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It's funny how all the don'ts you mentioned in the video are actually taught in textbooks, in French classes. I guess it's another example of theory vs practical

You guys should make a podcast of you just talking about different subjects like innerfrench does. That would help so much.

It would be awesome if you guys did a whole video on when to use and when to avoid la liason. I found this video very helpful, thank you!

I like the meaning of j'aimerais over je voudrais anyway, so that's really nice to know. "Chai pas" sounds really cute. That reminds me of when I was helping people with their English, and the younger generation in America would say "I'ma", which is a contraction of "I'm gonna", which is a contraction of "I'm going to", and is yet a contraction of "I am going to", lol. It's really cool learning the different levels of contraction in another language, 'cause you almost always hear "I'ma" or "I'm gonna", or even "I'm gon'", but you don't really ever hear "I'm going to", or "I am going to". That's something that you'd write in an email, or read in a novel or article, or hear in a more formal context. People that speak using standard or formal language are generally in their 40s and older, but I guess it's different for us in America, because it doesn't sound wrong or weird. If a young person speaks like that, it's like, wow, that person is so mature, *lol*. At least for me and my friends, we'd be impressed by their maturity, as opposed to seeing it as something strange and out of place.

So they're still teaching 50s French in English schools. I had my suspicions, having been subjected to it in the 60s. By the way, as regards "puis-je", in English English, "may I?" is generally correct, whereas "can I?" is considered rather low brow and common - at least, among those of us with an overabundance of 'hauteur'. ;)

We definitely used n’est-ce pas when I was a kid in Lyon in the late 1970’s, early 1980’s. Sometimes “non” instead. I don’t think you become more formal as you get older; you just stay with the way you’ve always spoken, and the younger people develop newer usages.

This is by far the most fun and enjoyable French learning channel I came across, everytime I watch it somehow I smile a lot and my mood gets elevated too. I love the duo and the interactions, feel like I'm in this conversation with you guys!! So thanks! Keep up the good work!!

You have cancelled on so much of the french I learned in school, here in the USA. 😅 But, thank you for giving me the more commonly used words/expressions. 🙏🏻

Wow i am amazed. I'm from Mexico and we are encouraged to speak formal to people that we don't really know. I'm 23 years old and I speak formally to people the same age as me..... but most importantly to my elders. It shows that we have good manners and that our parents have done a good job by raising us. I truly enjoyed this video because I get to learn the culture of France when it comes to the French language ❤ Thankyou

J'aimerais.. a part two! 😂❤️

I took French lessons when I got out of college around 2004, and my French tutor taught me literally every no that you guys said, lol. Completely bizarre and formal. I have so much to un-learn.

I LOVE the fact that you guys are not overenthusiastic, it kills my mood to learn. Thank you for being so chill :)

As a Brit who speaks French at a B2 level, what is missing from podcasts and videos are examples of speech in day to day situations, such as in the kitchen, driving a car, basic DIY, dealing with the heating, gardening and so on. So many people cover the same material.

Also where was this video before I used almost all of these expressions for a whole semester in France last fall? 😂

You two are really making the best videos out there. I like how you combine your knowledge in your respective native language. You always keep an open mind, which is in my opinion quite important for videos about language. And most importantly, you're not over scripting them. I like seeing both of you actualy learning things of each other through the video. I'm really enjoying your content so far!

Something to consider is that most languages in the world have a formal standard and an informal standard. These formal and informal standards usually depend on class, hierarchy, organization, etc. What is usually taught in schools is the French language that is approved by the French Academy which one can consider as a formal standard.

thank you! I'm going to school in Paris later this month and I don't want to embarrass myself!

I like older French better... it sounds classier and nicer :-))

Pour "enjoy" on peut aussi dire "profite" "profite bien!" Etc 🤗

Please make a part 2 to this! Greetings from Los Angeles!

So true how many of these we were taught in French class! I assume that it's like our large use of contractions in spoken English.

Is it me or When she speaks English, She sounds like Hila from H3H3 Podcast

I like how your girlfriend behave as a real human being. Probably is an European/French thing... Here in the Americas we try to be very cheerful and "fake" in terms of behave. My two French friends at the University used to have the same vibe. I love it!

