HOW TO SAY SOMETHING'S HAPPENING IN FRENCH 🇫🇷 - ways and contexts

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Thinking of not commenting and practicing your French? Comment ça se fait ?! Fix that down below.

[@RichardBlack-g9z]

I love your lessons. I am 80 And still travel to Paris for only a seven day vacation every year. I want to feel like a good ambassador of my country and a citizen of the world. Plus I now have two friends there. They are studying English but have promised to speak French to help me understand Spoken French. It should be interesting! Merci bien.

[@nataliesambhi]

Hi Alex, thank you for your helpful and clearly-explained content! Your "résumé" at the end is a chef's kiss for reinforcing the lesson. Much gratitude 💖

[@noirebeaute3925]

Hi Alex! I think t"o take place" and "unfold' is the best translation of se derouler.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Merci beaucoup :)

[@meganmartinaux6407]

Merci pour cette video - long way to go but ALL your videos are helping. Beaucoup beaucoup

[@Theargie2010]

Merci mille fois, Alex! Cette vídeo est très utile, comme toutes les autres que tu as faites, bien sûr ! Exprimer l’idée de ‘happen’ en français n’est pas toujours évident! 😝👍

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Merci à toit Rodrigo. Tu parles hyper hyper bien ! Bonne continuation !

[@paulinag1940]

It's a perfect lesson! Truly helpful and everything is explained so well! Thank you a lot!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Oof. Perfect? That's a lovely compliment. Merci !

[@chromalusion15]

Best lesson in the planet. Shout out from Philippines

[@Mr529cp]

Thank you ! I always thought parfois was the only way to say sometimes haha

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Happy to help 😊

[@angelodiazrodriguez5186]

Thank you so much Alex👌 I find your explanation exc. Having spanish as my first language & english as my second after having studied it in 🇬🇧...french is a nightmare up to the power 25🤣🤣 when I hear that french derives from the old Latin, what???? I did 4 years Latin in Spain , so let me tell you, that french is a unique language, far, far from normal...keep you good work,,, greetings from Essex👋🇪🇸🇬🇧

[@yohanannatanson4199]

Your videos are always excellent... And this topic is a good opportunity to warn French learners about a very common mistake a lot of French do so very often. "Je vais vous dire ce *qu'il* se passe à Paris." You might hear this on TV or on a radio program or more likely on the Internet. It IS definitely a mistake. The correct way is "ce qui se passe", ou ce qui se déroule, ou ce qui arrive... Ça y est... J'ai vidé mon sac !

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Yes I read that youcan say "il se passe quoi ?" ou "Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?" but perhaps one is grammatically wrong and just became popular because of the identical pronunciations?

[@yohanannatanson4199]

@@FrenchinPlainSight I can't explain why this bad habit seems to prevail. Pronunciation is significantly different, I reckon. Il se passe quoi, although familiar, is acceptable in oral language. Correct form would be "Il se passe quelque chose ici. Je vais vous dire ce qui se passe." Maybe what we could call "un combat d'arrière-garde" before a predictable defeat! In your way Alex, you defend French language, and we should all be grateful for that...

[@kirantalwar5243]

Tres bien....j'ai appris l'usage de francais beaucoup....Merci. 0:03 / 0:04

[@renae9450]

merci beaucoup ! J'ai bien aimé la vidéo ! c'était vraiment utile

[@chekang3697]

this channel is so helpful!

[@didakoko3723]

Elles sont chouettes tes vidéos, Alex. Même moi qui suis française je les trouve intéressantes ! Il faut dire que j'aime beaucoup l'anglais et que j'aime aussi beaucoup réfléchir sur le passage d'une langue à l'autre. Ton accent français est vraiment pas mal, d'ailleurs. Bravo ! Je voulais juste dire que, après les verbes faire et pouvoir à la forme pronominale, on préfère l'utilisation du subjonctif donc "comment ça se fait que vous travailliez ensemble" : -iez et non "ez".

[@lukasvonplaten2558]

Merci, très util!

