F1M3IN

3.00 La culture

French is spoken in France and also Québec, Canada but did you know it is spoken in many countries of ? French speaking Africa represents an area larger than the United States. French is spoken by some 115 million Africans in 18 African countries. Africa is the with the most French speakers

3.01 Le verbe être: The verb to be

This is the most verb used in the French language. It is the infinitive for the verb to be (is, am , are, was, were, be, being, been)

In English the infinitive has the word in front of it. In French the infinitive is the verb as it appears in the dictionary.

Je suis (I am)Tu es (You are)Il, elle, on est (He/She is)Nous, mon ami et moi sommes (We are)Vous, ton ami et toi Êtes (‘You are’ in the

plural form or when

addressing parents, boss, teacher, anyone you do not know or higher in the hierarchy)

Ils, elles, Sophie et Laurent

sont (They are)

Imperative (command form- telling people what to do)

Sois! Sois poli!Soyons! Soyons tranquil!Soyez! Soyez généreux!

1.When you want to describe a person or describe where something is, use être!Comment est-elle? Elle grande!Où sont les photos? Elles sont la table

2.To tell people what to do, use sois, soyons, soyez!

Soyons ou ne soyons pas!

Sois poli!Soyons !Ne soyez timides!

3.The final t in est and sont are pronounced in front of a vowel (otherwise they are silent). The final consonants may also be pronounced in front of a vowel. Il est adorable.Elles sont aimables.

The s in es and est is almost never pronounced.

Giving commands:

Use sois with a person you would address as “tu”.

Use soyons for those you would address as “nous”.

Use soyez for those you would address as “vous”.

3.02 Le pluriel/ the plural

In French you usually can’t tell if the noun is plural or singular since the final “s” is not pronounced. Stylo/stylos

Since both sound the , the article, not the noun, tells you weather it is singular or plural. This is just the opposite of English.

Study this chart to learn the plural forms of the articles and some nouns we have studied. When you speak, pronounce the s in “les” or “des” like a “z” before words that begin with a vowel.

definite article indefinite articleplural masculine les

les examensdes livresdes

plural feminine lesles affiches

des chaisesdes

You hear liaison (linking) between the "les" or "des" and the next word when it begins with a vowel sound.When you write, you will add an "s" to the noun to make it plural:Example: la maison = les maisonsKeep in mind that you generally do not this change.

Some nouns form their plurals .

Singular nouns ending in "eau" and "x": le bureau = les bureaux

Those ending in "al" change the "al" to "aux": l'hôpital = les hôpitaux

Those ending in "s" do not change: le mois = les mois

French has many nouns that are made up of more than one word, such as, "la salle de classe." Look at how their plural is formed.

la salle de classe = les salles de

la feuille de papier = les de papier

When you are identifying things, use "ce sont" before plural nouns.

C'est un crayon. = Ce des crayons. C'est la cassette de Laurie. = Ce sont cassettes de

Laurie.

3.03 Les Questions; les mots interrogatif

In English we use all kinds of questions every day. Here are some examples of different kinds of questions.

Are you going to town? In this question, you are expecting a simple yes or no answer.

You're going to town, aren't you? In this question, you think you know the answer already, but you are asking for confirmation or agreement.

Why are you going to town? In this question, you are asking for specific information. These are the who-what-when-where-why questions in English.

These same kinds of questions exist in French.

Question Expected resultsIntonation Vous êtes en

ville?Raise the pitch of your voice at the end of your sentence.

Oui/Non

Est-ce que (est-ce qu’)

Est-ce que vous êtes en ville?Est-ce qu’Anne est en ville?

Oui/Non

n’est ce pas Vous êtes en ville, n’est ce pas?Vous n’êtes pas en ville, n’est ce pas?

(Agreement) Oui/Non

question words +est-ce que

Qui est en ville?Où est-ce qu’ils sont?

Answer the specific question based on the interrogative word used.

When you are speaking and you want to ask a question, you can change a statement to a question by raising the of you voice on the last of the sentence:

Tu es à l'école?

Another way to ask a question is to put "est-ce que" in front of a statement:

Est-ce que tu es à la banque?

If the statement begins with a vowel sound, use "est-ce qu'":

Est-ce qu'elle est à la banque?If you want someone only to agree with you on an affirmative statement, use "n'est-ce pas" at the end of the statement:Tu es à la banque, n'est-ce pas? (Oui, ... )

Guy est à la banque, n'est-ce pas? (Non, ... )

When you want to know more than yes or no, use specific question for the kind of information that you need.

Qui means " ?" means "where?"

If people are mentioned by name, "où" is often used without "est-ce que":

Où est-ce que tu vas? Où va Marie?

La Négation

We have already learned some negative expressions, such as:

Ça va?Non, ça ne va pas.

Tu aimes le thé?Non, je n'aime pas le thé.

