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Links to Free French Children’s Books

One of the best ways―if not the best way―to improve your foreign language fluency is reading! Children’s books are the perfect place to start. Below I have linked a handful of free French children’s books from Internet Archive for those of you learning French.

Internet Archive is an online library that provides free access to books, movies, audio files, and other digitized materials. An account is required to view some of the listings, but you can create one for free.

Le bonhomme de pain d'épices (The Gingerbread Man) by Janet Brown

Blanche Neige et les sept nains (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Hello Kitty: Une surprise pour mama (Hello Kitty: A Surprise for Mom) by Ellen Weiss

La princesse au petit pois (The Princess and the Pea)

Bob l'éponge: Où est Gary? (SpongeBob: Where is Gary?) by David Lewman

So if we wanted to watch some French animation, what films would you suggest?

the Triplets of Belleville is about an elderly woman searching for her son who was kidnapped in the middle of a Tour de France race. It’s largely free of dialogue, but the sound effects and such are wonderful. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature—it lost to Finding Nemo.

A Cat in Paris is about a young girl and her cat who discover mysteries in the course of one night. It was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but it lost to Rango.

Persepolis is based on an autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi about her early life in Iran. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but it lost to Ratatouille.

the Illusionist is about an aging magician and an imaginative young girl who form a father/daughter relationship. It was also nominated for a Best Animation Oscar, but lost to Toy Story 3.

The Rabbi’s Cat is a story about a cat who swallows a parrot and gains the ability to speak like a human. It is set in 1920’s Algeria.

Ernest & Celestine is the adorable story about a big bear and a little mouse who forge an unlikely friendship. It was also nominated for an Oscar in Best Animated Picture, but lost to Frozen.

Kirikou and the Sorceress is a story inspired by West African folklore that tells the story of Kirikou, a boy who was born with the ability to walk and talk, who saves his people from an evil witch. The film was popular enough to spawn sequels and a stage adaptation.

A Monster in Paris is a 3D animated musical film that is reaaaaalllly loosely based on the Phantom of the Opera. It’s set in 1910 and is about, surprisingly, a monster that lives in Paris, and his love for a young singer.

The King and the Mockingbird is an 80’s film about a cruel king titled Charles V + III = VIII + VIII = XVI, who is obsessed with a young shepherdess, and whose attempts to capture the young girl are thwarted by a mockingbird whose wife the King had previously killed.  

Those are probably the most famous of the feature length animated films.

But the animated short films are just as glorious. Here’s a compilation of a bunch of short films and I can link you to others as well. 

Sorry for the long answer but I just really love French animation.

Links to PDFs of French Language Books

The Great Gatsby (Gatsby le magnifique)

The Fault in Our Stars (Nos étoiles contraires)

Twilight (Fascination)

New Moon (Tentation)

Eclipse (Hésitation)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter à l'École des Sorciers)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets)

The Book Thief (La voleuse de livres)

The Notebook (Les pages de notre amour)

Sense and Sensibility (Le cœur et la raison)

The Little Prince (Le petit prince)

The Girl on the Train (La Fille du train)

Animal Farm (La Ferme des Animaux)

1984 (1984)

Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette)

Me Before You (Avant toi)

The Secret Garden (Le Jardin mystérieux)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes)

Hunger Games (Hunger Games)

Divergent (Divergent)

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (À tous les garçons que j'ai aimés)

Diary Writing in French

cher journal - dear diary

- you can talk about how your day was - this is a great opportunity to apply your knowledge of past tenses. 

How to say that you had a good day -

j’ai passé une très bonne journée

j’ai passé une excellente journée

j’ai passé une belle journée

j’ai eu une merveilleuse journée

j’ai passé une journée fantastique

How to say that you had a bad day -

Je n’ai pas eu une bonne journée

j’ai eu une journée affreuse - a really bad day

j’ai eu une mauvaise journée

j’ai passé une journée difficile 

How to say that you had a busy day - 

j’ai eu une journée des plus occupés

j’ai eu une journée chargée

la journée d’aujourd’hui s’est avérée fort occupée

How to say that you had a quiet/relaxing day - 

j’ai eu une journée tranquille

j’ai passé une journée tranquille

j’ai profité d’une journée de détente

Talking about time -

hier - yesterday

hier soir - last night

hier matin - yesterday morning

hier après-midi - yesterday afternoon

demain - tomorrow

demain matin - tomorrow morning

demain après-midi - tomorrow afternoon

demain soir - tomorrow evening

le lendemain - the next day

cette semaine - this week

la semaine dernière - last week

la semaine prochaine - next week

ce mois-ci - this month

le mois dernier - last month

le mois prochain - next month

cette année - this year

l’année dernière - last year

l’année prochaine - next year

when talking about a coming day e.g. next saturday = samedi prochain/le samedi suivant

To add a dash of drama -

et mon cul, c’est du poulet ? - yeah right!

faire du cinéma - to be a drama queen

j’ai du mal à croire que - I can’t believe that

jai vraiment foiré sur ce coup là - I really stuffed up!

je n’arrive pas à y croire ! - I can’t believe it

je n’en crois pas mes yeux - I can’t believe my eyes

je n’en reviens pas ! - I can’t believe it!

mon cul ! - my arse! (when you don’t believe someone, say if they’ve been lying to you)

Let me know if there is anything that you think I should add or if there are any corrections:)

1/100. Monday, 08.03.20 — Français

Started a new notebook for my French study notes. Today was mostly a review for me. I struggle sometimes with remembering the grammar rules for French prepositions.

