French - 'Stand out' sentences

NotExactly

Does anybody know any good phrases to use for the written pieces also any good subjunctive sentences & a variety of phrases for the overused words like instead of beaucoup de use un tas de?

Maestoso

Last year I said "J'ai du pain sur la planche" which means "I've got bread on my plate/very much to do" and when I was looking over my script I saw a ! next to the phrase. I'm not sure if it was a good exclamation mark or a bad one, but I did well on the question I used that in, so the person was probably impressed by it .__.

It's not particularly tough to remember and is pretty rare to find and can be used in a lot of scenarios. I thoroughly recommend this phrase. :B

NotExactly

Maestoso wrote: »

Last year I said "J'ai du pain sur la planche"

Thanks. That's exactly the kind of stuff i'm lookin' for.

Guessinggame

found this yesterday, if it's any help, i find it handy anyway!
http://brianlambe.wordpress.com/french-idioms-leaving-cert/

Clickclack

On ne peut pas nier le fait que/qu' .... car les faits sont là
-we can't deny the fact that ... because the facts are there

Il faut qu'on marche avec les temps
-It is necessary to move with the times

Tout le monde est dans la même galère
-Everybody is in the same boat

Avoir envie de jeter l'éponge
-To want to throw in the towel

Il faut que je fasse un break
-It is necessary that I take a break

Il faut qu'on ait la tête sur les épaules
-It is necessary to have a head on your shoulders

Etre au bout de rouleau
-To be at the end of one's tether/rope

Laisser à désirer
-To leave a lot to be desired

Il y a toute une mentalité à changer.
-There is a mindset to change.

Il faut que nous sensibilisons les opinions sur...
-It is necessary that we improve awareness on...

à vrai dire, je ne comprends pas ce genre de comportement
-To tell the truth, I don't understand this kind of behaviour.

L'avantages à + inf sont nombreux
-The benefits of (inf) are numerous

Qu'on le veuille ou non
-Wether we like it or not

SDTimeout

I do ordinary, but my favorite quote in the world is.

:" C'est en faisent n'importe quoi, qu'on devient n'importe qui. "

May have not got that spelling right.. i don't usually type it out. It means It is in doing anything you can become anyone. Not sure where you could throw it in, but it's a nice phrase and i will probably put it at the end of my note haha.

NotExactly

Guessinggame wrote: »

found this yesterday, if it's any help, i find it handy anyway!
http://brianlambe.wordpress.com/french-idioms-leaving-cert/

Cool thanks.

Clickclack wrote: »

On ne peut pas nier le fait que/qu' .... car les faits sont là
-we can't deny the fact that ... because the facts are there

Thanks, i'm sure one or two of them will come in handy.

SDTimeout wrote: »

I do ordinary, but my favorite quote in the world is.

:" C'est en faisent n'importe quoi, qu'on devient n'importe qui. "

May have not got that spelling right.. i don't usually type it out. It means It is in doing anything you can become anyone. Not sure where you could throw it in, but it's a nice phrase and i will probably put it at the end of my note haha.

That's like what Remi Gillard has on the end of his youtube videos

PictureFrame

I don't know if this is any help but I learnt this for my 5th year Summer Tests a week ago about Jobs, Money, Pocket Money etc.

A mon avis, il est trés importante pour les jeunes personnes pour avoir indépendance financière

Basically it's, "In my opinion it's very important for young people to have financial independance"..

Best of Luck!

PurpleVintage

Eh I dont know what happened to me and french, but we are no longer best friends like we used to be back in the days.

Btw, does this make sense? Google translator wasn't making much sense but it told me it was right:

Btw, is there an easier way (or another way) to say: Le peuple et la loi devrait éviter indiffirence envers le racisme.

Is there any words that can replace 'envers' and 'devrait'? Does it even make sense? Can never rely on translators too much.

teacher30

PictureFrame wrote: »

I don't know if this is any help but I learnt this for my 5th year Summer Tests a week ago about Jobs, Money, Pocket Money etc.

