| A | B |
|---|
| le café | the café is the heart of Fr. social life, adults and students make a point of meeting friends there for an hour or so every day after work or school, unlike American restaurants, customers are expected to linger a long while even if they have ordered only a drink. |
| le dîner | Europeans eat their evening meal much later than Americans, 10p.m. is the norm. Restaurants do not open to serve evening meals until 7pm and the staff are not happy if customers are there before 8pm! |
| le fast-food vs. un fast-food | le fast-food refers to the type of food served / un fast-food refers to the eatery that serves it |
| une limonade vs. un citron pressé | "limonade" is carbonated lemon flavored / citron pressé is fresh lemon with non-carbonated water, however, it is not sweetened with sugar but flavored with salt |
| de l'eau | fresh,clean water is rare in the environment. since water filtration systems are expensive, water provided to the homes for bathing,cooking, etc is expensive and used conservatively. the chemicals needed to purify the water are distasteful so drinking water is always purchased. Because of the cost factor neither ice cubes nor glasses of water are provided free at restaurants. Most Europeans do not care for iced drinks because they are just not used to it. Ice and the electricity to make ice is very expensive. |
| les euros | since 2000 the euro has been the basic unit of currency among the countries of the European Union. In 2000, one euro was worth $1. Before9/11/2001 the euro dropped in value to the dollar. After 9/11 the dollar dropped in value to the euro. As of 7/24/04 one euro costs $1.27. |
| le temps | the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. are not used by other languages |
| heure vs. o'clock | the letter "h" is used in numeric Fr. time designations the way the colon is used in Eng. |
| 12 hour vs. 24 hour time | since there are no abbreviations for a.m./p.m. in Fr.requiring the whole expression to be used to clarify which time of day for an hour, Europeans use 24 hour designations on printed time items such as schedules and signs to save space and the expense of printing. |
| J'ai ... ans / faim / soif | where conditions of the body are expressed in Eng. using "I am" the French say "J'ai/I have" as if to say, "my body has ...condition." It is expected that Eng. speakers will translate into comfortable Eng.and say "I'm..." when recognizing a Fr. statement of a bodily condition. |
| les jours / les mois | Unlike English, the days and the months are not capitalized unless they are the first word of a sentence or used decoratively on a calendar |
| lundi vs. le lundi | although day names are nouns, unlike other nouns in Fr. they are NOT used with "le" unless the speaker wishes to indicate that the event takes place "every ..." Monday/on Mondays or every Monday this same method is used with months |
| il fait.....chaud/froid etc. | "Il fait" with heat/temperature expressions is only used to describe weather. For a person to be hot/cold, or a food or other thing to be described for temperature other subject/predicate expressions are used. Thus, it is always clear in Fr. when one is describing the temperature of weather, a person, or a thing, which is not true for Eng. |
| Alouette / Je te plumerai.. | "The Lark" traditional Fr. song used to teach parts of body, originally a (medieval)"cook's" song as she plucked the bird to prepare it for cooking "I will pluck..." |
| "Jacques à dit" | Simons Says |
| le cou | the neck |
| la tête | the head |
| la main | the hand |
| le dos | the back |
| les ailes | the wings |
| les pattes | feet/animal |
| les pieds | feet/people |
| la queue | tail |
| le bras | arm |
| le ventre | abdomen |
| la jambe | leg |
| l'oeil | eye |
| les yeux | eyes |
| les cheveux | hair |
| le nez | nose |
| le bec | beak |
| l'oreille | ear |
| la bouche | mouth |
| le visage | face |
| le corps | body |
| le coeur | heart |
