French Help!

cathalio11

So I'm starting to go back over comprehensions but I just can't get my head around some of the literary comprehensions.

There are some sentences that even with the help of a dictionary and google translate, I can never decipher them.

Here's a passage and if someone could help, I'd be very grateful. It's from 2002 HL:

"Antonio ne connaissait mademoiselle Chambon que de nom. Justqu'au début de ce mois de février, elle n'avait jamais été qu'une signature au bas d'un carnet scolaire qu'il regardait à peine - lire ce carnet, lui semblait-il, c'était le role d'Anne-Marie".

Thanks for any help. Took a good 5 minutes before I learned that "ne" doesn't always mean that the sentence is negative.

I'm assuming that it's about him only knowing Chambon by name and that she has only ever been a name to her on a report card but I don't understand all the technique that's going into it.

Canard

While you're right that ne isn't always negative, that ne actually is. You know ne ___ pas? That's "not" in English, but the "que de nom" goes with the ne. Ne ___ que = only. Sort of like "did not know her but by name".

"Antonio ne connaissait mademoiselle Chambon que de nom. Justqu'au début de ce mois de février, elle n'avait jamais été qu'une signature au bas d'un carnet scolaire qu'il regardait à peine - lire ce carnet, lui semblait-il, c'était le role d'Anne-Marie".

The translation would be "Antonio only knew mademoiselle Chambon by name. Until the beginning of this month of February, she had never been anything but a signature (again, n'avait jamais été qu'une signature) at the bottom of a school report which he barely (à peine) looked at - reading this report, it seemed to him, was the job of Anne-Marie".

Hope that helps! If you have any specific questions about the passage feel free to ask.

cathalio11

Couldn't thank you anymore. Might just use this thread in case I ever need anything in the future, rather than create a new one down the line.

The ne...qu is new to me anyways and great to know!

Whether I have the balls to execute it in the Leaving Cert in my own writing passage, who knows

Daniel2590

cathalio11 wrote: »

Couldn't thank you anymore. Might just use this thread in case I ever need anything in the future, rather than create a new one down the line.

The ne...qu is new to me anyways and great to know!

Whether I have the balls to execute it in the Leaving Cert in my own writing passage, who knows

There are quite a few ne + x phrases

Ne ... rien = nothing
Ne ... jamais = never
Ne ... que = only
Ne ... ni ... = neither ... nor ...
Ne ... plus = no longer / no more

Etc, etc. There's quite a few of them too :P

If you have the Triomphe Au Bac book there's a section for it called La Négation (I think, it's something like that anyways) that covers this section of grammar. I would imagine it would be in any other book with grammar in it but I know for sure it's in TAB :P

yournerd

Here

Here are some phrases I try and learn off and put into my written answers (the essays) and also I try and use them while speaking on different topics as they are fairly good! :

Some Essay phrases..
Il faut faire face à ce problème - We must face up to this problem
À mon sens - In my view
Quant à moi - As for me
En ce qui me concerne - As far as I'm concerned
Ce qui me frappe le plus, c'est.. - What strikes me the most is that...
Qu'on le veuille ou non .. - Whether we like it or not
Notamment - In particular
Nul ne saurait nier que .. (use subj) - No-one could deny that..
Il va de soi que/ Il va sans dire que .. - It goes without saying that ...
C'est la grande question de nos jours - It is the big question now-a-days
Qui plus est .. - What's more is..
Il paraît que .. - It appears that
Il me semble que .. - It seems to me that..
J'ai honte qu'il y ait un tel problème en Irlande aujourd'hui avec .. - I'm ashamed that there is such a problem in Ireland today with..
Alors, en conclusion, si on n'essaye pas d'éliminer le problème, la situation deviendra pire - Therefore, to conclude, if we don't try to eliminate the problem, the situation will get worse.
s'intéresser à - to be interested in
Être au goût du jour - to be trendy/in fashion
Ça vaut l'argent - It's worth the money!
Il n'y a rien que nous puissons faire - There's nothing that we can do
Il faut voir les choses du bon côté - You have to look on the bright side
C'est immonde (just negative) - It's unreal!
Qui vivra verra - Time will tell
Tout d'abord - First of all
Puis - Next
En un mot - in a word/ in a nutshell
Il faut qu'on fasse quelque chose avant qu'il ne soit trop tard - It's necessary that we do something before it is too late
Cela m'est egal! - It's all the same to me
A vrai dire, on n'est jamais content n'importe quoi - To tell the truth, one is never happy no matter what
Sain et sauf - Safe and sound
Je crois que (+subj) - I believe that
D'après moi/Selon moi - In my opinion
Je le déteste - I hate it
Je l'aime - I like it



Some diary entry phrases..
Me revoilà - Here I am again
Devine? - Guess what?
Quelle catastrophe! - What a catastrophe
Il me tarde de sortir ce week-end - I can't wait to go out this weekend
Je n'en croyais pas les oreilles! - I didn't believe my ears!
Je n'en croyais pas les yeux! - I didn't believe my eyes!
Je peux à peine le croire - I can hardly believe it
Cela fait mal - It's bad news
Tant pis - What a pity
Ça me rend triste d'y penser - It makes me sad to think about it
Espérons que ça s'arrange - I hope things work out
Dieu merci - Thank God
Je vais dormir comme un loir - I'm going to sleep like a log
Je suis ravi(e) - I am delighted
C'est une perte de temps! - It's a waste of time
Quel ennui! - What a bore
D'une part, D'autre part - On one hand, on the other hand
Tous mes projets sont tombés à l'eau - All my plans are ruined
Ils me traitent comme un bébé - They treat me like a baby
Ils refusent de me laiiser + infinitive - They are refusing to allow me to ....
J'en ai marre - I'm fed up
J'ai perdu la tête - I lost my head
Je suis en colère! - I am angry
J'ai le cafard - I'm down in the dumps
Je me sens si blessé, ce n'est pas vrai! - I feel like I'm injured, it's not true!
Je viens de fondre en larmes - I am coming into tears
Je ne l'oublierai jamais - I would never forget it
Je ne vois le temps passer! - Time flies
Je suis aux anges - I'm in heaven
C'est embêtant - It's annoying
Je sais que je dois payer les pots cassés à la fin - I know I have to face the music in the end
Je suis privé de sortie - I am grounded
Vouloir, c'est pouvoir! - Where there's a will, there's a way!
Du plus profond de mon coeur - From the bottom of my heart
J'ai de la chance - I'm lucky (I have luck)
Qui vivra verra - Time will tell
Quelle Barbe! - What a drag
Voice quelques lignes pour te donner de mes nouvelles - Here are a couple of lines about my news
J'ai du travail pas dessus la tête - I am overloaded with work
J'ai trop hâte d'y être - I'm dying to be there
Ma bande des copains - My gang of friends



You should try using 'un tas de' / 'bon nombre de' / 'énormément de' / 'plein de' instead of 'beaucoup de' as everyone in the country will be using 'beaucoup de' !

You should try and use some of the above phrases in your diary entries/essays/oral as they'll make it better and stand out. You could use some of the diary entry phrases and idioms in the written section and even the oral section, and vice versa. If you learn these phrases and are at ease writing them in your answers you should get on fairly well, examiners love their idioms and phrases! :P But don't over-use these like, you must have an understanding in writing 'normal' French too, especially for the diary entry when you have to describe what happened! :P