IGCSEGRAMMAR NOTES

Contents

1. Nouns – p22. Articles – p43. Adjectives – p64. Adverbs – p135. Pronouns – p186. Prepositions – p287. Conjunctions – p308. Numbers, dates & times – p309. Quantities – p3210. Verbs – p3311. Present tense – p3712. Reflexives verbs – p4013. Impersonal verbs – p4214. Imperative – p4315. Conditional – p4316. Present participle – p4417. Negatives – p4418. Passive – p4719. Perfect – p4720. Imperfect – p4921. Future – p5122. Pluperfect – p5323. Subjunctive – p5324. Interrogatives - 54

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1.NOUNS

1.1 Masculine and feminine

A noun is the name of someone or something or the word for a thing (eg a box, a pencil, a laughter). All nouns in French are either masculine or feminine (this is called their gender).Masculine singular feminine singularLe garcon la filleUn village une villeL’appartement l’épicerie

Nouns which refer to people often have a special feminine form. Most follow one of these patterns:

masculine FeminineAdd -e Un ami Une amie

-er -> ère Un ouvrier Une ouvrière-eur -> -

euseUn vendeur Une vendeuse

-eur -> -rice

Un instituteur Une institutrice

-en -> -enne

Un lycéen Une lycénne

Stay same Un touristeUn élèveUn enfant

Un touristeUn élèveUn enfant

No pattern Un copainUn roi

Une copineUne reine

1.2 Is it masculine or feminine?

Sometimes the ending of a word can give you a clue as to whether it’s masculine or feminine. Here are some guidelines:

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1.3 Singular and plural Nouns can also be singular (referring to just one thing or person) or plural (referring to more than one thing or person)Une chambre des chambres

In many cases, it is easy to use and recognise plural nouns because the last letter is an –s. (remember that an –s on the end of a French word is often silent)Un livre des livres

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endingsnormallyfeminine

exceptions

-ade-ance-ation-ée-erie-ette-que-rice-sse-ure

Un lycée

Un squeletteLe plastiqueLe dentifrice

endingsnormallymasculine

exceptions

-age-aire-é-eau-eur-ier-in-ing-isme-ment-o

Une image

L’eau

La fin

La météo

Some common exceptions:- most nouns which end in –eau or –eu add an –x:un château des châteauxun jeu des jeux- some nouns which end in –ou add an –s in the plural,

other add an –xun trou des trousun chou des choux- most nouns which end in –al change this to –aux in the

pluralun animal des animaux- nouns which already end in –s, -x or –z don’t change in

the pluralun repas des repasle prix les prix- a few nouns don’t follow any clear patternun oeil des yeux

2.ARTICLES

2.1 Definite articles (le, la, les)

The the definite article is the word for “the” which appears before a noun. It is often left out in English, but it must not be left out in French (except in a very few cases).

masculine

Singularmasculine

Before a vowel

Plural(all forms)

Le village

La ville

L’épicerie

Les touristes

Main uses:- to refer to a particular thing or person, in the same way as we use “the” in English:

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Voici l’hôtel où nous sommes descendusThere’s the hotel where we stayed

- to make general statements about likes and dislikes:J’aime les pommes mais je n’aime pas les prunesI like apples but I don’t like plums

- to refer to things as a whole, e.g. dogs:Les chiens me font peurI am afraid of dogs

- with titles: Le Président de la France, la Reine Elizabeth

- with parts of the body:Il s’est brossé les dents He brushed his teethElle a mal à la tête She has a headache

- with days of the week to give an idea of “every”:je joue au tennis le samedi matinI play tennis on Saturday mornings

- with different times of the day to mean “in” or “during”:Le matin, j’ai cours de 9 heures jusqu’à midi et demiIn the morning, I have lessons from 9 o’clock until

12.30- with prices, to refer to a specific quantity:

C’est 2 euros la pièce They’re 2 euros each

2.2 Indefinite articles (un, une, des)

These are words for “a”, “an” or “some” in FrenchSingular

Masculine feminine

Plural(all forms)

Un appartement une maison

Des appartementsDes maisons

No article is used in French when describing a person’s occupation:Elle est dentiste She is a dentistIl est employé de bureau He works in an office

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Note: if there is an adjective before the noun, des changes to de:On a vu de beaux châteaux au Pays de GallesWe saw some fine castles in Wales

