How embarassing!

I've embarked on a rather complex project of "Getting things done" for 2008, much of which revolves around trying to better schedule my time using a couple of handy To-Do Linux apps where I can track what needs doing each day. One of my daily jobs is to spend at least five minutes doing something involving learning better French, be it reading & posting to French forums, studying my language books, etc. My lesson for today was to notice, with some horror, that there was a distinct difference between à and a, which I've been using interchangeably for around six years now, because I just couldn't remember which was which.

à = to, at

a = has

Elle a un chat. Nous allons à Nantes. This means that for years, my writing has been full of "She to the cat. We go has Nantes. I to a pipe new, from my friend has Paris." This is compounded by my lack of distinction between other similar accented words, like là (there) and la (the, her)... J'ai la pipe. Elle est là bas. As compared to six years of "I have there pipe. There pipe, there wolf, there castle. The castle is the. We are going her."

It's really no wonder my French friends think I'm insane! :D