FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

A glimpse of our "home sweet home": the front porch.

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vendre (von-dre) verb
  to sell

Proverb:
Ce n'est pas acheter qui instruit, mais vendre. It is not buying that educates, but selling.

                                                                        
I watched my husband carry a can of blood red paint over to the kitchen table. Be careful not to spill, I thought, bridling my tongue before the words tumbled out.

I stared as he set down the hand painted board which read "à LOUER," for RENT. The upside, I told myself, was that I'll no longer panic about renting out our home each summer.

I glared at Jean-Marc as he flipped over the board and began to stencil in seven life-altering letters.

I noticed how, like the board, I felt those letters carving into me.

"Be careful not to paint out of the lines!" I snapped, before storming out to my car, on my way to do a few errands.

Returning to our nest an hour later, I saw the hand painted sign strung across the front gate and those blood red letters that read like a menacing lab report. I blinked my eyes but, upon opening them, the words hadn't budged:
"A VENDRE."*

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Post note:  This past summer, I swore to my own mother that I would drop an anchor into this land for good. "Never sell your home!" she had cautioned. But, as the French say, "On ne sait jamais ce que demain sera" ("We just don't know what tomorrow holds"). For us, it may be a move north, to new stomping grounds (or "to stomp grapes"). In the meantime, we need to sell our cozy nest. If you, or someone you know is in the market for a 3 bedroom home + guesthouse (one hour from Nice & Aix-en-Provence) please contact Jean-Marc at [email protected].

Read all about our house, the backdrop for so many bucolic scenes, in my book "Words in a French Life". If you already have the book, flip to the chapter "Aiguille" where you'll find a story to accompany today's photo.

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References: à vendre = for sale

Listen to French:
Hear Jean-Marc recite today's quote: Download vendre.wav
Ce n'est pas acheter qui instruit, mais vendre.

Verb conjugation: vendre
je vends, tu vends, il/elle vend, nous vendons, vous vendez, ils/elles vendent; past participle: vendu
The Ultimate French Verb Review and Practice

French Expressions:
  maison à vendre = house for sale
  vendre la mêche = to let the cat out of the bag
  se vendre comme des petits pains = to sell like hotcakes
  vendre aux enchères = to sell at auction
  vendre en gros = to sell wholesale
  vendre en vrac = to sell in bulk

In Gifts:
Montblanc Ballpoint Pen

L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream

Heelys Skate Shoes (In Monte Carlo, Jean-Marc and I watched a few pint-sized tourists whiz through the principality in these shoe skates!)

Yellow pull wagon/chariot : Lovingly designed in France by Vilac.