VerbCast

Still want to keep going?

It's Saturday, day 11, and you're already on your way towards the end of the VERBcast. However, things have changed over the past few days: there haven't been nearly as many posts on the site with you offering your answers. Don't get me wrong: I know that there are many other things to think about, not least the exams other than French which will start at some point this coming weeki.

We'll keep sending the messages to those of you who have signed up for the sms features of the VERBcast, but you will need to reply to a text I've sent asking about your plans to continue. The thing is that the regular text messages do cost a fair bit of money, and we have to make sure that they're "value for money", so if anyone is doing the VERBcast, we really do need you to keep posting your answers on the website.

VERBcast: episode 11

Today's VERBcast is an important one. It's time to introduce a new tense, and we're covering quite important concepts today which you really need to understand. Hope you find the podcast useful.

On today's show
In episode 11 we're introducing the Imperfect tense, and the ideas behind it. We'll talk you through how it's used, and in particular the difference between the perfect and imperfect tenses. We'll give examples using a regular -er verb in the imperfect: parler

Downloads:
VERBcast 11 High quality (broaband users)
VERBcast 11 Low quality (dialup users)

Verbs everywhere...

Just something a bit daft for a Friday night... Since you started listening to the VERBcast, many of you have been saying how you've started reciting verbs in your head at the strangest times and in the strangest of places. So let us know where the strangest place is you've been thinking about verbs! Just close your eyes and imagine your cerebral screen - you can revise your verbs anywhere.

Is it just me, or does that all sound a bit sad?!

VERBcast: episode 10

This is it: once you've listened to today's episode you're now half way through the programme! And well done for keeping with it until now.

On today's show
In episode 10 you'll cover the remaining verbs in the perfect tense, concentrating on the verbs which form the perfect tense using être.

Downloads:
VERBcast 10 High quality (broaband users)
VERBcast 10 Low quality (dialup users)

VERBcast: episode 9

Episode 9 of the VERBcast includes further irregular verbs in the perfect tense.

On today's show
Today you'll learn how to conjugate mettre, dormir, écrire, dire, avoir and être in the perfect tense. All of these are "avoir" verbs - yes, even être!!!

Downloads:
VERBcast 09 High quality (broaband users)
VERBcast 09 Low quality (dialup users)

VERBcast: episode 8

Our first seven episodes have concentrated on getting you used to a new way of learning, and have covered all 20 of our key verbs. We've had a couple of extra verbs thrown in too which conjugate in the same way as some of the key verbs.

On today's show
Today you'll learn how to form the perfect tense and, in particular, how to form the past participles of regular verbs and a handful of irregulars which we've covered in the past few days in the present tense.

Downloads:
VERBcast 08 High quality (broaband users)
VERBcast 08 Low quality (dialup users)

User update

One week into this rerun of the VERBcast and I'm absolutely delighted with progress we've made.

All our listeners who have been tuning in daily to the episodes (and there have been 525 downloads of the shows since last Wednesday!) have now covered all regular verbs in the present tense and around 20 common irregular verbs. VERY well done to you all - it's not easy finding 20 minutes per day, especially at this busy time of year before the exams.

The website itself has had over 1200 hits, averaging 204 per day. During the past week the PiE website has also received more visitors than usual, and the rerun of the VERBcast has been featured on the MFLE website, where some of your comments have also been posted!

As you know, the VERBcast is a podcast and as such is featured on the iTunes Music Store. Click here to access the podcast on the iTMS. If you have an iTunes Music Store account (no purchase necessary!) you can also leave a review of the VERBcast on there which would be very much appreciated, not least because it would move the VERBcast up the charts a bit (we're currently at number 51!)

We also have an entry in the Podcast Alley charts - you can vote once a month for your favourite podcasts. Again, if you've got time, why not head over to the VERBcast and leave a comment, or at least vote for us. You need to respond to the automatic email it generates, and you can only vote once a month from any one email or IP address.

By voting for the VERBcast on iTunes and Podcast Alley you'll help to spread the word about the VERBcast and we will hopefully be able to see our listener base grow and grow!

VERBcast: episode 7

Our final set of irregular verbs in the present tense will be covered today.

On today's show
Today we'll cover sortir, partir and venir, but in addition to venir you will also get revenir and devenir for free!

Downloads:
VERBcast 07 High quality (broaband users)
VERBcast 07 Low quality (dialup users)

Some of you have already contributed your feedback - if you haven't done so yet, please add a comment to this post.

VERBcast: episode 6

We're into the second quarter of the VERBcast and I'd just like to say again how pleased I am with everyone's enthusiasm. It's great to see many of you posting comments, following on from the text messages you've been receiving.

On today's show
We've already covered savoir, one of the verbs meaning "to know", and today we'll learn how to conjugate the other one, connaître. Also in today's programe are mettre and croire, together making three more common irregular verbs. You'll be pleased to know that tomorrow's verbs will be the last of our 20 irregular verbs before we move onto different tenses!

Downloads:
VERBcast 06 High quality (broaband users)
VERBcast 06 Low quality (dialup users)

Some of you have already contributed your feedback - if you haven't done so yet, please add a comment to this post.

Entering accents

We're delighted that so many of you are posting your answers, and also delighted that so many of you are so keen to be accurate and want to know how to enter accents on your posts.

I use a Mac and it's dead easy to enter accented characters using keystroke combinations. But on a PC I'm a bit lost. This site does offer lots of useful information but it takes a wee while to get through it all. Here's a wee summary.

You have three main options: 1. Install the International Keyboard; 2. Use the Character Map and copy and paste your accents, or 3. use the ALT+number combinations as explained below.

1. Installing the International Keyboard
There are full instructions for installing the International Keyboard on Windows XP on this site. Once you have it installed, you can use the keyboard shortcuts as explained here.

2. Use the Character Map
This is quite useful for inserting the odd accent or symbol here and there. On most systems you can find it by going to Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map. Alternatively you can go to Start Menu > Run and then type charmap. Assuming your cursor is blinking within the text box, eg. on the comments page on the blog, then you can double click any accented character and it should appear at the correct place on the blog.

3. Use ALT+number combinations
This is possibly the most common way of using accented characters on a PC, but equally it's one of the trickiest. If your computer has a numeric keypad on the right of your keyboard (ie. the number keys are there as well as "above" the letters) then you can use this method. You need to hold down the ALT key and then press a combination of numbers and your accented character should appear. The list is below for French:

à 0224
â 0226
ç 0231
é 0233
è 0232
ê 0234
ë 0235
î 0238
ï 0239
ô 0244
ù 0249
û 0251

Capitals:

À 0192
 0194
Ç 0199
È 0200
É 0201
Ê 0202
Ë 0203
Î 0206
Ï 0207
Ô 0212
Ù 0217
Û 0219

« 0171 (opening French inverted commas)
» 0187 (closing French inverted commas)

For a full list for other languages, and for further discussion see this very useful site. I hope all of this helps!