Look at how negative sentences are formed in French:

Je suis  =Je ne suis pas en ville.Nous ne sommes pas en ville. Imperative  =Ne sois pas en ville!Ne soyez pas en ville!Ne soyons pas en ville!

To make a French sentence negative, put "ne" in of the verb and "pas" it. "Ne" becomes "n'" before a word beginning with a or a vowel sound like the letter h which is always silent in French.

Example: Je n'aime pas chanter.

When you want to tell someone not to do something, put "ne" in front of the command form and "pas" after it.

Example: Ne va pas chez Marc!

"Pas" can be used alone in short statements.

Ça va?Pas mal.

Tu aimes le café?Pas beaucoup.

On va à la piscine aujourd'hui?Pas aujourd'hui.

3.04 La famille

These words relate to the people in your family.

French EnglishC’est mon grand-père

This is my grand motherCe sont mes grand-parents

These are my parentsC’est mon père

This is my motherC’est mon frère

I am my brother’s sisterC’est moi

This is my uncle’s family.

Voilà mon cousinHere is my cousin (girl)

Voilà mon oncleHere is my aunt

C’est mon filsI am his father

Luc, je suis ton père Luke, I am your father lolC’est ma fille

I am her mother

3.05 Les adjectifs

French EnglishIl est intelligent

He is disagreeableIl est sympathique (sympa)

She is sincereIl est égoïste

He is a snobElle est drôle

They are sadElle est timide

He is poorIl est riche

He is stupidIl est sévère.

Darth est mon père?

She is prettyIl est joli/Il est beau

He is politeCe sont des voisins

They are classmates.

Ce sont des copainsThis is an adorable dog.

C’est un chat adorable.These are adorable cats.

French EnglishComment est ton ami?

Niceses (his) (Plural)

adorablevos

their (plural)pas du tout

politechez toi

er…, uh….formidable

don’t beBon!

Why not?Joli, jolie

Why?parce que

pal/friendau contraire

classmate

The French language is very musical because there are no stress marks on the words. All the syllables are pronounced at the same volume. All the words flow together and this is the reason why people say French is musical. Instead of stressed syllables, French sentences are divided into goups: noun groups, verb groups, and preposition groups. The last syllable of each group is pronounced at a higher pitch and the final syllable is pronounced at a lower pitch.

3.06 Les Adjectifs encore

Adjectives are words that describe . In English we use adjectives like this:

Marc is polite, Sophie is polite, Marc and Peter are polite, Sophie and Marie are polite.

It does not matter who we are describing. We do not make a to “polite” according to who we are describing. In French , adjectives agree with what they are describing in number (singular and plural) and gender (masculine or feminine). It helps to think of it as having to “ ” what it is describing.

If you go back to the original sentences:

Marc is polite, Sophie is polite, Marc and Peter are polite, Sophie and Marie are polite.

Marc est poli (masc sing), Sophie est polie (fem sing), Marc et Pierre sont polis (masc plur), Sophie et Marie sont polies (fem plur)

Il est riche. Elle est riche.

You just learned that the feminine forms of adjectives end in an –e and the plural forms of adjectives end in an –s. Why in the example above are we describing both a male and a female as "riche?"

Many already end in an e in the masculine form. So for the feminine form we do not need to think about adding an –e because it ends in an e. So these

adjectives are in the masculine and feminine forms. Let's look at the adjectives you have learned.

Masculine FeminineSingular hypocrite, riche,

désagréable, sincère, égoïste, drôle, triste, timide, pauvre, bête, sévère, adorable, aimable, sympatique intelligent, poli, joli beau

hypocrite, riche, désagréable, sincère, égoïste, drôle, triste, timide, pauvre, bête, sévère, adorable, aimable, sympatique intelligente, polie, jolie belle

Pural hypocrites, riches, désagréables, sincères, égoïstes, drôles, tristes, timides, pauvres, bêtes, sévères, adorables, aimables, sympatiques intelligents, polis, jolis beaux

hypocrites, riches, désagréables, sincères, égoïstes, drôles, tristes, timides, pauvres, bêtes, sévères, adorables, aimables, sympatiques intelligentes, polies, jolies

belles

The adjectives in black have no difference in spelling between masculine and feminine forms. They already end in e in the masculine forms. The words in red add an –e for the feminine and the word in green is irregular and does not the rule. We need to memorize these spellings.

There are also a few more we have studied that do not follow the of agreement. They are in all forms:

Masculine feminineSingular sympa

supersnob

sympasupersnob

Plural sympasupersnob

sympasupersnob

In French the adjective comes the noun the describe except if the belongs to the acronym BANGS (then the adjective comes before the noun).

Each letter of the acronym represents a category of adjectives.

B: adjectives of beauty (beau or belle)

A: adjectives of age (vieux, jeune)

N: adjectives of ordinal numbers (premier= 1st/deuxième= 2nd/ troisième= 3rd)

G: adjectives of greatness (bon-mauvais)

S: adjectives of size (grand-petit)