[@nabilel-adly7871]

I absolutely love your videos. Thanks a million. Extremely helpful

[@LJohno1]

Comment se fait-il que je ne découvre votre chaine que maintenant ? ! apprendre beaucoup de choses!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

L'algorithme YouTUbe n'a décidé que récemment de montrer mes vieilles vidéos à plus de monde. Bienvenue Liam !

[@nada.serhan]

You're too cute! Thank you! this is the 5th video i've seen for you (all right now) and I have to say your videos are on point and extremely useful :)

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Cute and binge-worthy! Exactly what I was going for!

[@sabrinacaussieu8228]

Bonjour ! Je viens de découvrir votre chaîne et c’est une super vidéo. Juste un petit détail : à 6:46 dans les sous-titres, il faudrait écrire « travailliez » et non « travaillez » car le verbe doit être conjugué au subjonctif après « comment ça se fait que ».

[@julietstephens7742]

Thanks

[@julietstephens7742]

Merci Alex! j'adore ta chaine; les videos sont si utile et vos explications sont toujours clair.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Hey merci beaucoup à toi Juliet ! Je suis très touché.

[@anitawaters4745]

Très clair, merci Alex !

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Je t'en prie, Anita !

[@HeidiButkus]

Super helpful as always!

[@teresita.lozada]

Very helpful as always

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

👐

[@deeptis5121]

Merci pour ces super leçons!!! :)

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

De rien :)

[@NibblyPig]

Would love to know how you memorise all of these phrases. I can memorise verbs, nouns, adjectives etc very easily with spaced repetition, but you can't make flash cards for phrases, at least not that I've succeeded at.

[@pollys.3127]

great lesson! and a useful one! there are so many situations these expressions can come in handy!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Yes exactly. I try to only provide language that you will actually need to use! Which do you think you could use straight away?

[@jacmorales5314]

Awesome lesson. Very practical and down to earth.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Awesome

[@elisabethzum-bruch1178]

Thank you! It's a perfect lesson again!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I'm glad you got something useful from it Elisabeth :)

[@amabledunn4189]

Merci your video really help me 🙏

[@mackjay1777]

je vois aussi "se dérouler" pour décrire l'action dans un film ou dans un livre, etc. "L'action se déroule à Paris en 1972"

[@lewjames6688]

Merci Alex! Je suis en train d'apprendre la langue la plus jolie du monde. Le francais!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

De rien Lew !

[@yunwu2191]

I find your videos really helpful~thank you for what you've done and please keep sharing your French learning experience with us^^ Merci, à bientôt!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Je t'en prie. Merci for your lovely message!

[@gro16]

Just a note for others like me- later videos don't have the background music. Yeyyy- thank you

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Haha. Is it too loud? That's frustrating as I always tried to keep it super low. Do you watch with headphones?

[@gro16]

@@FrenchinPlainSight On the particular video that i made this comment on for some reason it was the loud whereas on all other videos i hadn't even noticed. So it could be just the one video. I wasn't watching with headphone no. Love your lessons. Thank you

[@ericlind6581]

se dérouler can be thought of as « it’s being rolled out » or « rolling out ». Where is it being rolled out? When is it rolling out?

[@markhathaway9456]

J'aime vos videos.

[@mickbilginer]

How do you say “happening” to indicate an event? As in “ it was quite a happening”.. referring to a party or gala, etc.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I'm not sure what "a happening" is in English, actually. Perhaps you can give some more context around when you'd use it.

[@WillelmusAestus]

Oui, c'est nickel. ;)

[@mahfouzahmed7228]

Splendid

[@dordognedan6917]

Another great video, thank you

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Why thank you Dan. My parents are heading to the Dordogne in March/April. If you had any advice for things to do for wine and food lovers, and avid walkers, I'd be indebted to you.

