faire le pont “Faire le pont” is a French expression that literally means “to make the bridge.” It refers to the practice of taking an extra day off work to create a long weekend when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday. “Le 1er mai tombe un mardi, génial ! On peut faire le pont.” (May 1st falls on a Tuesday, great! We can have a four-day weekend.) “Je ne fais pas le pont cette fois, j’ai trop de travail à faire....

Comment ça se fait This expression is commonly used in informal French conversations to express surprise, curiosity, or sometimes skepticism about a situation or event. It’s a way of asking for an explanation or reason behind something that seems unusual or unexpected. “Comment ça se fait que tu es en retard?” (How come you’re late?) “Il a gagné la loterie? Comment ça se fait?” (He won the lottery? How did that happen?...

Pronominal Verbs Pronominal verbs are verbs that are conjugated with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) that usually refers back to the subject of the verb. These verbs can express various meanings, including reflexive, reciprocal, and idiomatic actions. Conjugation and Tenses Pronominal verbs follow the same conjugation patterns as regular verbs, but with the addition of the reflexive pronoun. Here’s an example using the verb “se laver” (to wash oneself):...

venir de Non, à côté de chez moi il y a un complexe multisalles qui vient d‘ouvrir. No, next to my place there’s a multiplex that has just opened. The French construction “venir de” + infinitive is used to express recent past actions. 1 Structure and Meaning “Venir de” + infinitive is used to say “to have just done something” in French. It’s equivalent to the English construction “have/has just + past participle”....

Future tense in subordinate clauses In French, when the main clause of a sentence contains a verb in the future tense, the verb in the subordinate clause is often also conjugated in the future tense. This is different from English, where we typically use the present tense in the subordinate clause even when referring to future events. This grammatical rule is part of the French sequence of tenses (la concordance des temps)....