# Does anyone here speak French?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168 "2007-05-07T23:06:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/1 "2007-05-07T23:06:23Z")

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Can someone check this birthday card note out for me? I’m a little rusty since high school and I’d like it to be somewhat grammatically correct. TIA!

> [@](#):
>
> Bonne anniversaire, Shane! Nous ne parlons pas français bien, mais nous essayons notre meilleur! Nous espérons que votre jour est splendide et cela vous recevez un bon nombre de cartes. Vous êtes dans nos prières!
> 
> Nous espérons que vous aurez l’amusement avec ces autocollants de Shrek et Des Voitures.
> 
> Amour,

–FCOD

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/2 "2007-05-08T00:34:47Z")

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It’s a tad clumsy, obviously written by someone who’s not native – or an automated translation. It says:

"\*Happy birthday, Shane! We don’t speak French well, but we try our best! We hope that your day is splendid, and that you are receiving a good number of cards. You are in our prayers!

We hope you will have the amusement with these stickers of Shrek and Cars.

Love,\*"

Passages that are odd include “nous essayons notre meilleur” for “we try our best”. Litteral translation – it’s not an actual idiom in French. “Nous espérons que votre jour est splendide” would be much better as “Nous espérons vous passez une splendide journée”. This is followed by “et cela vous recevez”, which should be “et que vous recevez”.

The last sentence is perhaps the worst, and the translation of “Cars”, when it’s obviously the title of a movie leads me to believe this was Babelfished. It should be: “Nous espérons que vous vous amuserez bien avec ces autocollants de Shrek et Cars.”

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**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/3 "2007-05-08T01:07:48Z")

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Thank you. It’s a hybrid of bad memory and Babelfish.

–FCOD

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/4 "2007-05-08T01:10:16Z")

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Isn’t it **bon** anniversaire, since l’anniversaire is a masculine noun?

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**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/5 "2007-05-08T01:31:28Z")

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“Bonne fete” is what I’d use, myself. There’s a circumflex accent on that first e of fete, but I can’t get my keyboard to do it.

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/6 "2007-05-08T01:47:57Z")

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[QUOTE=Cunctator]  
Isn’t it **bon** anniversaire, since l’anniversaire is a masculine noun?  
[/QUOTE]

I totally missed that one. I probably mentally corrected it and never noticed it was wrong in the first place.

“Bonne fête”, in my experience, is the more popular expression in Québec, but “bon anniversaire” and “joyeux anniversaire” are very common in France. They’re all correct, though. Out of curiosity, I did a Google search and all three expressions return almost the same number of hits, so they’re all equally common.

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**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/7 "2007-05-08T03:57:15Z")

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I’m not a native, but I think it would be “ **le** français” in that second sentence. I believe for the name of the language the definite article is typically necessary.

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/8 "2007-05-08T04:19:02Z")

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[QUOTE=Lama Pacos]  
I believe for the name of the language the definite article is typically necessary.  
[/QUOTE]

No it’s not.

_Je parle français  
Tu parles anglais  
Il parle espagnol  
Nous parlons japonais  
Vous parlez arabe  
Ils parlent klingon_

You _can_ use the article but the nuance is slightly different. Here “parler français” is the more natural expression.

For a more detailed explanation: “parler français” conveys the sense of “speaking _in_ French”. “Parler le français” is closer to “speaking the French (language)”.

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**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/9 "2007-05-08T04:27:04Z")

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Interesting. So to omit the article conveys an almost adverbial sense?

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**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/10 "2007-05-08T05:01:43Z")

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[QUOTE=jovan]  
“Nous espérons que votre jour est splendide” would be much better as “Nous espérons vous passez une splendide journée”.  
[/QUOTE]

“Nous espérons **que** vous passez une splendide journée”, actually.

Here’s how I would rewrite this text (without making too many changes, and taking into account what people have already suggested):

Bon anniversaire, Shane! Nous ne parlons pas bien français, mais nous faisons de notre mieux! 🙂 Nous espérons que vous passerez une splendide journée et que vous recevrez un bon nombre de cartes. Nous vous gardons dans nos prières.

Nous espérons que vous vous amuserez avec ces autocollants de _Shrek_ et de _Cars_.

Who’s Shane, by the way? If it’s a child, as this seems to suggest, I’d use _tu_ instead of _vous_.

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**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/11 "2007-05-08T05:08:26Z")

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Question. Shouldn’t the passages after “nous espérons…” be in the subjunctive?

(I only have a tiny bit of French, so this is practice for me…)

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/12 "2007-05-08T05:19:30Z")

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[QUOTE=Lama Pacos]  
Interesting. So to omit the article conveys an almost adverbial sense?  
[/QUOTE]

_Le trésor de la langue française_ which is arguably the most in-depth reference on the French language classifies “français” in “parler français” as an adverb. Similarly-structured sentences include: “parler vite”, “parler fort”, “parler clairement”. (Fast, loud, and clearly.)

When you use the article, it becomes a noun. Contrast “parler la vérité” (speak the truth) with the adverbial examples above.

