Parler

He was speaking French on the phone when we arrived.
Il parlait français sur le téléphone quand nous sommes arrivés.
I hope the above is correct. Please help me.

L'anglais se parler partout.
English is spoken everywhere. [ Correct]

On parler anglais partout.
Does the above mean 'English is spoken everywhere' ?

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 2, 2009 at 10:45pm

Hello Crack1,

Il parlait français sur le téléphone quand nous sommes arrivés
C'est quasiment bon. Simplement, on ne dit pas "parler sur le téléphone", mais "parler au téléphone".

L'anglais se parler partout.
L'anglais est parlé partout

On parler anglais partout
On parle anglais partout

You need to conjugate the verb.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 2, 2009 at 10:56pm

So to write ' L'anglais se parler ... is not correct.
What is the meaning of 'se parler' ?

I missed the conjugation. I was not careful.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 2, 2009 at 11:59pm

"Se parler" isn't a real reflexive verb, it would mean "to talk to oneself". Even then, we would rather say "parler à soi-même".

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 3, 2009 at 12:08am

In English I talked to Frank on the phone.
We don't say in the phone or by the phone.

In French it should be 'parler au téléphone'.
I didn't know this.
How about 'parler par téléphoné'?

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 3, 2009 at 8:29am

"parler par téléphoné" doesn't work either :)

Parler au téléphone
Être au téléphone
Être au téléphone avec quelqu'un

If you really want to say "by the phone", "through the phone", you can say: "parler via un téléphone". But it sounds weird.