battre (bahtr) verb, inf.

to beat, flog

participe présent: battant
participe passé: battu

-je bats
-tu bats
-il, elle, on bat
-nous battons
-vous battez
-ils, elles battent

« Nous avons battu les buissons, et un autre a pris l’oiseau. » = ‘We sowed; others reaped.’ or more literally :
‘We have beaten the brush, and someone else has taken the bird.’

« Il faut battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud. » = ‘ We must strike while the iron is hot.’
or ‘It is necessary to beat the iron while it is hot.’

beau-fils = stepson, son-in-law
belle-fille = step-daughter, daughter-in-law

beau-frère = brother-in-law
belle soeur = sister-in-law

belle mère = mother-in-law, step-mother
beau-père = father-in-law, step-father
beaux-parents = parents-in-law

demi-soeur = half-sister
demi-frère = half-brother


"Toute femme contient une belle-mère." -Jules Renard
Every woman contains a mother-in-law. (or step-mother?)

*musing*

Plaisanterie (pleh-zahn-tree) nom fem.

a joke

« Poisson d’avril – c’est une plaisanterie traditionell du 1er avril »
‘April fish – its a traditional joke for April the first.’

poisson d'avril

craindre (krehndre) infinitive

to fear, to be uneasy

craignant fearing (pres. part.) craint feared (past part.)

- Je crains
-Tu crains
-Il craint
-Nous craignons
-Vous craignez
-Ils craignent

« Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide. » - proverbe, A burnt child dreads the fire. More literally:
“A scalded cat fears chilly water.”

« Souvenez-vous ! La seule chose que nous ayons à craindre, c'est que le ciel nous tombe sur la tête ! » - chief Abraracourcix in the Asterix comics
“Remember ! The only thing we have to fear is the sky falling on our heads. “


« Ne craignez jamais de vous faire des ennemis; si vous n’en avez pas, c’est que vous n’ave rien fait. » –Georges Clemenceau
“Never be afraid of making enemies ; if you have none, it’s because you haven’t done anything.”

« Qui craint de souffrir, il souffre déjà ce qu’il craint. » - Montaigne, Essais
“He who fears suffering already suffers what he fears .”

« L’homme qui ne craint pas la vérité n’a rien à craindre du mensonge. » - Thomas Jefferson
The man who fears not the truth has nothing to fear from lies.

crainte (krehnt ), nom, f.
fear, dread

« La crainte gouverne le monde, et l’espérance le console. » Duc de Lévis, de Maximes, préceptes et réflexions
Fear rules the world and hope consoles it.

rien (r’yehng) indefinite pronoun, masc.

I indefinite pronoun, masc.

1. anything ( in questions expecting a negative answer rien is preferred to quelque chose)
« Y a-t-il rien de plus triste ? » Is there anything more sad ?

2. nothing, not anything
« Rien ne l’intéresse.” Nothing interests him.
« Je n’ai rien à faire » I have nothing to do.
« Cela ne fait rien » That doesn’t matter.

Familiar : « Il ne sait rien de rien. » He knows nothing at all.

II noun, masc.

1. trifle; mere nothing
2. just a little
« Donnez-moi un rien de frommage. » Give me just a taste of cheese.

III gesture
Rien!

« Que-faites vous » « What are you doing ? »

Rien! To signify "nothing", make a circle with your finger and thumb.

Système d'allumage

allumage , (ah-lew-mazhuh) nom masculine

1. the action of lighting (kindling fire; turning electric lights on or off)
2. ignition (as of a gasoline motor)

synonymes : combustion, contact, démarrage, explosion, mise.

Comme il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu... il n'y a pas de feu sans allumage!
-Georges FEYDEAU, La Dame de chez Maxim, acte III, scène 5

Just as there is no smoke without fire... there is no fire without a spark!

The first thing I thought of when seeing allumage was lighting a match...

To light a match is "allumer une allumette"

So upon seeing that word as it pertains to a vehicle, one would quickly think of the ignition.

... just as my mind would think "essuie-glace" for windshield wiper. Upon looking it up, I see that my guess was pretty close- the word is not hyphenated. Literally it means, the "ice-wipe"

There are a few things in other languages that just seem to make sense, while other things you simply have to memorize.

Isn't it neat that the word "bougie" is used for both "candle" and for "spark-plug"? As if autos use a candles to start combustion of the gasoline! Candle is most poetic. N'est-ce pas?

A la queue leu leu
In single file

The expression comes from the middle ages, when for "loup" wolf, they used the word "leu". Wolves would follow one another in single file, each following the tail of another wolf. The word for wolf has changed to "loup" but the old "leu" remains in the expression, à la queue leu leu.