Frites: Some Notes on the French language

 This story is from a classmate of mine from last semester. His mom lives in France so he visits there a bit and had been meaning to pick up the language. He still only knew a few key phrases. A man approached him in a store and started a conversation. He drew upon his expressions and replied in his best French, “I don’t speak French.”

 He became stern and said in faltering English, “No sir, you don’t speak French. Don’t tell me what I should speak,” and left in a huff.

 He relayed what happened to me. The correct form would be “Je ne parle pas le français” or, “Je parle pas le français.” He shortened it to, “Parle pas français,” and pronounced the final ‘e’ making it, “Parlez pas français.” That, unfortunately for him, is the imperative command form which translates to, “Don’t speak French!”

 Another classmate I met had a similar problem. A Frenchman approached him and began speaking.  He stated that he can’t speak any French. The man tartly replied in English, “Then I would never speak to you,” and walked away angrily.

 I found he said the correct, “Je ne parle pas le français,” but his pronunciation was a bit off. Final ‘e’s are silent but he pronounced it with a strong ‘A’ sound (IPA [e]). Although he thought he was pronouncing it fine, it came out as, “Je ne parlais pas le français,” to French ears. It translates to, “I refuse to ever speak French”