We read on the back cover: “celebrating the art of the French language”. Beautiful, huh?

Le mot juste is a collection of French words, phrases and quotations with their actual meaning, pronunciation and sometimes also literal translation. I think it’s a good way to refresh one’s French if it’s a bit rusty or to have a useful reference of the borrowed French words, such as la joie de vivre, je ne regrette rien, l’avant-garde, la crème de la crème, cordon bleu or le prêt-à-porter.

My favourite French words:

Un pamplemousse. A grapefruit

Au claire de lune. In the moonlight

Le coup de foudre. Love at first sight (lit. translation: a thunder bolt)

En faire tout un fromage. To make a fuss (lit. translation: to make a whole cheese out of it)

Plus tard ça sera trop tard. Notre vie c’est maintenant. Jacques Prévert (translation: Later will be too late. Life is for living now.)

Nous sommes nos choix. Jean-Paul Sartre (translation: We are our choices.)

Have you read a similar publication in the language you currently learn? Please let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla