Tomber and Italki

It's been a few days since I posted anything on here and, to tell you the truth, I have no idea what I did since then. It's all a blur for me....oh well. Monday is here once again and I guess it's back to work on studying French.

Today I got an email from french.about.com on the many expressons of tomber. It's a lot....I mean a lot of uses for it. Maybe one day, I'll remember them all.

The verb tomber literally means to fall.

An example of that would be:

Goofy est toujour tomber. Goofy is always falling.
(Btw, that was a sentence of my own creation. Hopefully, it's grammatically correct...)

But tomber is not only used in that context. It can also be used in many, many ways.


Some meanings of tomber:

• to fall (over, down)
• to happen
• (familiar) to be/get busted/nicked
• (day) to end
• (fever) to drop
• (fabric) to hang
• (mustache) to droop
• (noise) to drop, fall away
• (number) to fall, drop
• (shoulders) to slope
• (wind) to die down, abate

Expressions of tomber:

tomber à/dans l'eau

to fall into the water

tomber amoureux de quelqu'un

to fall in love with someone

tomber bien bas (figurative)

to sink really low

tomber dans

to become, take to, lapse/fall into

tomber dans la marmite (familiar)

to fall under the spell, become passionate (about)

tomber dans le domaine public

to be in the public domain/out of copyright

tomber dans le panneau (informal)

to fall for it, be gullible

tomber dans le piège

to fall into a trap, be trapped

tomber dans les pommes (informal)

to faint, pass out

tomber dans l'excès inverse

to go to the opposite extreme

tomber de

to fall from/out of/off

tomber de la lune (figurative)

to have dropped in from another planet

tomber dessus

to happen/show up unexpectedly

tomber de (tout) son haut

to crash to the ground, fall headlong

tomber du ciel

to be a godsend, heaven-sent

tomber du haut

to fall from a height/(figurative) to come down with a bump

tomber d'un excés dans un autre

to go from one extreme to another

tomber juste

to be correct, to hit the nail on the head

tomber le même jour

to fall/occur on the same day

tomber par terre

to fall to the ground

tomber sur

to come around to, light upon; to run/bump into; to come across/upon

bien tomber

to occur at the right time; to be lucky

faire tomber

to knock down, over; to drop; to bring down

laisser tomber

to drop; to let down, abandon, leave in the lurch

mal tomber

to occur at the wrong time; to be unlucky

se laisser tomber dans un fauteuil

to drop into an armchair

ça tombe bien

that's fortunate/convenient

ça tombe à point/pic (informal)

that's perfect timing

ça ne pouvait pas mieux tomber

it couldn't come/happen at a better time

l'eau tombe en cascades

water is cascading down

et il a fallu que ça tombe sur moi! (ironic)

it (just) had to be me!

la foudre est tombée

lightening struck

il est tombé sur la tête (informal)

he's got a screw loose, he must have been dropped on his head as a child

il les tombe toutes

he's a real ladykiller

il m'est tombé sur le dos/paletot/râble (familiar)

he laid into me, went for me

il nous est tombé dessus

he showed up unexpectedly

il tombe de la neige

it's snowing

il tombe quelques gouttes

it's sprinkling/spiting (with rain)

laisse tomber! (informal)

forget it, let it go, never mind

la maladie, ça peut vous tomber dessus n'importe quand

you can fall ill any time

la nouvelle vient de tomber à l'instant

the news has just broken

la nuit tombe

night is falling/it's getting back

quand la solitude vous tombe dessus...

when you suddenly find yourself alone...

une quantité de problèmes leur est tombée dessus

they had a whole series of problems

qu'est-ce qu'il tombe! (informal)

it's pouring/coming down in buckets/ tipping it down!

un téléfax vient de tomber

a fax has just come through


...And you thought I was kidding, huh?

To also make up for not posting for a few days, I have some good news for those who are serious in not learning only French, but for any other language that they are currently learning.

I currently follow Benny the Irish Polyglot and he's always doing some crazy new challenge for him to either learn a new language or improve on one he knows. He's just amazing!!

Well, he currently talked about how he uses italki to practice conversing Arabic. I checked it out and basically it's a great way to get a partner and practice each other speaking the language you are currently learning. He talks more in dept on his page about it as he has been using it for almost a year and has actually met with the CEO of italki. 

Since I know English and Spanish, I can practice conversing Spanish and English with them and practice my French. 

I'm going to slowly try it out because I'm very paranoid over things like that, especially when I don't know the person at all. You have to be careful who you meet.

But if someone who is already familiar with italki, I would love to hear your input on it. 

Until next time...

Le Mot du Jour: GAB

Sorry that I'm posting today's mot du jour so late, but it's been a long day over here in the East Coast. It started snowing today and I wouldn't have minded that if it wasn't for the wind slapping my face constantly. It's seriously cold outside!

Le mot du Jour est GAB. It's an abbreviation for Guichet Automatique de Banque. It means ATM/cash dispenser.

The sample sentence french.about.com give is:

• Les GAB sont trés commode. ATM's are very convenient.

Le GAB is also related to the word un guichet which means store window, counter, box office. It is also related to the world un guichetier which means counter clerk. 

Can I just say that this word is going to be so useful when I go abroad?!

Le Mot du Jour: Parier

Today's word of the day is parier.

It means to bet/to wager

Here are the sample sentences french.about.com gave:

1. Je te parie qu'il sera en retard. I bet he'll be late. 
2. As-tu jamais parié sur un cheval? Have you ever bet on a horse? 
3. Elles sont fatiguées, je parie. I bet they're tired; They're tired, I'd wager.

On a side note, today I was talking to my friend who is learning Japanese and he has this app on his iPad called Skritter. It looked really cool because it gave him sentences in Japanese to read in Kanji and then he had to answer it in Kanji by writing the characters on the screen. You can create your dictionary as well because you can put in vocabulary words you don't know and do vocabulary drills.

He told me he was basically obsessed with it and that he studied at least an hour a day with it. It looked like it really worked too. This will be really great when I begin to learn Japanese next year. I want to apply for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (J.E.T.) program, but even if I don't get accepted into the program, I would still love to learn Japanese. It's such an intense and rewarding language.

For those who want to work in the business/economic industry, knowing some Japanese (even French) is very beneficial because they are one of the top countries in the business field (among other things).

I tried to find out if they had a French version. So far, no luck. I am in the search of trying to find an app equivalent to it for the iPod/iPhone since I don't have an iPad (although I really, really want one). 

Hopefully, I'll find something!

Until next time!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!! YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

Mot du Jour

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a website that was willing to give me all the French practice in the world. Actually, Monsieur recommended it a few weeks ago, but I never really checked it out until now.

The website is called french.about.com and it has endless lists of resources. From proficiency tests to French slang vocabularies. You can even sign up for a newsletter where Laura K. Lawless (a writer for the page) gives you daily exercises to improve your French.

I, obviously, have signed up for it and I get the mot du jour (word of the day) link along with other tips and exercises.

My mot du jour is klaxonner and it means to honk/beep/toot one's horn

It also comes with sample sentences so you can see how it is used. I am going to write daily words here along with their sample sentences and at the end of the week a list of all the vocabulary words that I learned. Hopefully, that will help me remember the words. 

I think I am also going to buy a pocket notebook to put them in, just so I can look back on them whenever I want. It will be a great way to write sentences along with their definitions, so I don't forget how to use them.

Before I forget the sample sentences they gave me were:

1. Quand vous arriverez, ne klaxonnez pas; je préfère que vous sonniez à la porte. When you arrive, don't beep your horn; I'd prefer it if you rang the doorbell.
2. Pourquoi les gens doivent-ils klaxonner quand ils voient bien c'est impossible de bouger? Why do people have to honk when they can see that it's impossible to move?

Hopefully this will help me out. Enjoy your Monday!

Struggles: Study Abroad and Visa Problems

So I haven't said anything, but I have been approved to study abroad in France! Boo-yah!

I'm so excited. I have never left the country before. I didn't even have a passport until this week! But I am excited and nervous and anxious and I can't wait to actually get to Paris. I have been approved for the IES Abroad program and have been sending out required forms and papers to the headquarter.

Lately though, I have been stuck. I have to apply for a visa through CampusFrance and it is just plain confusing for me.

There's all these things that I have to do and the website is packed with information. Not to mention the fact that I have to, apparently, make an appointment with the closest French Embassy for me to get my visa and I'm still wondering how I'm going to do that since I have to go there in person....I think.

I have to send money and other forms to them and, to put it bluntly, I have no idea what the hell I am doing.

I think I just have to sit down and read everything before doing anything. I just want to get it done and not have to do anymore pre-departure requirements.

.....Ahh, wish me luck and hope that I don't drown.