Hello my friends! And today, well yes, we will talk about those imfamous prepositions. So I know, the subject of prepositions is not the easiest in French, but don't worry, we will work on them.
Today we will look at very common, typical errors which all students make, and we will, of course, see how to correct them. So then I will remind you, because it could interest you. Awhile ago, I made a very complete video about prepositions, okay?
So it had a far more exhausitve goal, but today will focus on current, common mistakes. So if you are interested in the more complete video, well then, I will leave you with the file which should appear here, there, or in the description. And before beginning the video, I just wanted to tell you that we are soon coming upon an incredible number of one and a half million subscribers on this channel, so thank you very much!
Thank you for your trust. It really pleases us, but there is still 30% of you who watch these videos without being subscribed, so do not hesitate to subscribe; it's very good for your French, it's excellent for us too. So then, I thank you; now we begin the video.
We will organize this video into different parts. The first part, the problem with the prepositions for situating onself in a space. It mostly concerns prepositional locutions, in fact what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about prepositional locutions, like for example, "à droite de la maison" (to the right of the house), "à gauche de la voiture" (to the left of the car). Okay? So we call this prepositional locutions or expressions because you can very well see that there isn't just one word, there are several: "à droite de" (to the right of).
What is the problem here? Where is it that you regularly make mistakes? And well, the problem is: Do we put a "de" ?
Or do we not put a "de" ? I will explain, so as I just said, we will say, for example, "à droite de cette voiture" (to the right of this car), "à gauche de la maison" (to the left of the house). "À côté de cet arbre.
" (Next to this tree. ) But in other cases, we don't put a "de", and this is what is difficult. So then retain this well; we have to say "derrière la maison" (behind the house), directly.
"Devant la maison, sous la table, sur la table" (In front of the house, under the table, on the table). Okay? With this, it's enough.
These are the main mistakes. Okay? So retain this well.
Second part. The problem with vehicles and movement. So in French, we will use the preposition, "en", for an enclosed vehicle, so we will say, for example: "Je me déplace en avion, en voiture, en metro" (I travel by plane, by car, by train).
But if it's not an enclosed vehicle, we will use the preposition "à". We will say for example: "à moto, à cheval" (by motorcycle, by horse). And be careful, for the bicycle, the French hesitate, but normally, we have to say "à vélo".
There are a lot of French who say "en vélo", but it's considered incorrect. It's not very serious, but normally it's, "à vélo". And we also say "à pied" (on foot).
So for example: "Ce week-end, je vais à Paris, je vais y aller en voiture. Je dois partir au supermarché acheter du café. Je vais y aller à pied, à vélo".
(This weekend, I'm going to Paris, I'm going by car. I have to go to the supermarket to buy some coffee. I will go on foot, on my bike.
) And by the way you maybe know the music: [. . .
] à bicyclette. Third part, we will talk about, how to say, content support. You will understand.
So then I want to of course talk about radio, newspapers, television, the Internet, etc. So we will say: "Je l'ai vu, ou entendu, ou je l'ai lu dans le journal" (I saw it or heard it or I read it in the paper). But be careful with "à la télé" or "à la télévision.
" On the other hand, for all which is the Internet, we use "sur" (on). We will say for example: "Je l'ai vu sur internet" (I saw it on the Internet). "Je l'ai vu sur Facebook, sur Youtube, sur le blog de mon copain, etc.
(I saw it on Facebook, on Youtube, on a friend's blog, etc. ) On "Français avec Pierre" of course. In short, on the Internet, on social media.
And lastly, we will end with some typical locations. Above all what concerns the city. And this is a bit difficult because we will say, for example: "Je suis sur le boulevard, sur l'avenue" (I'm on the boulevard, on the avenue).
So for example: "Je me baladais sur l'avenue, le cœur ouvert à l'inconnu" (I was strolling on the avenue, my heart open to the unknown). We will say: "Je suis sur la place" (I'm on the sqaure). But watch out, careful, this is a common error; we will say: "Je marche dans la rue" (I walk on [in] the street).
Okay? On [in] the street. And careful, if we name the street in question or the square, in general, we don't put a preposition.
For example: "Je suis place de la Bastille" (I'm at Bastille Square). So try to retain this. In general, it's "sur", okay?
"Sur l'avenue, sur la place, sur le boulevard, etc. " (On the avenue, on the sqaure, on the boulevard, etc. ) But "dans la rue" (on [in] the street), don't forget "dans la rue", okay?
This is what's important. "Je vais me promener dans la rue, je descends dans la rue" (I will walk on [in] the road, I go down to the street). "Ce magasin se trouve dans cette rue, et cetera" (This store is found on this street, etc.
). So there then, clearly I didn't handle all of the problems, okay? I focused really on some problems which are very, very common, okay?
But we will end with a little quiz. I could have, for example, mentioned the problem with stores. For example, you maybe know the stores, so in French, we say: Zara.
It's here where we buy clothes. So in your opinion, I have to say: "Je vais acheter des vêtements. .
. à Zara" (I have to buy some clothes at Zara). .
. . au Zara.
Or: . . .
chez Zara. Good, I will let you answer in the comments, okay? It's a very subtle question.
So we will see if you are able to give me the right answer. If you have other difficulties, do not hesitate to also tell me in the comments; this way I can make a video to help you. Do not forget that we also put lots of free content to learn French on Instagram, on Facebook, so I will leave you all of the links in the description of this video.
I send you big hugs. Don't forget to put a thumbs up if you liked this video, it's very important for us! And we will see each other next week, if you would like.
