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March 2025 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Tag Archives: vocabulary
Une nuit blanche…
‘Une nuit blanche’, literally ‘a white night’, is a sleepless night. I don’t know why I should have been awake, on and off, between 2am and 4am last night as my conscience is (relatively) clear but I ended up listening … Continue reading
Posted in Vocabulary
Tagged Football, French language, Manchester United, vocabulary
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Je viens de…
Literally ‘I am coming from…’ this (‘Je viens de…’) translates more easily as ‘ I have just…’: Je viens de découvrir que mon ami(e) est parti(e) pour l’Espagne: I have just discovered that my friend has left for Spain. Add the … Continue reading
Les bouchées…et décupler
Strange as it may seem, ‘mettre les bouchées doubles’ (literally: to put the double mouthfuls) means ‘to redouble your efforts’. And ‘décupler’ may sound like ‘to uncouple’ but in fact means ‘to increase tenfold’.
Actions et tube
Les actions (nfpl): As well as English ‘actions’, ‘les actions’ also mean ‘shares’ as in stocks and shares. Now where did I put my Swiss bank account… Le tube: ‘Un tube’ or ‘le tube’ has many meanings but the (London) … Continue reading
Pavement et chauffeur
Le pavement: I am always happily surprised when I discover a new ‘false friend’, and this, I think, is a good one. ‘Le pavement’ is ‘ornamental tiling’, and the English ‘pavement’ is ‘le trottoir’. Simples. Un chauffeur: I was also surprised … Continue reading
Pas mal (de)
Although ‘pas mal’ translates as ‘not bad’, ‘pas mal de…’ translates as ‘a lot of…’: Pas mal de chats : a lot of cats/Pas mal de gens confus, personnes confuses : many confused people. Yes, quite…
Potable
A half-way decent hotel is described as ‘potable’ (drinkable). But beware of l’Hôtel de Ville: this is the Town Hall. Do not try to book in or stay there.