2.3 Partitive articles (some, any)

The word for “some” or “any” changes according to the noun it is used with:

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

BeforeA vowel

Plural(all forms)

du pain de la viande

de l’eau

des poires

Use de (d’) instead of du/de la/de l’/des in the following cases:- after a negative (ne…pas, ne…plus, ne…jamais, etc)

je n’ai pas d’argent I haven’t got any moneyil n’y a plus de legumes There are no veg left

- after expressions of quantity:Un kilo de poires a kilo of pears

But not with the verb être or after ne…que:Ce n’est pas du sucre, c’est du sel It’s not sugar,

it’s saltIl ne reste que du café there’s only coffee left

3.ADJECTIVES

3.1. Agreement

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Adjectives, or describing words (eg tall, important) tell you more about a noun. In French, adjectives are masculine, feminine, singular or plural to agree with the noun.Look at the patterns in the tables below to see how adjectives agree.

Sing masc

Sing fem

Plural masc

Plural fem

grand grande

grands grandes

A lot of adjectives follow the above pattern

Ajectives which end in –u, -I, or –é change in spelling, but sound the same

bleuJolifatigué

bleueJoliefatiguée

bleusJolisfatigués

bleuesJoliesfatiguées

Adjectives which already end in –e (with no accent) have no different feminine form:

jaune jaune jaunes jaunes

Ajectives which already end in –s have no different masculine plural form:

français française français françaises

Adjectives which end in –er follow this pattern:

cher chere chèrs chères

Adjectives which end in –eux follow this pattern:

délicieux délicieuse délicieux délicieuses

Some adjectives double the last letter before adding an –e for the feminine form:

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Grosbon

Grossebonne

Grosbons

Grossesbonnes

3.2 irregular adjectives

Many common adjectives are irregular, and you need to learn each one separately. Here are some you have already met:

blanclongvieux (vieil)nouveau (nouvel)beau (bel)

blanchelonguevieillenouvellebelle

blancslongsvieuxnouveauxbeaux

blancheslonguesvieillesnouvellesbelles

Vieil, nouvel, bel are used before masculine nouns which begin with a vowel.A few adjectives are invariable (inv.) and do not change at all:

marronbleu marinevert foncégris clair

marronbleu marinevert foncégris clair

marronbleu marinevert foncégris clair

marronbleu marinevert foncégris clair

3.3 position of adjectivesAdjectives normally follow the nounJ’ai vu un film très intéressant à la téléRegarde cette jupe noireSome common adjectives go before the noun e.g. grand, petit, bon, mauvais, beau, jeune, vieux, joli, gros, premier, court, long, haut

C’est un petit garconIl prend le premier train pour Paris

Adjectives of colour and nationality follow the nounSome adjectives change their meaning according to their positionUn livre ancien an old book

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Un ancien élève a former pupilUne voiture chère an expensive carChers amis dear friendsAujourd’hui même this very dayLa même chose the same thingDes mains propres clean handsDe mes propres yeux with my own eyes

3.4 Common adjectives

- Personalityamical friendlyamusant amusingancient old / formeranxieux anxiousbête stupidbruyant noisycontent pleaseddoux mild, gentlegénial great, fantasticgentil kindheureux happyinquiet worried, anxiousmalheureux unhappyméchant nasty, spitefulparesseux lazyplein de vie livelysage well-behaved, wisesympa nicetimide shytout seul alonetriste sadvif lively

- buildings & placesaffreux awful, uglyagréable pleasantcalme quiet, peacefulcher expensivecomposé de made up ofconfortable

comfortabledésagréable

unpleasanténorme enormousfermé closedimportant important, largeindividuel individuallong longmagnifique wonderfulmerveilleux

marvellousminuscule tinymoche rotten, uglymoderne modernneuf brand newnouveau newouvert openpittoresque

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picturesqueprochain nextpropre clean / ownrond roundsale dirtytranquille peaceful, calmtypique typicalvarié varied

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- opinionsbarbant boringdifficile difficultdur hardennuyeux boringexcellent excellentfacile easyfaible weakfaux wrong, falsefavori favouriteformidable great, terrificfort strongfréquent frequentgénéral generalhabituel habitualimpossible impossibleintéressant

interestingjuste fairnécessaire necessarynormal normalpréféré preferred, favouritevrai true

