Thanks for this post ..I always get confused with ‘confuse’. I much prefer all these alternatives…trick is to learn them and be able to pluck them from my brain when needed!
Rosemary Kneipp
October 4th, 2013 at 8:58 am
Yes, it’s all very well knowing them – it’s putting them into practice which is the hard bit!
Fiona
October 4th, 2013 at 2:00 am
Thank you so much for this lesson – I enjoyed it immensely and would love you to do more – even one each day would be great! I visit France each year – and learning French here in Australia – every little bit helps to improve my use of the language. I will certainly pass this on to my friends who join me in class and they too can join your newsletter.
Rosemary Kneipp
October 4th, 2013 at 9:00 am
Hi Fiona and welcome to Aussie in France. I’m pleased you enjoyed the post. It’s fun writing them. Thank you for recommending me to your friends! You might like to have a look to my other blog http://www.bloisdailyphoto.com because it has short bilingual comments you may be interested in. Don’t forget to look at the readers’ comments as well.
We have an art and food festival in a nearby village called L’Art et Lard, which I assume comes from the saying ‘Il ne faut pas confondre l’art et lard’.
Rosemary Kneipp
October 6th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
The verb “embrouiller” can be used in either sentences. I’ll do a post on reflexive verbs but I need to think about how to explain how they’re used.
I didn’t know the saying “Il ne faut pas confondre l’art et lard” but I love the name of the art and food festival!
FF – thanks 🙂 I’m happy to make everyone else who is brave enough to give it a go look good 🙂
Thanks to Rosemary too. I got a chance to use embrouiller yesterday. Our mechanic used a word that sounded like ‘suze’ and I had to ask him what it meant. He said ‘well, not the drink!’ and explained it was from the verb ‘user’. Of course I then realised it was inflexive and all was clear.
I’m delighted that you were able to use embouiller! And I like the suze …
Rosemary Kneipp
October 6th, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Thank you, Susan and Femme Francophile! I didn’t realise the sentences were so difficult. It reminds me of when I set papers at ESIT. It was only when I saw the students answers that the difficulty became obvious.
Wow, I seem to have stayed up all night reading masses of your blog! It’s awesome. I love all things french, but especially Paris. We are going again in a week. I am having french lessons as well, so love your articles. I speak german so I’m fascinated at how french works. I also teach english as a foreign language when I get the chance, which isn’t often these days. Keep up the fab work, I’ll be back!
Rosemary Kneipp
October 6th, 2013 at 6:45 pm
Hi Jane, what lovely comments! Does this mean you’ll be in Paris on Tuesday 8th October?
Thanks for this post ..I always get confused with ‘confuse’. I much prefer all these alternatives…trick is to learn them and be able to pluck them from my brain when needed!
Yes, it’s all very well knowing them – it’s putting them into practice which is the hard bit!
Thank you so much for this lesson – I enjoyed it immensely and would love you to do more – even one each day would be great! I visit France each year – and learning French here in Australia – every little bit helps to improve my use of the language. I will certainly pass this on to my friends who join me in class and they too can join your newsletter.
Hi Fiona and welcome to Aussie in France. I’m pleased you enjoyed the post. It’s fun writing them. Thank you for recommending me to your friends! You might like to have a look to my other blog http://www.bloisdailyphoto.com because it has short bilingual comments you may be interested in. Don’t forget to look at the readers’ comments as well.
Bloody hell! Homework!! 🙂 Here goes:
1. Es-tu toujours t’embrouillĂ© au sujet de comment on utilise confondre en français.
2. J’Ă©tais m’embrouillĂ© quand rien se passer.
3. Il est très facile de confondre les mots imminent et eminent.
We have an art and food festival in a nearby village called L’Art et Lard, which I assume comes from the saying ‘Il ne faut pas confondre l’art et lard’.
The verb “embrouiller” can be used in either sentences. I’ll do a post on reflexive verbs but I need to think about how to explain how they’re used.
I didn’t know the saying “Il ne faut pas confondre l’art et lard” but I love the name of the art and food festival!
Bravo Susan for being the first to give it a go. This is embarrassing – but here goes:
1. Etes-vous clair comment employer “confondre” en français ?
2. Je m’embrouillais quand rien s’est passĂ©.
3. On confonde facilement le mot imminent avec eminent.
1. I guess inEnglish we would say, “are you clear about …”. However, in French, only the negative is used “il n’Ă©tait pas clair” means he was drunk or on drugs. You can say “la rĂ©ponse n’est pas claire” or “c’est clair et net”.
2. I’ll use this example in my next Friday’s French!
FF – thanks 🙂 I’m happy to make everyone else who is brave enough to give it a go look good 🙂
Thanks to Rosemary too. I got a chance to use embrouiller yesterday. Our mechanic used a word that sounded like ‘suze’ and I had to ask him what it meant. He said ‘well, not the drink!’ and explained it was from the verb ‘user’. Of course I then realised it was inflexive and all was clear.
Ahem…I mean reflexive…
I’m delighted that you were able to use embouiller! And I like the suze …
Thank you, Susan and Femme Francophile! I didn’t realise the sentences were so difficult. It reminds me of when I set papers at ESIT. It was only when I saw the students answers that the difficulty became obvious.
You both got the third one right, even though your solutions are different. But I can see that next Friday’s French should be about s’embrouiller and the next on reflexive verbs.
For the first sentence, I suggest something like:
Avez-vous toujours du mal Ă savoir comment utiliser le verbe “to confuse” en français ?
For the second:
J’Ă©tais perplexe lorsque rien se n’est passĂ©.
Wow, I seem to have stayed up all night reading masses of your blog! It’s awesome. I love all things french, but especially Paris. We are going again in a week. I am having french lessons as well, so love your articles. I speak german so I’m fascinated at how french works. I also teach english as a foreign language when I get the chance, which isn’t often these days. Keep up the fab work, I’ll be back!
Hi Jane, what lovely comments! Does this mean you’ll be in Paris on Tuesday 8th October?
[…] when I left some homework at the end of last week’s post about “confusing”, I didn’t realise it was so difficult. My […]
Great explanation. I’ve been “confused” about how to say that “I’m confused” in French. Thank you!
So pleased to help!