I took French for 5 years in high school and college, and I'm almost finished with Level III of Pimsleur's French, but I'm not sure about some very elementary phrases I know I'll want to use in our upcoming trip (and if you're familiary with Pimsleur, you know you really can't go back and look anything up). Specifically: 1)When you say "Parlez-vous anglais?" do you pronounce the "s" in "vous"? 2)If I want to say "I speak a little French," do I say "Je parle un peu de francais" or "un peu francais"?
Tiny things, but I'd appreciate help from the many French-speakers out there. Merci to everybody!
Just

No, you don't pronounce the "s" in vous. There aren't a lot of French words where you pronounce the final "s." Most of the ones I can think of are place names.

Of course, when you make the liaison, you do pronounce the "s," as in "Vous êtes français, non?"

Yes, you use the "de" in "je parle un peu de français." Though I suppose you could also say "Je parle français un peu," meaning "I speak French a little," but that might be a bit structurally awkward.

In level 2 of Pimsleur it is pointed out that many of the linking sounds are not being used now. Thus, I would tend to believe that the s in vous is not linked to the a in anglais.

Je parle un peu francis. I firmly believe that the de is not used.

Hi Carol, actually you can say both. With "Vous" on its own there is no "s" but if there is a vowel in the word afterwards you can say it or not.
Nukesafe sent me this link which can help you with the pronunciation.
http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tt...hp?frame1=talk

I would say "je parle un peu le français."
Bonne chance!
coco

StCirq: Yes, I know you don't pronounce the "s" in "vous" when it stands alone, but I was wondering about the linkage with "anglais" when that follows. The whole question of when you link and when you don't has been driving me crazy (also the question of when you pronounce the last consonant--not in "Cirq," right?)
Coco, thank you!! It really helps to know that the linkage isn't always consistent. Thank you for fixing my sentence. (And no, we aren't going to Dijon this trip, but we are the next one!)
Carolyn

You're welcome
If you try the link I mentioned, choose Juliette and then Jolie (funny french name, didn't know that one!) with "parlez vous anglais?" you'll hear both version.

No liaison in parlez vous anglais?

M. Latané, my high school instructor, must be spinning in his grave.

M Latané would be proud of me because I say them but now you know people are getting lazier... What I hate is the "no liaison" with euros. Deux euros instead of deux "z"euros drives me mad!
I'm glad they all say it on oddcast.

"Parlez vous anglais" isn't something I've ever said, or have any intention of ever saying.

But no-one's ever picked me up for saying "avez vou Z une chambre?"

So which is it:

1. Vocalising the "Z" in vous before a vowel is now fogeyish, but they ignore it if a foreigner does it?
2. Proper French remains proper French. Sadly, some yobbish Frenchpeople have picked up slovenly habits from the other side of the Channel, but the sensible, mature, French still speak it right?
3. The world has gone mad, the French are all speaking the French version of Essex, and whenever they hear foreigners speaking Old Fart's French they're laughing at us?

Tell me it's 2. Or I'm cancelling our summer jaunt to introduce the flannerpoch to France. He's already getting lessons in how to growl with an accent, and I don't want all that effort for nothing.

PS: Coco

I was at a lecture about some English equivalents of "deu euro" a year or two back: one example was "mouses" as the plural of the computer accessory.

The explanation was that when a usage of a word sounds artificial, your instinct is to treat it that way. So you believe - rightly - that the euro isn't real money. The franc was. You'd have said "deu Z escudos" describing your holiday in Portugal back in the days when the Portuguese used real money too.

You (or rather they) say "deu euro" for the same reason the British say "two pence" (rather than the "tuppence we said for centuries) 35 years after changing our currency. It's not laziness: it's a subconscious rejection of unnecessary change.

No liaison before proper nouns. If you would capitalise the word in English, as in place names (as StCirq points out), drop the the S

Je sui Anglais
Je suiz_un Anglais

In any case, both would be understood, and many Frogs use the liaison anyway.

Again like StCirq, I would say "Je parle français un peu", which sneaks you round the the preposition issue.

>So which is it:
Sa depend ke tu veu dir et à ki tu parl. , doesn't it?

logos:

Is that really how French adolescents text?

Words (uncharacteristically) fail me

Nowadays, many communicate mostly via IRC (and other "chat clients&quot, sending text over the internet. This is a lot faster than typing whole sentences.

Pardonnez-moi, mais . . . aren't there regional variations, if not generational variations, regarding ellision? And differences depending on whether you are dealing with the verb ending (often unpronounced) vs. indicating plurals of, say, articles or adjectives.

And I'd probably say, "je parle francais -- un peu."

You "diss"-ing my name, coco?


Just kidding.

Oops sorry Jolie , is it French really?

Found about liaison on wikipedia for those who can read French
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaison_%28linguistique%29
Check part 2.

Jolie=Pretty....Cute.

This is very frustrating for someone who has never studied French but who still keeps hiring French tutors and continues to non-learn the language. Both my tutors are native French speakers, one from Marseilles and one from Paris, both around my age (mid-30s) and both have taught me to use the liaison.

What gives? Are they old fogeys too?

Coco: thank you for the link to the wikipedia article--it cleared up a lot of my confusion. So very precise, so very useful, so very French! I can't promise to navigate every obligatory hiatus or obligatory liaison properly, but at least I understand what's going on (inconsistencies on the Pimsleur tapes were maddening). Wonderful!
Carolyn