- generalautre otherbon goodcassé brokendernier lastenrichissant enrichingévident obviousléger lightlent slowlourd heavymauvais badmême sameplein fullplusieurs severalpossible possibleprécieux preciousprobable probablerécent recentsain et sauf safe and soundseul alonesimple simplespécial specialsplendide splendidsuivant followingsûr certain terrible terribletout allurgent urgentvide empty

3.5 Adjectives – comparatives and superlatives a. comparisonsTo compare one person or thing with another, you use plus (more), moins (less) or aussi (as) before the adjective, followed by que (than/as):

plus richer than

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Il est moins riche que mon père not as rich as

aussi as rich as

Remember to make the adjective agree in the usual way:Mattéo est plus agé que SarahSarah est plus agée qu’ AdamLucas et Noémie sont plus agés que Jordan

Notice these special forms:Bon -> meilleur (better)Mauvais -> pire (worse)

Ce livre est meilleur que l’autre Cet article est pire que l’autre

You can also use ne…pas aussi (not as):Il n’est pas aussi fort que son frèreHe’s not as strong as his brother

b. The superlativeYou use the superlative when you want to say something is the best, the biggest, the most expensive, etc.La tour Eiffel est le plus célèbre monument de ParisThe Eiffel tower is the most famous monument in ParisParis est la plus belle ville du mondeParis is the most beautiful city in the worldLes TGV sont les trains français les plus rapidesThe TGV are the fastest French trains

Notice that: -you use le plus, la plus, les plus and the correct form of the adjective, depending on whether you are describing something which is masculine, feminine or plural.-if the adjective normally goes after the noun, then the superlative also follows the noun:(C’est un monument moderne)C’est le monument le plus moderne de ParisIt’s the most modern monument in Paris-if the adjective normally goes before the noun, then the superlative can go before the noun:

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(c’est un haut monument)C’est le plus haut monument de ParisIt’s the tallest monument in Paris

-you usually use le/la/les plus (meaning “the most”) but you can also use le/la/les moins (meaning “the least”):J’ai acheté ce gateau parce que c’était le moins cherI bought this cake because it was the least expensive

Here are some useful expressions:Le moins cher the least expensiveLe plus cher the most expensiveLe plus petit the smallestLe plus grand the biggestLe meilleur the bestLe plus mauvais the worstLe pire the worstLe moindre the leastIl n’y a pas la moindre chance there’s not the slightest chance

3.6 Adjectives – demonstratives & indefinite - ce, cet, cette, ces

Singularmasculine

Singular before a vowel (masc. only)

feminine

Plural (all forms)

Ce chapeau

Cet anorak Cette jupe

Ces chaussures

Ce can mean either “this” or “that”. Ces can mean either “these” or “those”. To make it clearer which you mean, you can also add –ci and –la to distinguish between this object and that object:Est-ce que tu préfères ce pull-ci ou ce pull-là?

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Do you prefer this pullover or that pullover?Je vais acheter cette robe-làI’m going to buy that dress

- indefinite adjectives and pronounsautre othercertain certain, somechacun each onechaque eachquelque(s) fewChaque personne a une carte d’identitéEvery person has an identity cardChacun est venuEach (person) came

- toutsingular plural

masculine

feminine

masculine

feminine

tout toute tous toutes

Tout meaning “all”, “the whole” or “every” is usually used as an adjective and agrees with the noun that follows:On a mangé tout le pain We’ve eaten all the breadOn va en France tous les ansWe go to France every year

Tout meaning “all” or “everything” can sometimes be used as a pronoun and then doesn’t change form:On a tout vu We’ve seen everythingTout est bien qui finit bien All’s well that ends well

Here are some useful expressionsà tout prix at all costsTous (toutes)les deux both of themTout à coup suddenlyTout à fait absolutelyTout de suite straightaway, immediatelyTout le monde everyone

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3.7 Adjectives – possessives

singular Plural (all forms)

masculine

feminine

Before a vowel

MyYourHis/her/itsOurYourtheir

montonsonnotrevotreleur

matasanotrevotreleur

montonsonnotrevotreleur

mestessesnosvosleurs

These words show who something or somebody belongs to. They agree with the noun that follows them, NOT the person.This means that son, sa, ses can mean “his”, “her” or “its”. The meaning is usually clear from the context

Paul mange son déjeuner Paul eats his lunchMarie mange son déjeuner Marie eats her lunchLe chien mange son déjeuner the dog eats its lunch

Before a feminine noun beginning with a vowel, you use mon, ton or son:

Mon amie s’appelle NicoleOù habite ton amie?Son école est fermée aujourd’hui.