Addendum:

> [@severus](#):
>
> “Nous espérons que vous passez une splendide journée”, actually.

Aargh! Yes, absolutely. Proof-read, dammit, proof-read!

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**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/13 "2007-05-08T05:28:57Z")

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[QUOTE=straight man]  
Question. Shouldn’t the passages after “nous espérons…” be in the subjunctive?  
[/QUOTE]

I don’t think so, but I’m not quite sure how to explain it (or even if I’m right). I’d say “nous espérons que vous passez une excellente journée” but “nous souhaitons que vous pass **i** ez une excellente journée”. I guess that the difference is that the second sentence is expressing a wish, while the first one isn’t _quite_ doing so. But I don’t have my grammar here, so I can’t give any cite, and indeed I’m not even sure I’m correct.

> [@jovan](#):
>
> Contrast “parler la vérité” (speak the truth) with the adverbial examples above.

I’d say “dire la vérité” actually, I don’t think “parler la vérité” is correct French.

> [@](#):
>
> Aargh! Yes, absolutely. Proof-read, dammit, proof-read!

No problem! 😉

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/14 "2007-05-08T05:37:34Z")

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[QUOTE=straight man]  
Question. Shouldn’t the passages after “nous espérons…” be in the subjunctive?  
[/QUOTE]  
I’ve always been taught that the subjunctive is required in subordinate clauses after verbs expressing a wish or a desire, **except** _espérer_.

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**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/15 "2007-05-08T06:08:05Z")

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[QUOTE=Cunctator]  
I’ve always been taught that the subjunctive is required in subordinate clauses after verbs expressing a wish or a desire, **except** _espérer_.  
[/QUOTE]

Oh, okay then. As you can see, being a native French speaker means that I instinctively know if a construction is correct or not, but I have no idea about the actual grammar rules. 😃 People who speak it as a second language are much better with cites and explanations.

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/16 "2007-05-08T06:33:40Z")

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[QUOTE=severus]  
I’d say “dire la vérité” actually, I don’t think “parler la vérité” is correct French.  
[/QUOTE]

“Dire la vérité” (say the truth) is more likely to show up in a conversation, but “parler la vériter” (speak the truth) is nevertheless French. Though I’ll admit it’s not common and somewhat archaic. See for instance this excerpt from the Bible (Isaiah 33)

> [@](#):
>
> Qui de vous pourra habiter un feu dévorant? Qui de vous pourra demeurer dans des ardeurs éternelles? Mais celui qui marche dans la justice, et parle la vérité; qui chasse loin de lui l’avarice, compagne de la calomnie, et rejette de ses mains tout présent corrupteur; qui bouche ses oreilles aux paroles de sang, et ferme ses yeux pour ne pas voir le mal: celui-là habitera dans les lieux hauts ;

The expression “faire parler la vérité” (make the truth speak) is much more common but doesn’t really mean the same thing exactly.

As for the subjonctive use, espérer + subjonctive _is_ correct but archaic.

_J’espère qu’il fasse beau (subjonctive)  
J’espère qu’il fait beau (present)  
J’espère qu’il fera beau (future)_

These are all valid but the first one isn’t used much (if at all) in spoken language anymore.

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**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/17 "2007-05-08T13:45:11Z")

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[QUOTE=severus]  
Who’s Shane, by the way? If it’s a child, as this seems to suggest, I’d use _tu_ instead of _vous_.  
[/QUOTE]  
There’s a little boy in Canada with leukemia that wants to set the world record for most birthday cards received. His family has created a website: [http://www.shaneswish.com](http://www.shaneswish.com). I read that he doesn’t speak English (his parents read the English cards to him) so my wife and I thought it’d be nice to try to write a note in French. I wasn’t sure whether to use tu or vous because he’s 8, but I don’t know him. Would tu be more appropriate?

Thanks for all of your assistance.

–FCOD

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/18 "2007-05-08T14:03:30Z")

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Tu would definitely be more appropiate.

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**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/19 "2007-05-08T14:18:27Z")

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Ok. Did I do this correctly?

Bon anniversaire, Shane! Nous ne parlons pas bien français, mais nous faisons de notre mieux! Nous espérons que tu passeras une splendide journée et que tu recevras un bon nombre de cartes. Nous te gardons dans nos prières.

Nous espérons que tu t’amuseras avec ces autocollants de Shrek et de Cars.

–FCOD

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**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-speak-french/403168/20 "2007-05-08T14:45:42Z")

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[QUOTE=FlyingCowOfDoom]

Bon anniversaire, Shane! Nous ne parlons pas bien français  
[/quote]

That is just not sounding right to me. I think it would be better as ‘Nous ne parlons pas bien le francais’ Can’t say why but to me it sounds wrong the way you have it.

> [@](#):
>
> et que tu recevras un bon nombre de cartes.

Why not say ‘beaucoup de cartes’?

> [@](#):
>
> Nous te gardons dans nos prières.

Do you mean that to be present? Otherwise it would be ‘Nous te garderons’ for ‘we will keep you’.

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