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While the vocabulary of the love language is known for being charming and sophisticated, French language is also pretty ridiculous sometimes. Let's celebrate a few of French grammar moments that really made us mort de rire.

French is spoken by an estimated 274 million people in the world, but that doesn't mean it's a walk in the park. French pronunciation has up to 17 vowels depending on the dialect, and most of them are nasal. Many words sound the same but mean completely different things. Everything has a gender. It can take days of examining your relationship to someone before you figure out if it's more polite to call them tu or vous. Oh, and also we must not forget the funny French way of counting! Adding all of this together, French sure seems like the hardest language to learn.

Whether you consider yourself a Francophile, or you've barely mastered bonjour, these struggles will be all too real. To make the French learning process a bit easier we've compiled some really funny jokes about it, so at least you can practice your laughing in French.

#2

The French Way Of Counting

The French Way Of Counting

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#4

French School Years

French School Years

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Miklós Nagy
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They are counting how many years left before they can go to uni and do dru- I mean study hard.

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#5

The French Numeric System

The French Numeric System

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#6

99 Problems, But Longer

99 Problems, But Longer

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#7

Funny French Language

Funny French Language

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#8

French Numerals

French Numerals

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Isabelle Hadorn
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not all french speaking countries count this way. Belgium and Switzerland still use, septante (70), huitante (80) and nonante (90)

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#9

Funny French Expressions

Funny French Expressions

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#11

Funny French Language

Funny French Language

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#13

Tu vs. Vous

Tu vs. Vous

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giovanna
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Come on this is done in many many languages, it's just you English speakers who don't :D

Hellysal
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It looked scary and complicated at first, then I remembered in Poland we use "ty" (and "wy" in plural c: ) in not formal situations like like French "tu" and - oh boy - "Pan (for man), Pani (for woman), Panowie (for men), Panie (for women), Państwo (for group of men and women)" as "vous" c: You're welcome c:

Caridina Japonica
Community Member
7 years ago

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Master Markus
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't say "poor us" since it doesn't exactly detriment our lives, but I can see the benefit of it.

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Лука Ашковић
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's the same in Serbian just replace ''Tu'' with ''Ti" and ''Vous'' with ''Vi".

Nomadus Aureus
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's the same in Hungarian. The (apparent) lack of polite speech freaked me out, when I started studying in Britain. But it!s actually there, just done in a weird, subtle way.

Lely R Sutrisno
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Indonesian Javanese has 3 grades of language, and it's own written characters. So this chart is not complicated enough for me.

Лука Ашковић
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Serbian is exactly the same just replace ''Vous'' with ''Vi'' and ''Tu'' with ''Ti''.

David Rivers
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At Antioquia's Spanish (Medellín, not Pablo Escobar please), there are two different words for TU, each one with its rules.

Diana David
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Portuguese is the same... if you 're friends or family or have any intimacy it's TU if not it's VOCÊ or VÓS.... it's just a question of respect.

François Carré
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've come to a very complicated way of doing this in my professionnal environnment. Most of my coworkers are in this public service, post-1968 corporate culture of saying "tu" to everyone from the moment you've worked with them. However I insist on saying a cold and distant "vous" to someone who is much higher than me in the hierarchy and I don't trust or feel acquaitanced with. Meanwhile I'm used to saying a polite and respectful "vous" to every visitor of the service I work in, be it an elder or a teenager. I only say "tu" to kids who are obviously under 12 (appearance must be deceptive though, kids nowadays tend to look like damn grown-ups and I have already said "vous" to 11 year-old girls). All of this results in absurd situations when for example a teenager I've been used to talk with "vous" suddenly comes to work in my service as a trainee and I magically start to say "tu" like I do with any of my 50 year-old coworkers.

Autumn
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You could have just said formal is vous informal is tu

Emma Orset
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ça va c'est pas compliqué ça ! En vrai ce n'est pas grave si l'on tutois un adulte mais c'est juste du respect... après suivant la relation avec la personne, on sait comment s'adresser à elle ! Et puis au pire on demande si ça lui dérange de se faire tutoyer...

Patrick Farley
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

....I actually need to save this. I know a lot of it, but I get tripped up on like co-workers and stuff.

Nicoletta Massimo
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd like to say something funny about it, but I'm Italian: we have "Tu", "Lei" and (rarely) "Voi" :(

Daiga Cerane
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually there are some really twisted rules, like God apparently is informal and the 1968 riots and Woodstock that makes for pretty specific cases, this would be found in most languages :D

Nelson Augustin
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's quite easy. It's about feeling the situation "tu" is friendly and "vous" is" formal ". Sometimes you can use "tu" with someone you don't know or not much. Young people does it : child and young adult with other young . " Vous" is the rule/the law and "tu" sometimes happens with people you have learn to know IF YOU OR THE OTHER PERSON FEEL IT. Sometimes you're wrong :(

Luca
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the Netherlands we have Jij/Je (normal) and U (polite)

IdilS
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same in Turkish too. "Siz" for Formal and "sen" for informal peeps around you.

Heather Smith
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Makes sense to me, but I know many languages. English is the doozie...and it's my mother language!

Paul Tan
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Which is pretty common for many languages. In Chinese, 你 (sounds like "knee") as a normal "you", "您” (sounds like "nin" in "ninja") as a polite version of "you".

Summer spitorswallow
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's not because French is funny. A lot of languages have the distinction of formal and informal addressing forms. It's just another indication that English is a boring language.

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#16

French Letters And Their Pronunciation

French Letters And Their Pronunciation

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#17

Funny French Language

Funny French Language

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Samuel Vardier
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually more like "oil of nut of coco", or else French would be "huile de la noix du coco" whereas it's "huile de noix de coco". Makes sense.

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#19

Diversifying Words

Diversifying Words

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#20

Learning The French Language

Learning The French Language

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#21

Confusing Language

Confusing Language

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maryhadalittlelamb
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

but then again he spelled it as "handfull". how we know if he meant handful or hand full? it's ok to be confused! ;)

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#24

Funny French Language

Funny French Language

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Master Markus
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm fairly certain that "breaking my balls" is also an English phrase. Not sure what country it originates from.

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#25

Word Similarities

Word Similarities

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Camille Graphliart
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Until you meet "actually" "actuellement" "eventually" et "éventuellement" or dramatic/dramatique which ended with different meanings xD

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#26

French Language Jokes

French Language Jokes

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#27

Minute Changes

Minute Changes

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#28

One Big Ooof, Please

One Big Ooof, Please

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