4. ADVERBS

- adverbs usually tell you how, when or where something happened, or how often something is done.

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Many adverbs in English end in –ly, e.g. quietly. Similarly, many adverbs in French end in –ment, e.g. doucement.To form an adverb in French you can often add –ment to the feminine singular of the adjective:

Masculinesungular

Feminine singular

Adverb

malheureux

malheureuse

+ ment

malheureusement

lent lente + ment

lentement

If a masculine singular adjective ends in a vowel, just add –ment:vrai + ment vraiment (= really, truly)

If a masculine singular adjective ends in –ent, change to –emment:évident évidemment (=obviously)

Notice these special forms:Bien (well) mieux (better)Mal (badly)pire (worse)Ca va mieux aujourd’hui? |Are you feeling better today?Non, je me sens encore pire No, I feel even worse - quantifiers:

These are useful words which add more intensity to meaning

à peine hardlyassez quite, ratherbeaucoup muchpas beaucoup not much

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(un) peu (a) littletout à fait completely, quitetrès verytrop toovraiment really

Here are some examples in use:

Elle est assez grande She is quite tallLa maison est beaucoup plus grande que l’autreThe house is much bigger than the other one

Il reste un peu de chocolat there is a bit of chocolate leftCe n’est pas beaucoup plus loin It’s not much furtherTu as tout à fait raison you are absolutely rightIl y a peu de place there’s little roomC’est trop cher it’s too expensiveC’etait vraiment excellent it was really excellent

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4.1 Common adverbs

Alors thenAssez de enough ofAussi also, as well, tooBientôt soonEn attendant

meanwhileEn effet indeedEn fait in factEncore again, still, yetEnfin at last, finallyEnsemble togetherFranchement franklyGénéralement

generallyHeureusement

fortunatelyLoin (de) far (from)Maintenant nowMalheureusement

unfortunatelyNormalement

normally, usuallyPar exemple for examplePas du tout not at allPeut-être perhaps, maybePlutôt ratherPuis thenQuelquefois

sometimesToujours alwaysTout de suite at onceTout près quite

adverbs of places

A l’arrière at the backA l’avantat the frontA droite on the rightA gauche on the leftAilleurs elsewhereDe chaque côté on each sideDe l’autre côté on the other sideDehors outsideEn haut upstairsIci hereLà (-bas)(over) thereLà-haut up therePar terreon the ground, on the floorPartout everywhereProche nearby, closeTout droit straight onVoici here is, here you areVoilà there is, there you are

-adverbs of manner

A la fois at the same timeA la hâte in a hurryA toute vitesse at top speedAussitôt straight awayBrièvement brieflyLentement slowly

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near, very nearVite quickly, fastVraiment really

Rapidement quicklySoudain

suddenlyTout a coup

suddenly

adverbs of time

A l’heure on timeA partir de fromActuellement at the moment, currentlyAu début de at the start ofContinuellement continuallyD’abord first, first of allDe bonne heure earlyDéjà alreadyD’habitude usuallyDe nouveau againDe temps en temps from time to timeEn avance early, beforehandEn même temps at the same timeEn retard lateEncore une fois once moreEnsuite afterwards, next, thenEnviron about, roughlyFinalement finally

adverbs of time – days and dates

L’année dernière last yearL’année prochaine next yearAprès-demain after tomorrowAujourd’hui todayAuparavant previouslyAutrefois in the pastAvant-hier the day before yesterdayDemain tomorrowDernièrement recentlyEn ce moment nowHier (soir) yesterday (evening)Il y a deux jours two days agoLe lendemain next dayLe lundi on MondaysRécemment recentlyLa semaine dernière last weekLa semaine prochaine next weekTous les jours every

