The theme of this
post is 'building'.
Saint Sébastien
Since 2005, when
we first began our annual jaunts to Normandy, we have never failed to visit
this beautiful 350-year-old manoir in nearby Préaux-Saint-Sébastien (population
38). In that same year
(2005) this manoir became the home of our old friends, Steve and Kay, who moved
there from the UK.
The St. Sébastien
house in 2011
But it hasn't always looked like this–when they first bought it, the house was an abandoned and unloved home that had fallen into disrepair.
The same house in
2005
A most enjoyable
feature of our French adventures ever since has been that Sheila, Ken and I
have tried to do our bit to help our friends to restore the manoir to its
former glory.
There was
certainly no shortage of jobs to be done. One of the many tasks was to fill the
holes in the outside walls where the mud-based 'torchée' surfaces had fallen
off over the centuries (now covered in corrugated iron sheeting). Fortunately
the 'right sort of mud' was to be found in the garden so Sheila and I helped to
're- torchée' the gaps in the traditional manner. As Sheila commented,
"I'm used to working with clay, but this is on a slightly bigger
scale!"
Sheila applying
torchée to the walls
This involved
mixing the wet mud with lime, in the correct proportions, then literally
throwing the mixture at the gaps and hoping they would stick. Then, using a
hand-made dibbler (a small home-made wooden plasterer's tool), we burnished the
mud by rubbing until it was hard and firm. Finally, when dry, it was painted
with a modern preservative.
Me painting the
torchée walls
Me 'supervising'
Ken as he attaches corrugated iron
sheeting to protect the barn from imminent
gales
Sheila attacking
the undergrowth
A feature of this
house was that the original oak beams were really huge. We learned later from
the local mayor that the size of a manoir's beams reflected the status of the
owner and clearly this had, at the time of its construction, been the home of a
very important person.
One powerful
memory of this experience was in March 2006, as we worked indoors attempting to
fit ceiling panels between the ancient oak beams. The house was still without
heating and it was so cold that we had to wear every garment that we had
brought with us, pyjamas included.
Many layers of
clothing required
But despite these
obstacles, our times in St. Sébastien have been spectacularly enjoyable. As can be seen from Sheila's painting below, the
house is set in splendid isolation with only a distant water tower to break the
skyline.
Sheila's painting
of the view from the front of the house
Steve remained
true to his intention to restore the house to something like its original form
using, where possible, traditional materials such as wonderful, solid oak beams
and, of course, the mud walls. After 5 years of restoration – a true labour of
love – it is now a beautiful, 'modern' 350 year-old manoir.
Sheila's wrinkles
|
"This week's wrinkle is about the value of having things written down.
As Alan was writing the table of the –er, –ir and –re verbs in this post, I suddenly saw that I had a better grasp of these verbs than I thought. For me, personally, I know that conversation alone is not going to get me started, so I have printed off the table and I have pinned it to a board in my pottery workshop so that, as I'm working, I can see it all together in one block. I don't have a photographic memory but I know I can recall some of those endings as a picture in my mind, from the table. So now, I have started my own list and any word or phrase that I would like to remember I have written on the board as an 'aide memoire'.
Also, on our many visits to Normandy, we have bought several French CDs and, if nothing else, I can at least sing to people and assure them that my holiday is 'la vie en rose' "
Sheila
|
Ken's gems
|
"The thing that strikes me about the French language is how
polite and formal it is. When we walk into any small shop in Normandy we are
invariably greeted with the words “Bonjour messieurs, dame” and a hearty “Au
revoir” or “Bonne journée” on leaving. These friendly greetings are so
enthusiastically delivered that they are effectively sung rather than spoken.
Confronted with these cheery
salutations, it instils a certain confidence to ‘have a go’ – until, in
searching for the right word, le bon mot, the moment has passed and I walk out
having missed another opportunity to utter some halting, basic French to a
native speaker. And this for me, I think is key. We can put our noses in books
and listen to all the CDs but unless you’re actually speaking it and having the
confidence to try out your language skills on other people, it can all go for
nothing'.
A phrase that I rather like is
what the French call 'l'esprit d'escalier' (the spirit of the staircase). It
refers to only thinking of the right phrase when the moment has passed –
although in my case it is more, 'the spirit of walking out of the shop and
standing on the footpath, scratching my head'! "
Ken |
-ir and –re verbs
In post 5, I
looked at the –er verbs in the present tense. These comprise something like 90%
of all French verbs, so they really are the main event in the 'verbing' game.
But there are two other categories of verbs that are also worth knowing about –
those, like bâtir (to build), ending in –ir and those like vendre (to sell)
ending in –re.
Forming the stem: Just as the stem for –er verbs is formed by
removing the 'er', so, the stems for –ir and –re verbs are formed by removing
the 'ir' and 're', respectively.
The table below
summarises the six sets of endings for each type of verb, along with the –er
endings that you saw in Post 5.
Endings used for –er,
-ir and -re verbs (present tense)
Person (English)
|
Person (French)
|
-er
ending
|
-ir
ending
|
-re
ending
|
I
|
je
|
-e
|
-is
|
-s
|
you
|
tu
|
-es
|
-is
|
-s
|
he/she/one
|
il/elle/on
|
-e
|
-it
|
|
we
|
nous
|
-ons
|
-issons
|
-ons
|
you
|
vous
|
-ez
|
-issez
|
-ez
|
the
|
ils/elles
|
-ent
|
-issent
|
-ent
|
Here are two examples
of applying the appropriate endings to the verbs, "bâtir" (stem: bât)
and "vendre" (stem: vend).
Example 1:
Translating "we build" (or "we are building")
Example 2:
Translating "you sell" (or "you are selling")
I’ve put up on
YouTube a short video that deals more fully with the regular –ir and -re verbs
in the present tense:
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