A mon avis, il est trés importante pour les jeunes personnes pour avoir indépendance financière

Basically it's, "In my opinion it's very important for young people to have financial independance"..

Best of Luck!

Please note: il est important /// d'avoir ... rather than pour avoir. Hope you don't mind me saying that .

SDTimeout

NotExactly wrote: »

Cool thanks.




Thanks, i'm sure one or two of them will come in handy.



That's like what Remi Gillard has on the end of his youtube videos

That's exactly what it is

ConnieBarry

just found this.....
http://www.one.under.btinternet.co.uk/list.html

Desire.

Maestoso wrote: »

Last year I said "J'ai du pain sur la planche" which means "I've got bread on my plate/very much to do" and when I was looking over my script I saw a ! next to the phrase. I'm not sure if it was a good exclamation mark or a bad one, but I did well on the question I used that in, so the person was probably impressed by it .__.

It's not particularly tough to remember and is pretty rare to find and can be used in a lot of scenarios. I thoroughly recommend this phrase. :B

I'm going to use that in my letter for my Junior Cert. Thank you.

kilkenny runner

tips on how to improve your ordinary level comprehensions between now and the exam

NotExactly

kilkenny runner wrote: »

tips on how to improve your ordinary level comprehensions between now and the exam

I do higher but these might help anyway. Always read the introduction to the comprehension, read the questions before the text to get a jist of what their looking for, then read through the whole text and take down rough points on what it's about. Know the words used repeatedly used in the question e.g Selon/relevez/un mot.

PJelly

Clickclack wrote: »

On ne peut pas nier le fait que/qu' .... car les faits sont là
-we can't deny the fact that ... because the facts are there

Il faut qu'on marche avec les temps
-It is necessary to move with the times

Tout le monde est dans la même galère
-Everybody is in the same boat

Avoir envie de jeter l'éponge
-To want to throw in the towel

Il faut que je fasse un break
-It is necessary that I take a break

Il faut qu'on ait la tête sur les épaules
-It is necessary to have a head on your shoulders

Etre au bout de rouleau
-To be at the end of one's tether/rope

Laisser à désirer
-To leave a lot to be desired

Il y a toute une mentalité à changer.
-There is a mindset to change.

Il faut que nous sensibilisons les opinions sur...
-It is necessary that we improve awareness on...

à vrai dire, je ne comprends pas ce genre de comportement
-To tell the truth, I don't understand this kind of behaviour.

L'avantages à + inf sont nombreux
-The benefits of (inf) are numerous

Qu'on le veuille ou non
-Wether we like it or not

So, for the ones with the infinitive, you just sub in the right tense? Like, "Etre au bout de rouleau" would change to say... "Nous somme au bout de rouleau?"

NotExactly

Maestoso wrote: »

Last year I said "J'ai du pain sur la planche" which means "I've got bread on my plate/very much to do"

Do ye think I could use this for an ending to my journal intime?

J_E

Where is all this talk about racism coming from anyway? Not sure how you can predict anything for certain tbh.

Edit: This appears to be the wrong thread. Nevertheless, you can reply if you want :pac:

Fizbo

I always get stuck on finding a word in the text ..for example verb in the conditional , and other things like that ..anybody have anything that could help ?

Thanks

J_E

Fizbo wrote: »

I always get stuck on finding a word in the text ..for example verb in the conditional , and other things like that ..anybody have anything that could help ?

Thanks

Try to look for the endings on the word, that's the sure way of getting it right.

Conditionals usually end in:
Je - ais
Tu - ais
Il/Elle - ait
Nous - ions
Vous - iez
Ils/Elles -aient

And only mention the word, not the "je, tu" before it.

Solair

Try :

autant que je sache ... blah blah

as far as I know ... blah blah

PJelly

Cydoniac wrote: »

Where is all this talk about racism coming from anyway? Not sure how you can predict anything for certain tbh.