[@dordognedan6917]

@@FrenchinPlainSight I'd love to give you some ideas on where they can visit. Let me know where they are staying, and I will drop you a message if I am familiar with the area

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

@@dordognedan6917 Sorry Dan, I didn't get back to you. I asked them, and they said they haven't booked anything at all. They have kept everything open as for location and activities. So, if possible, just general guidance on the whole region would be great. Don't worry too much though. Just whatever comes to mind.

[@learnelectrics4402]

Good content but found the background music distracting.

[@meganmartinaux6407]

Il arrive que j’apprend de langue Francaise avec Alex, French in Plain sight aujourd’hui

[@lexismart7555]

Yay!!! Thanks!

[@albertloredo3367]

I'm lucky to know Spanish. Many of those phrases can easily translate to Spanish: -Comment ça se fait que ma soeur soit belle à tomber et je suis moche? -Esp: ¿Cómo es que mi hermana es tan bella y yo feo?

[@mslincantonese]

Toujours si bien expliqué :D D'ailleurs j'habite à Mtp aussi !

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Sérieux ?! Mais on se connaît depuis les groupes Facebook pour apprendre le français, non ?!

[@mslincantonese]

@@FrenchinPlainSight oui on s'est rencontrés dans le groupe du français ! Mais je viens de voir dans cette vidéo que tu habites également à Montpellier. Quelle coincidence !!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

@@mslincantonese C'est dingue !

[@oneeyejack2]

I've checked and the expression "Qu'est ce *qui* se passe" and "Qu'est ce *qu'il* se passe" are both accepted.. although "qu'est ce qu'il se passe" seems more polite and grammatically correct, as the answer can be "Il se passe que...".. It's weird that two different grammatical constructions "ce qui est" and "ce qu'il est" are equivalent.. you can also say "ce qu'il m'est arrivé" instead of "ce qui m'est arrivé"... the "ce qu'il" variant seems more ancient and literary, and is not used in spoken language anymore.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I honestly had no idea that the qu'il form would be correct! It still looks wrong to me now the more I stare at it, but I accept it! I'm really intrigued though. Could you link to any articles that your research led you to?

[@oneeyejack2]

@@FrenchinPlainSight As I suspected it's the old usage : www.grevisse.fr/le-blog-chroniques-grevisse/norme-et-usage/je-me-demande-ce-qui-se-passe-ce-qu-il-se-passe

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

@@oneeyejack2 Merci

[@oneeyejack2]

@@FrenchinPlainSight you're welcome :) Great videos !

[@patricerodriguez9763]

Hello, i'm french and i'm using "ce qu'il se passe". Why? In interrogative form you say "que se passe-t-il ?".

[@isabelmonday]

if I want to say “why is this happening to me!” would I say “pourqoui -cela m’arrive-t-il!” ou “ca m’arrive a moi?” merci

[@jean-michelgordo9196]

Première solution.

[@isabelmonday]

@@jean-michelgordo9196 Merci, ta gentil .

[@lisaahmari7199]

NOT a criticism (your lessons are all wonderful and helpful as hell!) but the background music is a bit distracting. I kept trying to place the song and artist, rather than focus on your words. Just my opinion (rooted in my A.D.D.!😅) Merci comme d'habitude !!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You'll be pleased to know that this is a rather old video Lisa and I pretty much never use background music anymore! :). Thank you for the kind words.

[@lisaahmari7199]

@@FrenchinPlainSight Yes, I do not remember hearing music in any of the others. :-) It is nice music! Just distracting! Thanks again!

[@frenchip4513]

Thank you but back ground music was disturbing attention

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I don't use it anymore 👌

[@stephenjones4651]

Very helpful video, but the sound track is superfluous (and annoying).

[@tiffanytsan3038]

I pense que c'est.. "comment ca se fait que" plus subjonctif après

[@lecirdaluz]

I am having difficulty pronouncing the word: lueur en Français. Pouvez-vous m'aider?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Essaie forvo.com/search/lueur/ et répète encore et encore.

[@timotheelegrincheux2204]

This reminds me of the fact that English speakers have a heck of a time pronouncing "écureuil" and French speakers have an equally hard time saying "squirrel."