Podcasts

Knowledge :

Au coeur de l’histoire (history)

les chasseurs de nazis (nazi hunters)

france musique 

on ne parle pas la bouche pleine (food + literature)

les chemins de la philosophie

le collège de france (advanced)

il était une fois (fairy tales)

la main verte (gardening)

la méthode scientifique

regardez voir (photography)

sur les épaules de darwin

very good trip (rock n roll)

chroniques du ciel (aviation)

la tête au carré (popularization)

les p’tits bateaux (pros answering children’s qs)

les grands musiciens (interview with a pro musician)

littérature moderne et contemporaine

Society :

Arte radio (politics, health, history, tech…)

slate (similarish to ted talks)

hashtag (debating very current problems)

quoi de meuf (women talking about pop culture)

affaires sensibles (trials)

les gentilshommes (relationships men/women)

bouddhisme et méditation

kiffe ta race (about racial problematics)

le flow (well being)

sois gentille dis merci fais un bisou (portraits of women)

les couilles sur la table (men talking to women)

miroir miroir (destroy social norms)

du grain à moudre (debating sensible questions)

coucou le q (casual sex ed)

change ma vie (about personal growth)

la poudre (powerful women’s interviews)

nice to hear you (talks with creators, ceos, artists and nice humans)

mortel (to reconcile you with death and mortality)

la menstruelle (periods)

Movies + tech :

La cartouche (gaming)

la chronique ciné

studio 404 (tech)

geek inc (nerd chatter)

nouveau monde (innovations)

2h de perdues (shitty movies)

silence on joue (gaming)

radio rôliste (role playing, mmorpg)

nociné (pop culture/movies)

season one (to discover new shows)

Routledge Masterpost

Here are all of the Routledge Grammar PDFs that I currently have. I’ll be updating whenever I find more. Let me know if there’s one in particular you want me to look for^^

Last Update: 2017/04/24

Fixed Intermediate Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook link 

Added books for Czech, English, French, French Creoles, Persian, Ukranian

Added more books in Cantonese, Danish, Greek, Polish, Spanish, Swedish

Arabic

Arabic: An Essential Grammar Basic Arabic: A Grammar and Workbook Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar

Cantonese

Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar Intermediate Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook

Czech

Czech: An Essential Grammar

Danish

Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar Danish: An Essential Grammar

Dutch

Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar Dutch: An Essential Grammar Intermediate Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook

English

English: An Essential Grammar

Finnish

Finnish: An Essential Grammar

French

Modern French Grammar Workbook

French Creoles

French Creoles: A Comprehensive and Comparative Grammar

German

Basic German: A Grammar and Workbook German: An Essential Grammar Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook

Greek

Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar Greek: An Essential Grammar of the Modern Language

Hindi

Hindi: An Essential Grammar

Hebrew

Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar

Hungarian

Hungarian: An Essential Grammar

Indonesian

Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar

Irish

Basic Irish: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Irish: A Grammar and Workbook

Italian

Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

Japanese

Basic Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar

Korean

Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar

Latin

Intensive Basic Latin: A Grammar and Workbook Intensive Intermediate Latin: A Grammar and Workbook

Latvian

Latvian: An Essential Grammar

Mandarin Chinese

Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar Chinese: An Essential Grammar

Norwegian

Norwegian: An Essential Grammar

Persian

Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook

Polish

Basic Polish: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Polish: A Grammar and Workbook Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar Polish: An Essential Grammar

Portuguese

Portuguese: An Essential Grammar

Romanian

Romanian: An Essential Grammar

Russian

Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Russian: A Grammar and Workbook

Serbian

Serbian: An Essential Grammar

Spanish

Basic Spanish: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Spanish: A Grammar and Workbook Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Swahili

Swahili Grammar and Workbook

Swedish

Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar Swedish: An Essential Grammar

Thai

Thai: An Essential Grammar

Turkish

Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Ukrainian

Ukrainian: A Comprehensive Grammar

Urdu

Urdu: An Essential Grammar

Welsh

Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar

Yiddish

Basic Yiddish: A Grammar and Textbook

Hope this helps everyone out a bit! Happy studying^^

-koreanbreeze

a masterpost on being productive

how to be productive after school

how to have a productive year

how to be as productive as Hermione Granger

how to study for longer

how to increase productivity and get stuff done

how to stay focused, motivated and on track

planning apps

what to do when you’re super distracted

top 10 productivity tips

productivity hack ft google cal

easy organisation tips that increase productivity

🌸Human body vocab🌸

le corps - body

le cou - neck

la poitrine - chest

le ventre - belly

la hanche - hip

les organes génitaux - genitals

le tibia - shinbone

la tête - head

le sein - breast

le mamelon - nipple

la taille - waist

le nombril - navel, belly button

l’avant-bras - forearm

l’aine - groin

la cuisse - thigh

le genou - knee

la jambe - leg

le pied - foot

la nuque - nape

l’épaule - shoulder

le bras - arm

le coude - elbow

le poignet - wrist

la main - hand

la cheville - ankle

le talon - heel

le mollet - calf

la fesse - buttock

l’aisselle - armpit

- take an ebook in your target language that you wanna read - convert epub to txt - copy txt into unique wordlist maker (http://caerphoto.com/uwc/) - remove words in the list you already know - maybe focus on keeping the high frequency new words - make this list into flashcard deck badda bing badda boom

I did this with my Turkish copy of Animal Farm and pulled 212 new words for my Quizlet deck