Thanks guys. I always look for such phrases when learnin foreign languages cos it makes us sound like a native speaker or at least sound more natural not like that in formal settings. Im lookin forward to more vids from you guys. Btw, your channel is one of my fav youtube channels for learnin french. Although I can hardly find people who can speak french here in Malaysia but Ill keep on learnin untill I get fluent in french. Keep it up!

Just when I thought I couldn't find a better video about how to sound more French, I find your video! I love it! You two are fantastic. What a great couple! I'm a new subscriber of your channel. I really enjoy your videos. Keep it up your work! It's amazing! I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you a lot!

I used to hear "petit ami" or "petite amie" when I was a kid. I read "comme ci comme ça" in a book set in WWII (and even then, it was spoken by a German, who presumably learned it at school). So I guess what is taught is what was current decades ago.

I wish everyone spoke super formally. It reminds me of like old French movies or something. You guys should watch the movie “Allied” and talk about the pronunciation they use in the movie.

You guys are awesome - really helpful videos for newbies to French like me. MERCI xx

I love the way you guys are explaining all these goooood tips to upgrade your French skills, so it helps to get to the point right away! I’m keep on learning French in Montreal, Qc, Ca. so I used to live and work with French native speakers and they’re showing me exactly the way you guys doing it here. Congrats! #Magnifique

Oh NO I used most of these phrases with my French tutor just today! Ahhh! Thank you for the video.

Wow this was so helpful! I was taking notes 🤓 All of those formal/awkward phrases were things I learned in my middle school textbooks 😂 would love to see more content like this!

Je suis dans ma 2ème année d'étude de français. Mais après avoir regardé beaucoup de tes vidéos, je me sens plus confiant. Maintenant, j'ai l'intention de continuer mes études de francais et apprendre à parler français comme un natif français. Merci pour l'aide!

"chai pas" is like "dunno"

Hi guys. I bought your two ebooks and I am really enjoying it. I feel like a Parisien now. Lol. Bon courage les deux. Salut. 😘

Thanks for the video ❤ Fortunately, our teacher taught us to use the more modern options from the beginning and I don't have to relearn these expressions 🙏

I feel like I need to forget everything I worked so hard to learn 😭😭😭 I do love your videos keep up the awesome work ❣️

I’d really love a video where you look at each region of France and do their accents.

Excellent - vous m'avez aidé beaucoup! Merci!

I've just discovered your channel few days ago. I find your videos about slang very useful and well explained. However, there is one small thing I do not like about this channel: the number of subscribers. You deserve way more!

This video is great. Like others, I’d love to see more of these. Thanks!

mind blown! No idea this stuff was all formal or out of touch. I was taught in school, french immersion. Now looking to brush up and finding your videos helpful! Hello from a new subscriber. :)

Omg, stumbled upon this by accident and so glad I did cuz it’s super helpful!

I love your channel!!! So entertaining and educating at the same time!

I actually learned from my first teacher about how the "ne" was being dropped. For the sake of the class it stayed of course (it was introductory) but it was nice to get some reality of what the common speak would be like. Also had a teacher from Africa who would speak much more formal French. She said she was surprised when going to Paris how fast it all was in comparison. There could be cultural variations but I never confirmed it truly. It was funny when she would pull out the Parisian French since it was so out of character.

I found this video very useful! Would you consider making a part 2?

Very helpful video. I was taught to never say “puis-je” in French class fifty years ago, but there was no mention of “je voudrais.” Everything you talked about is so suited for an intermediate French speaker like me. Thank you!

I just found out about this videos and this channel, thank you very much for this, this is very helpful for people who are learning French and we haven been to Paris, but we will some day. merci.

I was in a French class, where two students presented their original skit. The boy opened by asking the girl, "Vous allez bien?" but he put the liaisons in all the wrong places. After the skit, another student in the class asked, "Why did you ask her if she were gay?" The boy indignantly said, "I didn't" The teacher as about to send the boy who had asked the question to the office as a consequence for being rude, but the boy protested, swearing that it was the very first question in the skit. The teacher asked that the first boy repeat his first line from the skit. The boy, again mangling his liaisons, said, "Vouz_allez_bien?", but it sounded like, "Vous a lesbienne?"

