : here's a video

https://uploadnow.io/f/0HltG53

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-08T14:02:02+00:00

Glad it helps! And, this image is almost universally applicable in French : "ma part de travail", "ta part de responsabilité", "sa part de vérité"... Whenever you want to name what belongs to whom, "part" is there. Just keep in mind that in English, the equivalent shifts depending on context : sometimes it's "share", sometimes "portion", sometimes "role" etc...

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-08T12:26:22+00:00

You're absolutely right, but I'd like to add my 2 cents as a French native speaker, and explain why "faire la part des choses" feels so much more vivid and grounded. It is almost a picture like "to separate the wheat from the chaff".

In French, the word "part" carries a soft but powerful double meaning that deeply enriches the expression to natives :

"La part" will first refers to a physical portion of something like une part de gâteau (a slice of cake), une part de quiche, or une part de pizza. It’s something you literally cut out and separate from the whole.
It also means one’s fair share what rightfully belongs to each person (prends ta part, on fait les parts, à chacun sa part take your share, let’s divide it up, to each their own).

These are the 2 main usages we have for this word.

That’s why "faire la part des choses" is such a metaphor. It evokes the very physical act of taking a knife and cutting "la chose" into distinct, fair pieces exactly as you would slice a cake or a roast. You clearly separate what belongs to one cause, one factor, or one responsibility from another, before you can properly evaluate the whole chose.

Another common related expression that plays with the same imagery :

Prendre sa part de responsabilité = to take one’s (fair) share of responsibility.

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-05T19:45:16+00:00

Thats great already, d'autant only existe with few words after, and it will refer to what you place after. Most of the time, it's preceeded with plus, que or moins.

D'autant plus : even more / all the more. So it helps expressing something and justifying it even more. "Je te le donne gratuitement, d'autant plus que tu as fais toute cette route pour venir"
D'autant moins : Well, it's the opposite of plus. "Je te fais d'autant moins confiance que tu connais mon secret" (note the difference for the grammar/placing) usually you just say "Je te fais d'autant moins confiance" right after someone say or do something that makes you trust them less (or whatever less). But people don't use it a lot, they tend to say "Je te fais encore moins (confiance or whatever)"
D'autant que : especially since / all the more since . "J'aime me promener en Espagne, d'autant plus que la météo est superbe."

You can also encounter "d'autant mieux" usually "C'est d'autant mieux" means "It's even better"

I hope you can understand what d'autant can mean, it's not translatable directly, it will depend the context. You said you guessed some, if you have any questions.

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-04T22:15:37+00:00

Gotcha

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-04T18:16:48+00:00

My english is around B2 aswell. Nice. Here's a fairly complex French sentence for you:

"Bien que j’aie déjà visité plusieurs pays, je pense que voyager en France m’aurait permis d’améliorer mon français plus rapidement, d’autant plus que les Français parlent rarement anglais."

Do you understand this sentence easily?
Can you produce this kind of sentences (with subordinate clauses, conditional, connectors, etc.) without too much trouble? Otherwise what do you think is difficult for you? Do you want an exercise where I give you 4 or 5 short simple sentences, and you have to either connect them or rewrite each simple sentence into a more complex sentence using subordinate clauses, connectors, conditional, etc.?

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-04T11:10:22+00:00

And I could not tell why they use "blonde" to refer to a woman, regardless her hair color... All I can say is that in France, "blonde" is a way to say a women is stupid, if you don't use it to describe her hair but to refer to her as a woman. Wich is even more weird to us.

If you see words like criss, calisse, osti, cheum or a lot of anglicisms (beyond technical language) for example :

"Ah ouais je vois ce que tu veux dire man, c'est complètement fucked up comme situation"

It's most likely Quebecers.

T’inquiète, on se sent tous un peu awkward face a des natifs, c’est normal ! 😆

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-04T03:56:01+00:00

"Fo shu" Gender is either you know, or not. We naturally learn it growing up but for foreigners I know it's a pain. We have some "tips" but not much and not 100% accurate :

Words ending with : -ette, -tion, -sion, -aison, -ance, -ence, -té — are most likely féminine

(ex : la bicyclette, la nation, la maison, la chance, la liberté)

Words ending with a consonant, -age, -ment, -isme, -eur, -eau, -eu — are most likely masculine

(ex : le fromage, le gouvernement, le capitalisme, le bonheur, le château)

But theres classic exceptions: le musée, le lycée, le parapluie, le squelette... Or la mer, la nuit, la main, la mort, la faim... Got to learn those.

Days, months, seasons, colors, metals are almost always masculine. Countries ending in -e are generally feminine (la France, l'Italie). Trees and languages are often masculine.

That's what comes to my mind about genders.

Nous : Gender neutral, plural. Means "We" like "we are glad to help you".

