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Understanding Spoken French & Basic Grammar

(text Lesson)

Did you know there's a special bonus offer for 6 Day Course subscribers?

Check it out: http://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/6day_special.php

Bonjour and welcome back for Day 2 of the Rocket French 6 Day course!

This is the second lesson in your Rocket French course. The mission today is to help you make

sense of the grammar and vocabulary you learned in the previous audio lesson.

Remember, you can always revisit the first lesson by using the link at the very bottom ofthis page!

The complete Rocket French package includes a variety of materials to supplement each

audio lesson, including MegaVocab, MegaAudio, MegaVerbs and lots more. But, for now, this part of

the course will suffice to fill in the gaps between the audio lessons.

Heres the conversation that you learned in the last lesson:

Paul Salut Claire.

Claire Salut, Paul. Comment a va?Paul Bien merci, et toi?

Claire Je vais trs bien.

his is nuts and bolts stuff for sure - but that's all the more reason to get it straight from the start. Say

it over and over again, and notice how the pronunciation you heard in the last lesson matches up with

the French letters you see here. You'll notice also how they don't necessarily match up in the same

way you would expect English letters to sound.

Now, have a look at the same conversation through familiar eyes...

English Translation

Paul Hi Claire.

Claire Hi Paul. How's it going?

Paul Good thanks, and you?

Claire I'm going very well.

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Now it's time for a quick and painless detour into the world of grammar. Some of this stuff may not be

what you've been most looking forward to, but we need to come to terms with a few simple

grammatical concepts before you blossom into a fully fledged French speaker. And we're going to start

with articles. After all, where would we all be without the word THE!

Making things really clear with Articles!

Articles are the little words that make language really clear: The, A, Some, Several, Of, Of

the and Any.

As you work through this Lesson, you will inevitably come across new words and new expressions. You

may feel that youre having to deal with a lot of new material and unpredictable rules. Not all of it will

make sense at first!

But if we dissect the rules too much, you will find yourself caught up by the technical side of the

language. Rather, allow yourself the benefit of enjoying the experience even when you have questions

left un-answered... for the time being! You will see that by the time you reach the end of this Lesson,

the exercises and activities will clarify and reinforce your progress.

Define it .

In English the word the is what we call a definite article. That is because the word the points to a

very specific thing. For example, you may tell someone, I want the mug assuming that they will

bring you the mug you have in mind.

Or not!

If you tell them, I want a mug, you will get whichever mug they choose to hand you! That is

because the words a or an or some are indefinite articles and point to a general group of items,

things, people or places.

Making Things Specific (Definite) in French

In French, the short defining word before the noun is really part of the noun. For instance, le

musicien and la musicienne for musician.

In French, the is not just one word. Rather there are a total of 4 versions of the, depending on the

gender and quantity of the noun to which you are referring.

The French word for the, if followed by a masculine noun, is Le. If followed by a feminine noun, it

is La, and when followed by any noun in the plural, it is Les. For example, if there is one (male)

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cat, we say Le chat. If there are two or more cats, we say Les chats. If there is one woman, we

say La femme. If there are two or more women, we say Les femmes.

Le chat Les chats

Any singular noun beginning with a vowel or an h is always preceded by an apostrophe after the

definite article: L - for example, Lhomme, Lhiver, Lescalier. The apostrophe is inserted in

between the article and the noun. This is because two vowel sounds in French cannot follow from one

word to another.

In summary:

The + masculine noun = le

The + feminine noun = la

The + any noun beginning with a vowel = l

The + any plural noun = les

Le garon

The boy

Les garons

The boys

La fille

The girl

Les filles

The girls

Linvit

The guest (a man)

Les invits

The guests

Lenfant

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The child

Les enfants

The children

Le livre

The book

Les livres

The books

La pomme

The apple

Les pommes

The apples

La librairie

The bookstoreLes librairies

The bookstores

Le jeu

The game

Les jeux

The games

Lhtel

The hotel

Les htels

The hotels

Making Things General (Indefinite) in French

The previous section referred to making things specific using the in French, in the form of Le,

La, Les and L. In this section, we talk about the ways to make things general, or indefinite. In

French, there are 3 ways of using the indefinite articles a, an, some or several.

A orAn + masculine noun = unA orAn + feminine noun = une

Some or Several+ any plural noun = des

Une fleur

A flower

Des fleurs

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Some flowers

Une copine

A friend (a woman)

Des copines

Several friends (women)

Un crayon

A pencil

Des crayons

Several pencils

When Indefinite and Definite Work Together in French

"Some" and "several" in French are interchangeable with "any" and "of the." We refer to words like"some"and "several"as articles. These articles help to define words and quantities, and just like

everything else in French, they have to follow gender rules.

This means that almost everything new you learn in French will be subject to the following questions:

Is it a female group of words?

Is it a male group of words?

Is it singular or plural?

Does it begin with a vowel?

A Versatile Word: De

The next group of defining words, of the, of, some, several, or any have lots of different

uses, and once again, they change according to whether the thing or things you are talking about are

masculine or feminine, singular or plural. The root word de is very versatile indeed , and generally

changes form as follows to mean of and of the.

ofor of the + masculine noun = de or du

ofor of the + feminine noun = de la

ofor of the + any noun starting with a vowel = d or de l

ofor of the + any plural noun = des

Sounds in Pronunciation

Before we carry on, its worth discussing some points of pronunciation, because the word de can be

a slippery one and tends to change its own sound and the sound of surrounding words when they all

get together. When speaking French, words must be linked to one another by sound so that they

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Marie-Claire

P.S. Don't forget to check out my special bonus offer only available for 6 Day Course

subscribers:

http://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/6day_special.php

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