Thank u so much guys, I'm new in France and I was looking for some good phrases on informal way👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤️

Mmmh. Interesting. Y'all should definitely make a part two. Greetings from Kenya.

Great video! I love all of your tips! I didn't know that it's more natural sounding to drop the liaison with the verb etre! You guys are great! By the way, I studied French for a summer at Middlebury in 1985! It was awesome and I learned so much! I want to go back someday!

I took French courses in France and I feel like walking out of text book when I speak. It sounds weird and at first I found it’s very difficult to catch up what French people say. And finally I found your channel, very helpful! ❤️

I learned all these expressions in school and from my mother who lived in Southern France in the 70s! It was only when my son started learning from a Parisien a few years ago that I realized how outdated the expressions were.

Hey, great video as always! Can you comment on the use of "nous" in normal french? I've heard from a few places that most french people just use "on", but I haven't seen you talk about it much. Is this common, and is there any situation where you still use "nous"? Thanks!

Love your videos. Sometimes we (Americans) try too hard and end up tripping over ourselves when speaking French. These videos are very helpful in finding the right way to converse.

Bonjour, more like this please. Yes yes to a 'part 2' Merci

Learning the local lingo is important, however the accent and pronunciation is most important.

Great video! Thanks!

Thank you! It's so helpful!

Omg. I sometimes say je voudrais but also j’aimerais so thanks for that tip.

Omg je suis Turque mais le premier fois j’étends ça ! C’est super d’avoir conversation comme ça. Merci beaucoup 😊

Love this video. Really informative about how we SHOULD be speaking, as opposed to "text book" French. However, I'm finding that between the liasons, verlan, dropping the "ne", slang, slurring and speaking at indecipherable speeds, its maddening trying to learn it all! I'm still a total beginner, but if I'm going to learn, I don't want to learn a style of French that would be equated to Victorian English. Being from Brooklyn, I want to speak like I speak in BK, but in French, ie, super informal, every day speak, slang and all. As it would sound walking around Paris. But as a beginner, these two things butt heads completely. I'm technically learning "textbook" French, but everything in this video, and many others I've watched on YT say DON'T speak like that...What is the best way to incorporate the two? Do I need a "textbook" base and learn the liasons, verlan, dropping the "ne" and slang separately? Or is that twice the work and I should be doing it that way from jump? Its incredibly frustrating at times. Every time I feel like I made some progress, I see a video like this and realize what I've learned is really formal or outdated and not at all how I want to sound. I think I might be the ideal Street French customer, haha! Thanks again for this. Keep it up.

Great video! I moved to France 7 months ago still helpful for me!

Merci beaucoup, this was a great video. I realised I learned all the "too formal" school taught french. I really want to sound more native, especially Parisian french. So thanks I am going to apply everything you said here to my french!

That was fun and interesting. I knew some of these more colloquial forms but not about the liaisons!! It cuts out the headache of remembering the rule. Like any language, the spoken 'street' form is different. I teach ESL and I struggle to get my students out of the 'formal English' trap. Thanks, both of you.

very interesting video! but my french teacher had one and only rule: LA LIASON EST OBBLIGATOIRE!!! ahahahahahhaah xd

I would love to watch part 2 pls❤️❤️

Your videos are so educational thank you 💕💕

I have trouble with some of your advice because I am your parents’ age and it would sound weird if I talked like a young person (even in English). I guess I have to find some old French people to learn from. Mais je dis « je sais pas » ou « chai pas » quand même.

I'm very much enjoying your videos you guys. It's cool to see that a couple thought to do this together. My best friend is half French and I'm trying to learn the language not only for that reason but I like French culture in general and I would love to visit Paris one day I've dreamt of it for 10 years. So your tips on blending in in Paris and knowing what phrases are common is very helpful. Thank you guys !!! What do young people do in France for pleasure? I imagine there's some similarities to American leisure but I am curious :)

This was a great lesson!

Je n'comprends pas, Je n'sais pas : the ' was at the wrong place, because it remplace the letter 'e' that is eluded.

