Second Best

We had French class today and Val kicked my butt as usual.

We meet once a week with a French professor for private lessons, just the two of us.  I wasn’t sure if this would be a good idea, because Val has been studying French for, oh, 15 years longer than me.  But I think she wanted it this way because the class is graded on a curve.  She’s definitely looking to be valedictorian.

Sometimes the classes are at my level but usually they end up way over my head.  Today was a good example.

We were working on the difference between “should” and “must” in French.  It’s a little tricky because they both start with the same word devoir and the meaning changes depending on how you conjugate it.

I was doing ok until Val decided to hit the gas pedal and shift into hyperspace.  The next thing I knew she and the professor were discussing the subtle differences between the imparfait verb form and the conditionnel passé première forme (I am not making this up).   

As best I could tell, the proper conjugation has to do with whether there is “a sense of regret” in the use of the verb.  In other words, I had no idea what they were talking about.

I did note that Val looked a little sad during the discussion of “sense of regret”.  She was probably reflecting on 25 years of marriage.

Val and the professor usually go way over my head at least once each class.  And they are sneaky about it, because they start on something my speed and then zip ahead.  It’s like we’re doing basic math one minute and the next thing I know they are on quantum mechanics or string theory or something like that.

What’s next -  the Higgs Boson?

KVS