Edit: This appears to be the wrong thread. Nevertheless, you can reply if you want :pac:

It was just how the conversation started :pac:
We moved onto drink and the recession. It was riveting stuff. Sorry you missed it.

foxymm

Comme on dit . . . = As the saying goes...

Après la pluie le beau temps. = Every cloud has a silver lining

Il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort. = Let sleeping dogs lie.

Il ne faut pas provoquer le diable. = Don't tempt fate.

Un malheur ne vient jamais seul. = It never rains but it pours.

Qui ne risque rien n'a rien. = Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Qui vivra, verra. = Time will tell.

Tout est allé à vau-l'eau. = Everything has gone to the dogs

Par les temps qui courent. = As things are nowadays

C'est une aubaine. = It's a godsend.

J'ai peine à le croire. = I can hardly believe it.

Chacun pour soi. = Everyone for himself/herself.

Il faut que tout le monde vive. = Live and let live.

A contre-coeur = reluctantly.

L'habit ne fait pas le moine = Don't judge a book by its over.

Une goutte d'eau suffit pour faire déborder le vase = It's the last straw that breaks the camel's back.


The English translation given is not a direct translation from French but is the nearest proverb we would use. i.e. Une goutte d'eau.... literally translates as a drop of water is sufficient to overflow the vase...

Subjunctif:

Il est bien important que l'on réagisse d'une façon constructive. It's really important to react in a constructive manner/way.

Je ne pense pas que / Je ne crois pas que ce soit juste. I don't think/believe that it's fair

Il est temps que le tout le monde comprenne. It's (high) time that everyone understood.

Il semble que les hôpitaux irlandais ne puissent pas se débrouiller/s'en débrouiller. It seems that Irish hospitals cannot cope/cope with it.

Journal phrase : Je ne m'en sors plus: It's more than I can cope with.

J'ai le cafard : i'm fed up.

C'est à en perdre la tête = it's enough to drive you out of your mind.

Devine ce qui s'est passé (m'est arrivé(e)) aujourd'hui. Tu ne le croiras pas! - Guess what happened (happened to me) today. You won't believe it!


Hope these help....

Skyrim

Je te remercie de tout cour pour la lettre= I want to thank from the bottom of heart for your letter.

AnneElizabeth

teacher30 wrote: »

Please note: il est important /// d'avoir ... rather than pour avoir. Hope you don't mind me saying that .

This is a bit last minute.. But how do you know when to put pour/de/a in front of the infinitive?!

foxymm

N'oubliez pas...

Don't forget when spotting Le conditionnel you will find the letter r before the endings -ais - ais - ait - ions -iez -aient as in: serais ; pourrions ; devraient ; regarderiez ; dirais ; feraient . . . et ainsi de suite (and so on ...)

Fireball07

foxymm wrote: »

Comme on dit . . . = As the saying goes...

Après la pluie le beau temps. = Every cloud has a silver lining

Il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort. = Let sleeping dogs lie.

Il ne faut pas provoquer le diable. = Don't tempt fate.

Un malheur ne vient jamais seul. = It never rains but it pours.

Qui ne risque rien n'a rien. = Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Qui vivra, verra. = Time will tell.

Tout est allé à vau-l'eau. = Everything has gone to the dogs

Par les temps qui courent. = As things are nowadays

C'est une aubaine. = It's a godsend.

J'ai peine à le croire. = I can hardly believe it.

Chacun pour soi. = Everyone for himself/herself.

Il faut que tout le monde vive. = Live and let live.

A contre-coeur = reluctantly.

L'habit ne fait pas le moine = Don't judge a book by its over.

Une goutte d'eau suffit pour faire déborder le vase = It's the last straw that breaks the camel's back.


The English translation given is not a direct translation from French but is the nearest proverb we would use. i.e. Une goutte d'eau.... literally translates as a drop of water is sufficient to overflow the vase...

Subjunctif:

Il est bien important que l'on réagisse d'une façon constructive. It's really important to react in a constructive manner/way.