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Fréquemmentfrequently

Immédiatement immediatelyLongtemps for a long timeParfois sometimes(plus) tard late(r)Tôt early

day

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-adverbs of degree

A peine hardlyAbsolument absolutelyAu moins at leastCompletement

completelyEgalement equally, evenlyEn general generallyEnormenent

enormouslyEnvers towards (emotion)Environ aboutExactement exactly, preciselyExtremement

extremelyPrecisement precisely, clearlyPresque almost, nearlyProbablement

probablyRarement rarelySeulement onlySi so, suchSpecialement

speciallySuffisamment

sufficientlySurtout above all, especiallyTellement soTout a fait quite, completelyVers towards, about

-other adverbs

Affectueusement with best wishesAinsi thusAmicalement with best wishesAutant so manyAutrement

differently, otherwiseAutrement dit in other wordsBien entendu of courseBref in short, brieflyCependant

howeverCorrectement

correctlyCouramment fluentlyD’ailleurs moreoverDonc so, thereforeDoucement gently, quietlyEffectivement

actually, reallyEn vain in vainEnsemble togetherEvidemment of course, obviouslyNon plus neitherObligatoirement

compulsorilyPar contre on the other handPar chance by chancePar hasard by chance, accidentlyPeu little, not much

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Poliment politelyPourtant yet, howeverQuand meme all the sameSilencieusement silentlySoigneusement carefullyTout de meme all the sameVolontiers gladly, willingly

4.2 Adverbs – comparatives & superlative

As with adjectives, you can use the comparative or superlative to say that something goes more quickly fastest, etc

Marc skie plus vite que ChantalMarc skies faster than Chantal

Allez a la gare le plus vite possibleGo to the station as quickly as possible

Notice these special forms:Bien (well) mieux (better)Mal (badly) pire (worse)

You can also use ne…pas si (not as)Je ne joue pas si bien que ma soeurI don’t play as well as my sister

5. PRONOUNS

5.1 Pronouns – subjects & reflexive 22

The subject of a verb is the person or thing performing the action or being described. In the sentence Jean regarde la télé, the subject is Jean because it is Jean who is watching TV.Subject pronouns are pronouns like « I », « you », etc which usually come before the verb.

In French the subject pronouns are :Je ITu you (to a young person, close friend or relative)Il he, itElle she, itOn one, you, we (often used in place of nous in spoken French), they (people in general)Nous weVous you (to an adult you don’t know well), you (to more than one person)Ils they (masculine plural, or mixed group)Elles they (feminine plural)

The reflexive pronouns are added after the subject pronoun with reflexive verbs. Reflexive verbs are written with « se » before the infinitive, e.g. se coucherJe me couche nous nous couchonsTu te couches vous vous couchezIl/elle/on se couche ils/elles se couchent

5.2 Pronouns – relative

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5.3 Pronouns – demonstrative 24

5.4 Pronouns - Possessive

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5.5 Pronouns – direct & indirect object

- Direct object

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- Direct object pronoun in the perfect tense

- Indirect object

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5.6 Pronouns   : position & order

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5.7 Disjunctive & emphatic pronouns

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5.8 Pronouns – indefinite

5.9 Pronouns – y and en 31

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6.PREPOSITIONS

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7.CONJUNCTIONS

8.NUMBERS, DATES AND TIMES

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9.QUANTITIES

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10. VERBS10.1 Common verbs

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10.2 Infinitives

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11. PRESENT TENSE11.1 Present tense – regular

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11.2 Present tense - Avoir expressions

11.3 Present tense – irregulars

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12. REFLEXIVES

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Other verbs can also be made reflexive:Je me regarde I look at myselfJe m’écoute I listen to myself

13. IMPERSONAL VERBS: il ya , il s’agit, etc

They are always used with “il”.

e.g. falloirIl faut It is necessary

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14. IMPERATIVE

15. CONDITIONAL

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16. PRESENT PARTICIPLE

17. NEGATIVES

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Sometimes two or more negatives are used together :Ne…plus…que now onlyNe…plus…rien nothing anymore

La bibliothèque n’est plus ouverte que le jeudiThe library is now only open on ThursdaysJe ne vois plus rienI can’t see anything anymore

18. PASSIVE

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19. PERFECT

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20. IMPERFECT

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21. FUTURE

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- regular –er and –ir verbs:

- regular –re verbs:

- irregular verbs:

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22. PLUPERFECT

23. SUBJUNCTIVE

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24. INTERROGATIVES

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