Not only does France have its secrets and hidden beauty, the French language is a journey in itself, where you can get lost even more easily as you try to solve its mysteries.



Some examples of these mysteries come to my mind:

'X' or 'S' for plurals and names?

For instance the famous Loire Valley “castles” is quite difficult to write correctly. Indeed, the French word “château” is written with a “^” (i.e. accent circonflexe) on the first “a“, which is a reminder of the former “s” that used to exist in old French, where château was written “castel” - very similar to the modern English word.

The plural of the word “château” takes an “x” instead of an “s”, which is usually added to regular plurals. The same applies to the word “plateau”: we talk about the rugged limestone plateau of the Perigord region.

Some names also always take a final “x”, while others don’t. Bordeaux ends in “x”, but Chenonceau castle (the famous one almost crossing the Cher river) doesn’t.

It reminds me of a motto we used to learn at school to know which words ending in “ou” would take a “x” in plural form:

si vous mangez des choux à genoux sur des cailloux avec vos bijoux et vos joujoux vous deviendrez des hiboux plein de poux!

This roughly translates as: “if you eat cabbage whilst kneeling on rocks with your jewelry and toys, you will turn into an owl full of lice!”. (This also demonstrates the complexity of English plurals, I believe!)

'du' or 'de la'?

There are many things to say about the Loire Valley: we write “la vallée de la Loire”, and not “la vallée du Loire”. Indeed “Loire” is a feminine noun, and “de” before a feminine noun remains “de”. On the contrary, “de” before a masculine noun becomes “du”: we write “les châteaux du Périgord”, and not “les châteaux de le Périgord”.

Fun facts about the spelling of French regions

  • The Loire is the longest river in France. It originates in Massif Central and ends up in St Nazaire on the Atlantic coast, close to Nantes where we live. Therefore when we speak about la Loire, we're talking about the whole river. When we speak aboutla vallée de la Loire”, we mean the Loire Valley region, where you can find the famous châteaux, roughly between Orléans and Angers, with Touraine and Tours in between.
  • Ah the French Riviera… there is only one thing to say about it in French: the correct way to write it is “la Côte d’Azur”. Any other way is wrong (people can be very imaginative when it comes to spelling this region!): "cote a zur", "cote azur", "cote de azur", "cote d’azure", "cote da zur", "cot de azur", "cote de zur": all wonderfully creative but unfortunately incorrect spellings!
  • Close to the French Riviera is Provence and its hilltop villages. Provence is written with an “e”, and not an “a” as I have sometimes seen it written (Provance - incorrect!)
  • Another French peculiarity is the “ç” (we call it 'c cédilla' in French). You'll see it in the adjective “provençal”: enjoy a typical provençal meal! This “cédille” means the sound of the consonant 'c' will be [s] instead of [k]. So we don't say /provenkal/ but /provensal/.

Stay tuned, more of these language specificities to come in the blog in the near future!!! We also include plenty of French language tips in the France Just For You travel guidebook that we write for every tour!

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

Travelers Reviews

5.0
Mary & Dan
Emilie, Our trip has been fantastic! We appreciate all that you did to make it so wonderful. Many, many thanks! The itineraries, special experiences--- like the 4x4 wine tour, wine picnic, and cooking with Catherine---and the unique accommodations made our vacation very very special. We start toward home tomorrow, leaving your beautiful country but …
Bill
France Just For You is a service I highly recommend regardless of how much experience you have traveling through France. Emilie does an amazing job of putting together an exciting and interesting itinerary, taking you to places and meeting people you would never find on your own. Not only are her ideas great, but she is also very thorough. Her trip …
Ellen & Rob
We have just return from an amazing holiday arranged by France Just for You - visiting Paris, Vimy Ridge, Normandy (D-Day Beaches) and Mont Saint Michel. Emilie listened to what our wishes were and arranged everything in great detail. The accommodations (hotels and bed and breakfasts) all had so much charm and character - the hosts were very …
Joel
We highly recommend Emilie’s services. She put together an excellent itinerary. She made all the arrangements and the guides she retained for us where top notch. The B&B accommodations were very good, the hosts were terrific and we enjoyed the other travelers we met at breakfast. We did two table d'hote dinners which were excellent and her …
Lola
My husband and I have just returned from an amazing 16 day trip in France organized thoughtfully and beautifully by Emilie of France Just for You. As the other reviewers have stated, all interactions with Emilie have been prompt, professional and thorough. Although we have organized European travel on our own in the past, concerned that we might be …
Gabriele
This trip was such an awesome cultural adventure and we can not say enough about Emilie and France Just for You. This service was outstanding, well planned according to our interests and the B&B's were all wonderful. Each B&B was different but all fantastic in their own way. The suggestions Emilie made all worked amazingly well and so did the …