In this video I answer the comments you left me under my videos. Don't hesitate to leave others if you have questions about learn French better 🙂

Transcript of the video

Hello everyone. I hope you're doing well and that your French learning is going well. Today, we're going to reply to the comments you post under the videos, asking you questions about French expressions and words.

I usually try to answer them directly. I find it interesting to see these answers and especially the questions together. Because if you have a question. Other students of French may also be interested in the answer to that question. Before you start, remember to activate the subtitles. As I tell you every time, it'll be easier for you to understand the video if you read in French as you listen.

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Let's start with an initial comment. Here it is. So, the question is: what is the meaning of the expression "quand même"? In French, Quand même means "even if", "however", "in spite of everything". Here are two examples to help you better understand this expression. I don't have a kitchen, but I do have a microwave to heat my meals. Quand même is used to underline an opposition, a contradiction.

So, I don't have a kitchen, but I do have a microwave. Here's a second example. I failed my French exam, but I still passed the grammar test. We mean, despite everything, however, I still passed an exercise on the test.

Here's another question as a comment. The question concerns the expression "avoir la tête dans le guidon". It's a French expression to say that you're very focused on something. You're so focused that you can't see anything around you. So I can say "j'ai la tête dans le guidon".

I'm so focused on what I'm doing or something that I can't step back. Here are two examples to help you better understand the expression. I baked cookies all afternoon. I was so focused that I didn't even notice that my dog was eating all my plants. I was so focused that I couldn't see anything around me. Here's a second example. I often ask someone to reread the text of my videos, because I'm so busy that I'm not sure that my videos, that the texts of the videos are understandable, are easy enough for people learning French.

The next question concerns the expression avoir l'air. In the commentary, he explains what "m'a l'air" means. In French, avoir l'air means to seem, to appear. You can just say il a l'air or you can also say il m'a l'air. So, if I add a reflexive pronoun, I'm going to insist on the fact that it's mine, it's me who finds it that way, it's mine that it looks that way, so it can be people who look that way, it can be things, it can be situations. Here are two examples to help you better understand the expression. Antoine looks angry. He's really pissed off. He hasn't stopped bitching since this morning. I really feel he's angry. Here's a second example. The cake baking in the oven looks done to me. It looks ready to me, and I can ask someone to make sure. Does it look ready to you too? It looks ready to you, it looks cooked to you.

Let's move on to the next question, the next comment. Pablo asks us if we're allowed to say in French "on l'a fait" instead of "nous avons fait". I'm just correcting the sentence because there are a few spelling mistakes and a few French mistakes. Of course, it's not serious at all, it's normal, that's how you learn. You have to write to practice. Of course, you're allowed to say "we did" rather than "we did". When speaking, you'll almost always say "on" instead of "nous".

For example, I'll say "are we having sushi tonight?" Or "are we going to the movies this afternoon?", we'll almost always use on instead of nous. If I say, "we're going to the movies this afternoon" or "we're eating sushi tonight", it's a bit weird. It's very formal language. We don't really speak like that in French. In writing, on the other hand, if you want to write in good French, in very good French, in a sustained language, you can of course use nous.

Just a small point of attention, even if we're talking about several people. Even if it's plural, it's conjugated like the third person singular, like "he", like "she".

So, in Sarah's next comment, there are two questions. She's asking us what "I'm not making it" and "You're making it" mean. So, let's start with the first expression: je m'en sors pas. Already, there's something rather interesting.

In spoken French, we often forget the "ne" in negation. Normally, the negation in French is "ne...pas". So "je ne m'enors pas". But here we see that Sara speaks French almost like a Frenchwoman, because very often, when speaking, even if it's a mistake, the French don't say "ne". They say "je m'en sors pas". So now, what does that mean? If I say "je m'en sors pas" or "je ne m'en sors pas", I mean I'm having trouble.

I'm in a complicated, complex situation. Here are two examples to help you understand. French grammar is really complicated. I always get the conditional and the future mixed up. Here's a second example. I've got ten files to finish tonight. I can't manage.

It's really too much. I would never have finished.

Sara's second question concerns the expression "You're doing well". If I say to someone that they're doing well, it means that they were in a situation that looked catastrophic. It looked like he was in a really complicated situation and wasn't going to make it. In the end, he's doing fine. That means the situation is turning in his favor. In the end, it's quite positive.

Here are two examples to help you better understand this expression. You got 11 out of 20 on your French exam even though you hadn't studied. You did well. You could have got zero. Here's a second example. I thought I'd put on 10 kilos after eating pizza for a whole week. I'm doing fine, I only gained three kilos in the end.

In the following commentary, there are two questions. Let's start with the first question: do "ben" and "bah" mean the same thing?

These are words that are often used to mean the same thing. Here's an example. "You look hungry tonight! Didn't you have breakfast?" She might answer: "Well, yes, I'm just hungry. Or "Bah si mais j'ai très faim".

Bah, even more than ben is used in a very specific context. It's used as if... as if you were shrugging your shoulders to say "it's not serious". For example, if someone says to me: "I failed my French test this week. I can say, "bah, that's okay, you'll pass next week."

The second question in this commentary concerns the expression "hein" in French. The question is, can you use "hein" to show that you haven't understood something? Indeed, that's how "hein" is used. I can say, "Huh, what are you saying?" So be careful, it's a colloquial expression. Don't use it with your boss. If he says something you don't understand, then it's better to say: "Could you repeat that please" or simply that you didn't understand.

Here is another example to help you contextualize this expression. The recipe calls for two half eggs. But why not just use one egg?

And that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you liked it, remember to put a like and above all, don't hesitate to ask me more questions in comments so that I can answer them in a future video see you very soon.