Je ne pense pas que / Je ne crois pas que ce soit juste. I don't think/believe that it's fair

Il est temps que le tout le monde comprenne. It's (high) time that everyone understood.

Il semble que les hôpitaux irlandais ne puissent pas se débrouiller/s'en débrouiller. It seems that Irish hospitals cannot cope/cope with it.

Journal phrase : Je ne m'en sors plus: It's more than I can cope with.

J'ai le cafard : i'm fed up.

C'est à en perdre la tête = it's enough to drive you out of your mind.

Devine ce qui s'est passé (m'est arrivé(e)) aujourd'hui. Tu ne le croiras pas! - Guess what happened (happened to me) today. You won't believe it!


Hope these help....

Thanks a lot!!! Much appreciated. I needed 1 or 2 good subjunctive phrases to throw in.

foxymm

This will generally depend on what comes before it in the sentence. i.e.

avoir envie de/d'... to really want to
avoir besoin de/d'... to need to
avoir hâte de/d'...to really want (can't wait) to
avoir peur de/d' . . to fear/be afraid to

commencer à + infinitive = to begin to
s'habituer à + noun/inf. = to get used to
s'intéresser à + noun/inf = to be interested in

pour faire = to order to do
Je me suis assis à la table pour faire mes devoirs
pour aller = in order to go . . .

Pour could be replace with afin de/d' went you also want to convey in order to do/achieve something... Afin de réussir au bac, je dois travailler d'arrache-pied = In order to succeed/pass the leaving cert., I have to work flat-out.

foxymm

Il est important takes 'de'+infinitive after it. Don't forget when you use Il est important + que, you need to follow it up with the subjunctive tense.

i.e. Il est important de suivre un régime équilibré.
Il est important que l'on suive un régime équilibré

Both translate as, more or less, It is important to follow a balanced diet.

others...
Il faut + infinitve
Il faut que + subj.

Il est essentiel de + infinitive
Il est essentiel que + subj.

Not all structures that use 'que' takes the subj. tense i.e. Je pense que, je crois que, j'espere que, je trouve que are all followed with 'normal' or indicative tenses.

However as you are expressing doubt by saying Je ne pense pas que/Je ne crois pas que ( I don't think / I don't believe) these structures require the subjunctive.

foxymm

Remember in your writing tomorrow to be as personal as possible... always give your side of the argument, your point of view, your beliefs, what you would do. Draw from your personal experiences if applicable to what you are writing.

Always remember to stick to the question(s) asked and not just the "topic". For example:
Q: De nos jours, l'environnement fait la une dans l'actualité. Et donc Etes-vous préparé(e) de modifier votre mode de vie pour mieux protéger notre environnement.

This question does not want you to write everything you know about the environment in French but wants you to respond to question are you prepared to change your lifestyle to better protect the environment!!


It is fine to use French proverbs and French expressions and an odd subjunctive sentence but overall at the end of the day personal, simple, direct and comprehensible French is what examiners are looking for intertwined with dealing with the question/scenario.

Bonne chance et bon courage!

Clickclack

PJelly wrote: »

So, for the ones with the infinitive, you just sub in the right tense? Like, "Etre au bout de rouleau" would change to say... "Nous somme au bout de rouleau?"

Ou!
Generally though it would be "Je suis au bout de rouleau", and when you are writing instead of Nous "On est" and this is very important.

B_Fanatic

I managed to squeeze in j'avais pain sur la planche into the journal intime, so thanks for that! The examiners will be amazed by the shear amount of bread on the board(s)!

J_E

yes! I put that one in too. Not so rare of a phrase now :P

LittleMissLost

I got
"Il faut voler ses propres ailes" (stand on ones own two feet) for Q1a) on responsibility
and
"Il faut retrousser les manches" (pull up ones socks) for the question on alcohol.. these sound ok

B_Fanatic

Agh! Just remembered a brilliant one. "Avec ma bite et mon coureau"... An interesting way of saying MacGyver.