In this lesson of our series we meet Gabrielle and listen to her email to her friend Matthieu. The lesson is presented by Mark and Pierre-Benoît in a mix of French and English. After presenting Gabrielle’s email, Mark gives a summary of the main narrative points of the text, and then Pierre-Benoît discusses four interesting language points brought up in the text. Through examples and explanations, Mark and Pierre-Benoît will help you to understand the French used by our characters in their texts...
Nov 11, 2013•18 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In this lesson our new series, we’ll be listening to Sylvie’s reply to Monique’s email from last week. The lesson is presented by Mark and Pierre-Benoît in a mix of French and English. After presenting Sylvie’s email, Mark gives a summary of the main narrative points of the email, and then Pierre-Benoît discusses four interesting language points brought up in the text. Through examples and explanations, Mark and Pierre-Benoît will help you to understand the French used by our characters in their...
Nov 04, 2013•15 min•Season 4Ep. 2
In this first episode of our new series, we’ll be listening to Monique’s first email to her daughter Sylvie. As we heard in the season preview, Sylvie has recently moved to Paris and, like any mother, Monique is worrying about her daughter, but is equally excited for her as she begins this new adventure. The lesson is presented by Mark and Pierre-Benoît in a mix of French and English. After presenting Monique’s email, Mark gives a summary of the main narrative points of the email, and then Pierr...
Oct 28, 2013•18 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Welcome to this brand new season of Coffee Break French, and in this opening introductory episode, Mark and Pierre-Benoît talk about what you can expect in this season. They introduce two of the featured characters in the series, Sylvie and Matthieu, both of whom have recently moved to Paris for work. Like all lessons in season 4, this introductory episode is presented in a combination of French and English, giving you plenty of opportunities to put your French to the test. Through examples and ...
Oct 21, 2013•4 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Join Mark and Pierre-Benoît in this first introduction to Season 4. The new season begins on 21st October 2013 with a short introductory episode in which you’ll meet two of the characters of our story, and lesson one will be published on 28th October 2013. Full details of the premium version of the course will be announced with the introductory episode. Here’s a special bonus for all Coffee Break French Season 3 members: download the full transcript of this promo episode to check your understand...
Oct 16, 2013•4 min•Season 4Ep. 1
This is the final lesson of this season and we’re looking at the irregular verb aller meaning “to go”. Aller is a very common verb and in addition to being used in its normal sense, it is also used as part of the simple future tense, as in “I am going to visit my aunt” and other such sentences. There’s also something you need to take on board with aller when conjugating it in the perfect tense. All will be explained in the lesson. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 1...
Aug 08, 2013•19 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In this lesson we’re looking at the irregular verb devoir meaning “must” or “to have to”, or in some situations “to owe”. Devoir is another irregular verb so we need to learn each part of the verb as it does not follow the regular patterns. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from additional materials, including verb tables...
Jul 24, 2013•16 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In this lesson we’re looking at the irregular verb vouloir meaning “to want”. Vouloir is another irregular verb so we need to learn each part of the verb as it does not follow the regular patterns. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from additional materials, including verb tables, bonus verb tables, exercises and bonus au...
Jul 09, 2013•15 min•Season 1Ep. 8
In this lesson we’re looking at the irregular verb pouvoir meaning “to be able”. Pouvoir is another irregular verb so we need to learn each part of the verb as it does not follow the regular patterns. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from additional materials, including verb tables, bonus verb tables, exercises and bonus...
Jul 01, 2013•17 min•Season 1Ep. 7
In this lesson we’re looking at the irregular verb faire meaning “to do” or “to make”. Faire is another irregular verb so we need to learn each part of the verb as it does not follow the regular patterns. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from additional materials, including verb tables, bonus verb tables, exercises and b...
Jun 16, 2013•15 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In this lesson we’re looking at the irregular verb être meaning “to be”. Like avoir, être is also irregular so we need to learn each part of the verb as it does not follow the regular patterns. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from additional materials, including verb tables, bonus verb tables, exercises and bonus audio,...
May 29, 2013•16 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this lesson we’re looking at the irregular verb avoir meaning “to have”. Avoir is the first irregular verb we’ve discussed here on the Verb Fix. This means that this verb follows slightly different patterns than the regular verbs we’ve covered so far. This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from additional materials, includi...
May 22, 2013•16 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In this lesson we’re looking at the verb vendre meaning “to sell”. Vendre is an example of a regular -re verb. This means that with this lesson not only will you learn to conjugate vendre in the present, perfect, imperfect and future tenses, you’ll also learn to conjugate all other regular -re verbs! This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d lik...
May 16, 2013•15 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In this lesson we’re looking at the verb finir meaning “to finish” or “to end”. Finir is an example of a regular -ir verb. This means that with this lesson not only will you learn to conjugate finir in the present, perfect, imperfect and future tenses, you’ll also learn to conjugate hundreds of other regular -ir verbs! This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each ep...
