Day 7: Talking About Feelings in French

It’s been a week since I started my French journey, and I’m feeling proud of the progress. Today’s goal is to dive into expressing emotions and opinions in French—because let’s be real, learning a language isn’t just about saying things; it’s about saying how you feel about them. So today, I’m tapping into some everyday emotions and sharing my thoughts using some new vocabulary.

Basic Emotions and How to Express Them

French has some lovely ways to describe feelings, and just like with adjectives, there’s the matter of gender agreement. Here are some of the basic emotions I practiced:

  • Heureux / Heureuse (happy)
    • Example: Je suis heureux/heureuse aujourd’hui. (I am happy today.)
  • Triste (sad)
    • Example: Il est triste parce qu’il pleut. (He is sad because it’s raining.)
  • En colère (angry)
    • Example: Elle est en colère contre moi. (She is angry with me.)
  • Fatigué / Fatiguée (tired)
    • Example: Nous sommes fatigués après le voyage. (We are tired after the trip.)
  • Stressé / Stressée (stressed)
    • Example: Je suis stressé(e) à cause du travail. (I’m stressed because of work.)
  • Excité / Excitée (excited)
    • A note here: in French, excité can have a different connotation, so enthousiaste might be a safer choice in some contexts.

It was helpful to connect these emotions with actual experiences to make them stick. I imagined situations where I felt each emotion and repeated the sentences out loud.

Opinion Words: Saying What I Think

Along with emotions, learning to express opinions felt like the natural next step. Here are some useful phrases I picked up:

  • Je pense que… (I think that…)
    • Example: Je pense que ce film est intéressant. (I think this movie is interesting.)
  • À mon avis… (In my opinion…)
    • Example: À mon avis, c’est une bonne idée. (In my opinion, it’s a good idea.)
  • Je trouve que… (I find that…)
    • Example: Je trouve que le français est fascinant. (I find French fascinating.)
  • J’aime / Je n’aime pas… (I like / I don’t like…)
    • Example: J’aime le chocolat, mais je n’aime pas le café. (I like chocolate, but I don’t like coffee.)

The challenge here was not just learning the phrases but trying to use them naturally in conversation. I practiced by commenting on things around me—simple observations like “Je pense que ce livre est trop cher” (I think this book is too expensive) while browsing an online bookstore.

Vocabulary for the Day:

  • Le bonheur (happiness)
  • La tristesse (sadness)
  • La colère (anger)
  • Le stress (stress)
  • La joie (joy)
  • Une opinion (an opinion)
  • Un avis (an opinion/view)

Cultural Insight: Emotions in French Culture

The French aren’t afraid to express their emotions, but there’s often a subtlety to it. For example, instead of saying “Je suis très heureux” (I am very happy), someone might say “Ça me fait plaisir” (That makes me happy) to express contentment in a more understated way. There’s an elegance to this approach that feels different from the more direct expressions in English.

Practice in Action: A Self-Check

I decided to keep a mini-journal throughout the day, writing short entries about how I felt at different moments. Here’s what I jotted down:

Ce matin, je me sens fatigué(e), mais après mon café, je suis plus enthousiaste.
(This morning, I feel tired, but after my coffee, I’m more enthusiastic.)

Cet après-midi, je trouve que le temps est magnifique. Le soleil me rend heureux/heureuse.
(This afternoon, I find the weather is wonderful. The sun makes me happy.)

Writing about my feelings felt personal and helped cement the new words. It was also a reminder that language is not just a tool for communication but a way to understand myself better.

Common Mistakes:

  1. Overusing “excité” for excited: It’s better to stick with enthousiaste or content(e) in most cases.
  2. Forgetting gender agreement with adjectives: Especially with emotions, where it’s easy to forget to add an -e for feminine forms.
  3. Confusing “avis” and “opinion”: They’re used similarly but not interchangeably. Avis is more about judgment or viewpoint, while opinion can be broader.

For tomorrow, I’m planning to tackle verbs in the past tense. It’s time to talk about what happened. À demain!

Facebook Comments Box
Previous articleDay 6: Adding Color and Character with French Adjectives
Next articleJour 61