Salut c’est Géraldine, bienvenue sur Comme
une Française TV, Sound French, even to the French.
Aaah, l’amour ! Love is the “Frenchest”
concept there is, up there with eating snails
and complaining about life.
We especially celebrate romance on Februrary
the 14th, le 14 février, for Valentine’s
Day, la Saint-Valentin.
To be honest la Saint-Valentin isn’t really
a strong French tradition, it’s a much smaller
deal than in North America for instance ; it’s
still a sweet occasion to be romantic for
your partner, and who doesn’t enjoy this
? Let’s dive in !
“Je t’aime” is French for “I love
you”.
It’s a simple and short sentence, but strong
and meaningful.
To expand on it is losing its strength ; if
you add words you make “Je t’aime beaucoup”
(I love you very much), which is basically
nothing, or “Je t’aime bien” (I like
you) which is worse !
There are other shadows in “Je t’aime”,
and French singer Jean Jacques Goldman made
a beautiful song about them, Sache Que Je.
However, “Je t’aime” is still the message
you want to convey in la Saint-Valentin.
In France, the day is only about romantic
love, to be romantique ; you won’t give
Valentine’s card to your teachers, your
parents, or your children.
With your lover, feel free to to be as romantic
as you like ! But even then, as I said earlier,
it’s not a big deal for most people, so
check before booking that special cruise and
going overboard.
Le cadeaux
You can use the occasion, cette occasion / ce
prétexte, to exchange gifts.
Like a nice card, une carte de Saint-Valentin,
with a few heartfelt words.
Or maybe des chocolats, chocolates ?
Another classic gift for la Saint-Valentin
is flowers, des fleurs, usually des roses,
in un bouquet de fleurs, a bunch of flowers.
Le fleuriste, the florist, will be happy to
help you, or maybe you’ll order or reserve
online, with Interflora or Aquarelle for instance.
Or maybe des bijoux (un bijou), jewelry, who
knows ? Like des boucles d’oreilles, earrings,
un collier or un pendentif, a necklace, and
maybe une bague, a ring.
But more than material things, what’s most
important for la Saint-Valentin is simply
to be with the one you love ! which brings
us to :
La soirée en amoureux
French language doesn’t really have a word
for “a date”.
But for the first few dates, you could use un
rendez-vous galant, colloquially un rencard
; on its own un rendez-vous can be use for
a date too, but also for an interview, an
appointment or a simple meeting with someone.
Once you’re really in a relationship, un
rencard becomes une soirée en amoureux or
une soirée en tête à tête, just the two
of you.
In France we like to talk over dinner more
than giving gifts, so choose a good restaurant
and enjoy your evening !
You can use the occasion to finally check
out this restaurant gastronomique, or maybe
un restaurant étoilé, a restaurant with
stars...
Only high quality restaurant gets these stars
from le Guide Michelin, so les étoiles Michelin
are a sign of good cuisine to spend a lovely dinner and make new memories with your significant other !
If you like to use an app to make all sorts of
decisions, I recommend La Fourchette, an online
guide of restaurants for reservations ; they
also offer discounts that can let you afford
a higher quality restaurant for the night.
For la Saint-Valentin you could also spend
a romantic evening sight-seeing, or going
out for une sortie culturelle , un spectacle
: go watch une pièce de théâtre, a play,
un ballet, un opéra… Check out your local guide, like l’Officiel
des Spectacles or Le Pariscope.
And of course, you could also go to le cinéma,
watch a movie, voir un film ...
Now of course you don’t actually have to
cuddle against someone to spend a good evening
watching movies, actually. And it’s fine !
Feel free to gather your friends and go out
for a drink, or stay in and finish your best
book with a cup of tea ; Valentine’s day
can have the meaning you want, have fun any way !
Et toi ? Any idea of a romantic evening in France to recommend in the community?
Do you have a romantic French movie or song that you love? One that's perfect for Valentine's Day?
Share your experience (in French if you dare!)
in the comments below.
We can all learn from your story.
The comment section is the best place to start
discussions and ask questions!
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Merci !
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Merci for watching Comme une Française TV,
sound French, even to the French.
Allez, salut !