May 04, 2013•17 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In this lesson we’re looking at the verb parler meaning “to speak” or “to talk”. Parler is an example of a regular -er verb. This means that with this lesson not only will you learn to conjugate parler in the present, perfect, imperfect and future tenses, you’ll also learn to conjugate hundreds, if not thousands of other regular -er verbs! This season of Coffee Break French Verb Fix features a total of 10 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the pod...
Apr 25, 2013•16 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Welcome to this introductory episode of the Coffee Break French Verb Fix in which we explain the concepts behind this course and offer an introduction to the whole idea of French verbs: how they work, what it means to conjugate a verb, and the meanings of the four main tenses we’re covering in the course. This show is your weekly fix of Coffee Break French, and through the weekly episodes we’ll help you “fix” your French verbs. We believe that mastering your verbs is the key to developing confid...
Apr 25, 2013•14 min•Season 1Ep. 1
This episode marks the end of an era! It’s the final lesson of Season 3 of Coffee Break French. We first met Alf, Katie and Veronica over 18 months ago and since then hopefully all our listeners have built their confidence and developed their range of expression in the French language. This final episode provides further opportunities for listeners to practise what they’ve learned through a series of translation challenges and, for premium members, a further dictation exercise.Please note that l...
Mar 20, 2012•14 min•Season 3Ep. 40
It’s time for the penultimate episode in this season of Coffee Break French. Our translation challenges this week include further practice on the subjunctive and a couple of examples of the future tense. Please note that lesson 39 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 339 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be in...
Mar 11, 2012•13 min•Season 3Ep. 39
This week’s coffee break provides some practice on the tricky pronoun y and some further subjunctives. Please note that lesson 38 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 338 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like ...
Mar 05, 2012•14 min•Season 3Ep. 38
We’re back with more translation challenges to help you test your knowledge of the materials covered in Season 3. Please note that lesson 37 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 337 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If ...
Feb 28, 2012•14 min•Season 3Ep. 37
In this week’s Coffee Break French we provide another opportunity for you to test your translation skills based on what you’ve learned in Season 3. Please note that lesson 36 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 336 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the ...
Feb 19, 2012•16 min•Season 3Ep. 36
We’re back with another lesson of translation challenges to help you practise what you’ve learned in this season of Coffee Break French. Please note that lesson 35 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 335 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to ...
Feb 12, 2012•12 min•Season 3Ep. 35
In this week's lesson we provide more translation exercises for you based on the constructions, vocabulary and grammar covered in this season. We’ll give you the phrase, followed by some time to work out the answer, and then we’ll talk through the answer, helping you to construct the phrase yourself in French. Please note that lesson 34 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 334 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple f...
Jan 09, 2012•16 min•Season 3Ep. 34
This episode is the first of eight lessons which focus on consolidating what you’ve learned in the past 32 lessons. We’ll be testing your grammar and vocabulary with a series of guided translation exercises: we’ll give you a phrase to translate into French and then work through the solution with you.Please note that lesson 33 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 333 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our list...
Dec 23, 2011•12 min•Season 3Ep. 33
It’s time to listen to the final section of Katie’s diary which she has kept throughout her time spent in Nice. In this week’s lesson we’ll be hearing about her plans for the future and we’ll find out if these plans include Jérôme! Please note that lesson 32 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 332 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 less...
Dec 08, 2011•18 min•Season 3Ep. 32
In this new edition of Coffee Break French we’ll be starting our farewells for Katie. We’ll cover the first part of her text in this lesson and then complete it in lesson 332. Please note that lesson 31 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 331 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This season of Coffee Break French features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. ...
Dec 01, 2011•14 min•Season 3Ep. 31
It’s five years since we launched the first lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, and since then we’ve served up millions of language lessons to learners around the world through our podcasts, our enhanced lessons and our ebooks. We’re delighted today to announce five new courses, and we’ll also be letting you know about a few exciting projects which are due to be launched early in 2012. Spanish ¡Empecemos con el español! On the 18th October 2006 we began with Spanish, and we’re doing the same today. ...
Oct 18, 2011•7 min
It’s time for another lesson of Coffee Break French and this week we join Alf in his final text. He has been writing a diary over eight weeks while he has been renovating his new house in the south of France and attending daily French lessons with Veronica and Katie, the two other protagonists of our series. In this week’s text he tells us about the party he organised for his classmates. Please note that lesson 30 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 330 of Coffee Break French. We have ren...
Oct 15, 2011•13 min
In this latest lesson of Coffee Break French we’ll be joining Veronica and listening to her final text. She has been learning French in Nice along with Katie and Alf and in this final text she updates us on what she has been doing and tells us of some important decisions she has taken. Please note that lesson 29 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 329 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners. This se...
Sep 15, 2011•18 min
This week's lesson offers an analysis of the second part of Katie’s latest text. As usual, we’ll be covering a range of expressions and grammar points. The free version of this lesson includes the recording of Katie’s text along with explanations of the language she uses to help you understand the text. Please note that lesson 28 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 328 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our ...
Aug 31, 2011•18 min•Season 3Ep. 28
