Monday, June 05, 2017

Move over Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp!

You can click to make
the image larger.
French learners are well acquainted with the acronym "Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp" which is used to help remember which of the verbs in the passee compose conjugation format use "etre" (to be) instead of "avoir" (to have).

Voila here is the document that is usually handed out to students of French. Meet the Vandertramps!

So we were introduced to the French future tense in class last week and would't you know it, there are irregular versions of future tense verbs. I wondered in class why there wasn't a device similar to the Vandertramp one to help French learners. 

My teacher suggested that maybe I should create one if I really wanted one.


So I did. And now I know why nobody has ever created one before. Because unlike with passee compose, where only the endings of the verbs change, in le tense futur a couple of the verbs completely change, including the first letter, which changes the acronym.

And I didn't even realize it until I put it all down in Photoshop. Oh well, it was a learning experience. 

Merde!

I feel like Dr. Facemapps would run advertisements in the NY Subway system.

Volitional language learners are something of an eccentric crew so we get lots of comedy mileage out of the name "Vandertramp" inserting the name into many French learning scenario situations.

One of the many French language learning channels I follow on Youtube is "Damon and Jo" which you can see here. They created a scenario where Jo plays the role of Mrs. Vandertramp.

Because c'est très drôle!

Mort de rire!