OMG, this is so much fun. It's so nice to have someone explain everyday French. Wonder if Rosetta Stone will appreciate my French pronunciation with a common twist? Lol

Maïa has the pouty lips for speaking French and making the *ou* sound, and also when she does the classic French facial expressions (like that "bah chais pas" kind of expression), it looks really cute! I have a suggestion for a video -- you could do one about French gesticulation and facial expressions. They are really specific to France and it's so fun to realise people actually make these faces when they speak. What do you think? Just found your videos today and I've been enjoying them while I work. Hi from Paris! xo

Hi there, I really enjoy your videos. You guys are pretty helpful. Any suggestions on teaching material for beginners like myself? please thank you!

I love your channel, really feels like a whole new way of learning useful French tidbits!

i really love your videos, truly! i love all that you do and you really are helping so many people! but i have to say that it would be good to point out that this is how we learn french in our french classes. everyone who learns french as a foreign language will go through this stage. the way Charlie describes all of these "mistakes" is like he is above that. i'm sure he has been at that stage at some point while learning french, so i don't think the sense of arrogance is warranted.

Very helpful

"Je voudrais" is mostly used at stores, I guess. "Je voudrais une baguette, s'il-vous-plaît" is a very common use of it.

I love what you teach, thank you! So, what I would also enjoy is to hear you say something, the way your mom and dad would say it, then say it, as you would. That would also be Much appreciated. (BTW (in English) my mom cannot understand the way my daughter speaks, because my daughter speaks very fast and slurs words together, with no punctuation/pauses used.)

I had no idea until now that I was making these mistakes! Thank you!

I learned all that in school and still uses some of them😭 Maybe because I mostly talk to elder French people, I'm not used to use informal terms

Very useful information guys! I've just started my French classes, and actually my teacher is introducing us to the formal language... watching your video, I'm little scared about what I'm gonna learn vs what I'm gonna find in real life :S

oh i'm surprised because as a french native speaker I often say "comme-ci comme ça" - "ça va ?" - "mouais, comme-ci comme ça... on fait aller !" or you can use also "couci-couça" for the english expression so-so

These videos are so useful. Thank you.

I've been living in Switzerland for 15 years and almost always use those liasons and nobody ever said squat to me about it, gonna have to have a talk with my friends I think:)

very helpful.. thank u so much

Wow thanks for this video, I know I'm commenting late but this was, as we say, a real eye-opener. I was shocked to find out how many of these I had been using all these years. My French teachers have been lying to me! lol OK maybe not lying but not teaching a type of French that reflects reality in everyday life. I think they are required to teach it the "correct" way, but I think even the schools should teach the "real" language as part of the lessons. For "Je ne sais pas" I can understand why because like in English that would be "I do not know" which literally 0% of anybody says; it sounds like a robot talking! On the other hand, I think I still would use "voudrais" in a formal setting. I can sense the difference between amerais and voudrais, like "voudrais" it's old school/retro formal, but I still kind of like it. It's classy!

I have always found that when French is translated verbatim into English it sounds like really formal British English, like Downton Abbey or something

When I learnt French at school (many, many years ago!), amongst other things we were taught "Comment vous portez-vous?". Never heard a French person say that. My guess is that it's much more formal than even "Comment allez-vous" ?

Wish I knew this before I went to Paris, my favorite city.

Bonjour! Number 8 - Je suis American - you said not to say that but you forgot to mention what to say instead!! Please let us know 😊. Just discovered your channel a few weeks ago and I love it! My French teacher back in high school was an older lady from Paris and she taught us what she called ‘proper’ French. I see now that a lot of what she taught us was very formal!! Keep up the great work!

Merci :)

Merci les gars 🤩 C'était ouf.

I used to travel in France with an American theatre company, teaching English in schools. I learned that it's great to know the origins of old school French but if you want to sound French you have to learn the slang, the shortcuts. Once, I introduced myself, "moi, c'est Simon". The older French gentleman replied, "with French as bad as that, you must be French". Haha, fooled again!

I love your channel. Merci beaucoup :-)

In the french part of Switzerland you hear often: Je voudrais manger quelque chose means i would like eat something.

Merci beaucoup à vous 🥺😍 your videos are so useful 😍

Thanks, this will help in my relearning .If not for this video, numbers 1,2,4,5,8,10and 11 would have still been in my French speech.I haven't learned the language in years , but I remembered enough to get by .