[@lecirdaluz]

@@timotheelegrincheux2204 : So true. I speak Portuguese and teach English to Brazilians. Brazilians have a hard time pronouncing words with the combination of “rl” as in world, squirrels, whirl, swirl, girl, twirl etc. Anglos have a hard time with nasal sounds like: não, mão, são etc and the “lh” in trabalhar (work), malhar (work out), etc. these are sounds that do not exist in each other's language. I have been studying French for the last two years, and it never ceases to amaze me how quick I've been able to learn it because of being fluent in those two languages. A huge percentage of time I can figure out the meaning of new french words because both Portuguese and English have a strong and welcome french influence.

[@lecirdaluz]

Se dérouler: unfold?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I like that. An event can unfold. How did I never see that? Muito obrigado Lecir

[@lecirdaluz]

French in Plain Sight : nada, às suas ordens: (rien, at your disposal.)

[@JacksonCA2]

What’s c’est nickel mean ? I got 123 cat sank but not this.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Nickel is a slang way of saying "cool" "awesome". "Tu vas bien ?" "Oui merci" "Nickel!"

[@timotheelegrincheux2204]

nickel means flawless, perfect, awesome, terrific

[@graemeyeoman9483]

Thanks for that Alex. J’ai liké déjà. Not sure about dérouler being for a period of time. I’m sure I’ve read things like “un accident s’est déroulé sur l’autoroute”. Maybe need to ask a native speaker.

[@jean-michelgordo9196]

Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe,pas qu'est-ce qui..😉

[@jean-michelgordo9196]

Et ce qu'il m'arrive

[@timotheelegrincheux2204]

T’as tort.

[@philpjm6659]

A superb lesson, well presented as always. But please can we not have the awful back ground music. !!!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Hi Phil! Actually, it's a very old video. After much (friendly) backlash, I got rid of the music :D

[@busfactors]

comment ça se fait que ce video a que 3k vues?

[@andreablack4573]

Est-ce que ‘quoi de neuf’ un autre possibilité?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Ça dépend. Dans quelle situation est-ce que tu l'utiliserais ? :)

[@reginabaldwin7543]

Why is their music in the background? So distracting.

[@benoitbelhoste8192]

Hello Alex. I like to watch your videos... to lean english ! Thank's. you made just a little mistake (obviously made by french people too) with the subjonctive form of travailler. Pour presque tous les verbes, au subjopnctif, à la 2ème personne du pluriel, il faut ajouter "iez" à la fin. Comment ça se fait que vous travailliez dans la même boîte. la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/du/verbe/travailler.php

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Ah c'est parce que je ne savais pas que "ça se fait que" était suivi du subjonctif. Merci beaucoup Benoît ! Bon anglais !

[@ebrahimarayesh4723]

Turn down the background music please

[@PedrSion]

QU’EST CE-QUI S’EST PASSE. WHat happened ? What has happened .?

[@hilairewalden2766]

The music is annoying and distracting from an otherwise very helpful video.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

It's an old one. I have learned since then.

[@cefnonn]

'Se passer'= to happen, MAIS 'se passer de quelque chose' = to do without something eg: "Aujourd'hui je me suis passé de sucre dans mon thé." Je crois que là mon français est bon mais corrigez-moi svp si j'ai tort.

[@annababicheva7356]

Comment ça s'est passé que le monde ne tourne plus autour de moi

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

C'est beau, mais si tu veux utiliser un de ces verbes ce sera "se faire" et il sera au présent. Comment ça se fait que le monde ne tourne plus autour de moi ?

[@annababicheva7356]

@@FrenchinPlainSight ah, j’ai compris. C’est nickel! Merci

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Parfait

[@annabelleemery6062]

Une maladie se déroule dans ma vie. J'espère que ce ne sera pas trop sévère.

[@rolandhawken6628]

Man get rid of that stupid distracting music

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You stumbled on a 5 year old video. No more music ;)

[@rolandhawken6628]

Get rid of the stupid music please

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

No need for words like "stupid". But yes, the music is no longer used.