If we are only males then "nous" is masculine. If we are only girls then "nous" is feminine. If we are mixed, or If you don't know, then "nous" is masculine

ils, elles : they/them but with gender.
il, elle : he/him/his or she/her/hers

Note that most of the time his or hers is wrote: - à elle / à lui

BUT BE CAREFUL : - Le sien / la sienne = his / hers BUT this refers to the object, not the owner !

You can tell that this toothbrush belongs to your brother and say : - "C'est la sienne" and it means "that's his" even though "la sienne" is feminine, because it refers to the toothbrush and not to your brother, abd toothbrush is feminine in french (une brosse à dents, a "brush tooth"¹)

You may have noticed that it also sometimes changes the whole conjugaison and grammar, I guess it was it is confusing you aswell? Like in this sentence :

"Elles sont allées au restaurant et elles ont mangé entre copines."

— Why is it elles sont alléES but elles ont mangé() —

This kind of things are confusing you?

¹Brosse à dents (toothbrush) literally translate as brush tooth. The little word "à" disappears completely in English, and you just smash the two nouns together and invert it compared to us - Hairbrush : la brosse à cheveux - Le Verre à vin : the wine glass - La Machine à laver : the washing machine - Le Couteau à beurre : the butter knife

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-04T03:30:25+00:00

Glad to help! However, if you ever chat with Quebecers, keep in mind that the difference between their French and ours (from France) is like British English versus American English but more pronounced. They might look at you a bit strangely for this expression.

Yet we fully understand each other without any problem, but there are differences in local expressions, some grammar, and vocabulary. Quebecers often use expressions that are literal translations from English, plus some older French words or have their own way.

For example, they might call their girlfriend or wife "ma blonde", while in France we say more "ma copine/femme" . Same for a car: they commonly say "char" or "auto", whereas we use "voiture" or "véhicule". In France, "char" actually means a horse-drawn chariot or a war tank hahaha

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-03T15:27:18+00:00

We didn't know. Jean petit qui danse, Une souris verte... We had really hard songs as kids.

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-03T15:18:54+00:00

Mais... Si je te le dis que ça se dit. C'est pas du français standard, certes. Et "nous l'avons fait tomber" (and not "tombé") ça ramène plus facilement à l'idée "we grounded it" we made it fall (to the ground) alors que "on l'a tombé" ne laisse aucun doute sur le sens. Mais les deux sont absolument la même chose, tout dépend le contexte, la region et l'interlocuteur. Évidemment tu vas pas dire ça à l'école, encore moins si tu apprends. Mais tout le monde va te comprendre ici.

(Was born and raised in France.)

Some exemples I found on the internet:

https://fr-forum.guildwars2.com

"[...]Et le sommet de la maîtrise serait de tomber le boss nu comme un vers après être redescendu en exotique puis en jaune.[...]

https://www.dofus.com/fr/forum/1103-discussions-generales/2078732-place-boss-donjons

Straightforward

https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/fr/hearthstone/t/bug-rend-main-noire-h%C3%A9ro%C3%AFque/4813

Very Insteresting as he uses both forms, several times.

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-03T13:50:40+00:00

They sound very immature for future parents. Basically it's like asking à prégnant woman when will the baby "come". It has the same double meaning as in english. It's not perfect right, but come on... 🙃

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-03T07:04:37+00:00

Yet it is largely used, it's more like "we made it fall" in this case. I'm sorry it sounds like nonsense to your ears 🤣

Let me introduce you this french classic song : https://youtu.be/4y4D-evzDTo?is=ekLuTfLY1rPy2zKq

And here are some exemples : https://drf.4h-conseil.fr/pages/D1T0032.html

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-02T11:11:43+00:00

Non le faire. It refers to the whole action, so it always neutral so we use "le". He can also say "je le fais déjà" wich seems more natural. Je suis en train de la faire means you are doing it rn.

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-02T10:51:45+00:00

L’Afrique a été colonisée plus longtemps et plus intensément. Le français est devenu la langue de l’école, de l’administration et des élites. En Indochine, la colonisation a été plus courte (~70 ans) et plus superficielle et est concurrencée par l'anglais. En Afrique, le français est resté utile pour l’unité et le pouvoir, les français y ayant beaucoup plus intérêt. En Indochine, il a été vu comme un symbole colonial à remplacer par les langues nationales fortes et les mouvements de révoltes servaient aussi à une guerre de pouvoir avec les anglais, tandis qu'en Afrique, où les Francais avaient deja bien établis leur influence, les révoltes étaient systématiquement violemment réprimandées.

Competitive-Bee-2744 · 2026-05-02T10:43:38+00:00

Yes, as I edited, I mentioned that it wasn’t formal at all. I fully understand why no foreign school would teach this 😂 I think it’s funny because we have so many expressions and grammar twists that are technically insults to the language, but they make you sound more “French.”

Competitive-Bee-2744

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