Pardon Pastor's French

[Annemehr]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Beth" <jillily3g at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> 
> Beth (me) wrote:
> My subject line may be unnecessary, but it was too fun to pass up!
> 
> I work on projected screens for worship each week, so I get service
> information ahead of time. (Not nearly early enough in my opinion, 
> but that's another topic...) This week, we got a last minute change 
in
> sermon title -- "Parler un noveau langage"-- to go with Pentecost, 
> it would seem. 
> 
> So, I realized that twenty years has made my understanding of French
> beyond rusty, but it looked wrong to me. I'm sure it's too late to 
do
> anything about the bulletins, but if this isn't correct, would 
> someone be willing to help me fix it so I can make it right on the
> screens?
> 
> 
> Annemehr replied:
> Well, in French, there's the masculine word langage, and the 
feminine
>  langue.  I'm pretty sure it's "une langue" your pastor wants in 
this
>  case.  "Langage" would be used for saying "watch your language!" 
> whereas "langue" is for "a foreign language."  But it would be good 
if
> someone wants to confirm this! 
> 
> "Parler" is the infinitive: to speak.
> 
> So, "To speak a new language" would be "Parler une langue nouvelle."
> 
> And "Speak a new language" would be "Parlez une langue nouvelle."
> 
> "Let's speak a new language" would be "Parlons une langue nouvelle."
> 
> Note the adjective follows the noun.
> 
> Hope this helps!
> 
> Annemehr
> 
> 
> Beth (me) again:
> Thank you! I'm happy to know that your first translation was where 
my
> old brain was going, but I wasn't sure about the adjective 
placement.
> I couldn't remember which adjectives were exceptions to the rule. I
> guess I'll have to email her after all to find out if she wants that
> imperative form or not. 
> 
> Thanks so much,
> Beth
>

Hang on, I just double-checked --

Nouveau/nouvelle is indeed one of the exceptions!  So it would 
precede the noun.

Sorry, completely forgot about that! :S

Annemehr