Little fact about French because I just learned that

hayley-studies:

culmaer:

limbile:

The accent circonflexe (^) exists in French words to replace the “s” that no longer exists but used to be there in older French.

For example: fenêtre used to be fenestre

It is still possible to see the “s” at times in family words like “défenestrer”.

knowing this, « être » becomes much more regular :

• être  → estre (es, est, sommes, ê[s]tes, sont ; ser-)

some French derivations become clearer :

• fenêtre   → défenestrer → L. fenestra
• fête   → festival
• hôpital → hospitaliser (E. hospital, ise)
• intérêt  → intéressant (E. interest, -ing)
• ancêtre  → ancestral (E. ancestor, -ral)
• arrêt    → arrestation
• épître  → épistolaire (E. epistle)

some English cognates become more obvious :

• hôtel  → hostel (E. ‘hotel’ borrowed from French)
• forêt  → forest (tipp to remember ^ goes on the ‹e›)
• bête  → beast
• côte  → coast
• honnête → honest
• pâte, pâté → pasta, paste
• quête   → quest
• enquête  → inquest
• tempête  → tempest
• vêtements → vestments (ie. clothes)
• baptême → baptism

sometimes, the acute replaces the circumfex for phonetic reasons :

• ḗcole   → escole → L. schola (E. school)
• ḗtranger   → estrangier (E. stranger)
• ḗtudier   → estudier (E. study)
• dḗgoûtant → desgoustant (E. disgusting)
• dḗbarquer → desembarquer (E. disembark)
• rḗpondre  → respondre (E. respond)
• rḗpublique → L. res publica

Also, where « c → ch » (eg. cantare→ chanter) :

• château → castel (E. castle)
• pêcher → L. piscare

and « w → gu » (eg. war→ guerre ; warden→ guardian) :

• guêpe → E. wasp ! (this is my n° 1 favourite cognate)
  

bonus etymologies :

• tête   → L. testa
• fantôme  → L. phantasma (E. ‘phantom’ borrowed from French)
• Pâques  → Gk. pásxa → Am. pésaḫ (E. Paschal)

Also just be aware that the circumflex has some other uses too, like distinguishing « sur — sûr » or « dû » and the vowel quality in « âge »

Where was this post when I was doing A-Level French! This is actually a really interesting language change called “syncope” (the loss of a medial segment within a word) and what makes it even more interesting to me is that not only was the -s- dropped post vocalically and largely before voiceless stops, but that the circumflex was (unnecessarily but coolly) adopted as an orthographic marker of the lost -s-. Even more interesting is that syncope usually occurs in vowels. I love this.

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“Je crois à toi” vs “Je crois en toi”

just-french-me-up:

As it turns out, grammar does matter, and Hugo knew it damn well. Something has always bothered me about this sentence, and now I know why. The difference doesn’t exist in English translations, because both “à” and “en” translates to “in”, hence Grantaire’s “I believe in you”. But it isn’t the case in French :

“Je crois à toi” isn’t grammatically correct. In French, you don’t believe “à” someone, you believe “en” someone. “Je crois à” is restricted to things and fictional beings, as in :

• Je crois à la Petite Souris (I believe in the Tooth Fairy)
• Je ne crois pas à la Révolution (I don’t believe in the Revolution)

There are a few exceptions (because otherwise grammar wouldn’t be grammar) but one thing is certain : “à” can not be used to introduce a noun or pronoun referring to a real person :

• Je crois en lui (I believe in him)
• “Je crois à lui” sounds wrong, as wrong as “I believe to him” sounds

Then, why does Hugo use both? Because Grantaire knows the difference as well. Grantaire is good with words and proves it more than once. Remember this quote : “Who has been unhooking the stars without my permission, and putting them on the table in the guise of candles?” ? Grantaire says it drunk. DRUNK. If this man can be that lyrical while smashed to high hell, why would he forget fundamental grammatical principles, all of a sudden?
Answer : he wouldn’t. He does it on purpose.

He’s mirroring Enjolras’s speech :

“Tu ne crois à rien.”
“Je crois à toi.”

This may sound insignificant and, yes, considering the length of the brick, it may be but bear with me. Grantaire is having a laugh, in this passage. Yes, he is serious, he does want to prove his value to Enjolras, but at the same time, he’s Grantaire. He can’t help himself but to play with words. And my best guess is that he’s teasing Enjolras, hence the “Be serious” “I am wild” that comes soon after.

Then what about “Je crois en toi”? Well, it’s a question of context. Look at the description preceeding Grantaire’s declaration :

“Grantaire,” [Enjolras] called, “go and sleep your wine off somewhere else.
This is a place for intoxication but not for drunkenness. Don’t dishonor
the barricade.”

The sharp rebuke had a remarkable effect on Grantaire, as though he
had received a splash of cold water. Suddenly he was sober. He sat down
with his elbows on a table by the window, and looking with great
sweetness at Enjolras called back:

“Tu sais que je crois en toi”

“Go away.”

Grantaire is serious this time. This isn’t a joke anymore. This is real declaration he’s making here. Enjolras is yelling at him, and yet, Grantaire’s attitude is all but belligerent. I would even argue that “great sweetness” is far from the reverent and loving “inexprimable douceur” from the French text.

Unfortunately, Enjolras is so used to his lack of faith and seriousness that he dismisses it. Grantaire has disappointed him more than once by that point in the brick, so his attitude is understandable. But if Grantaire lacks faith in the cause, he doesn’t lack any in Enjolras. The tragic thing is that Enjolras doesn’t realise it and Grantaire’s serious profession of faith is dismissed. One last nail in your coffin? Look at what comes after :

“Grantaire, you are incapable of believing or thinking or willing or living or dying.”
“You’ll see,” said Grantaire gravely. “You’ll see.”

https://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/eirenical/138060530130/tumblr_o18rk9YVQ21s7h6zg?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

prudencepaccard:

A lot of people have made audio posts showing how to pronounce the names of the main characters in Les Mis, Les Amis, etc. I decided to make one for the names that weren’t covered but are still likely to come up in fic or discussion.

French pronunciations (normal and syllabic) are followed by suggested anglicizations. Here’s:

1) Myriel

2) Baptistine

3) Magloire

4) Petit-Gervais

5) Fauchelevent

6) Champmathieu

7) Tholomyès

8) Bamatabois

9) Patron-Minette

10) Babet

11) Gueulemer

12) Claquesous

13) Montparnasse

14) Brujon

15) Gavroche

16) Gillenormand

Note: translations are approximate, as I’m not a native French speaker.

moonblossom:

lnnguages:

laserelectric:

can you imagine how f***ing relieved the french must have been when we reached the year 2000? 

they went from having to say “mille neuf cents quatre-vingt-dix-neuf” to just having to say “deux mille” to say the year

I personally avoid talking about anything that happened before 2000 for that very reason…

Seriously at this point I refer to anything that happened pre-2000 as “Quand j’étais jeune”