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un petit garon
regardent
tranquillement
le paysage.
French is not so very far from English. Both languages have the same historical
origins and this is a great help for learners, especially when it comes to acquiring
vocabulary.
But there are important differences in the structures of the two languages. And if
you understand those from the beginning, you'll build your knowledge on a firm
foundation.
Let's start with the simple sentence:
subject
verb
adverb
object
look
peacefully
le paysage
at the countryside
As for the word the - the definite article - in French it's la for feminine nouns and
le for masculine nouns:
la pniche et le bateau
the barge and the boat
la dame et le monsieur
the lady and the gentleman
le chat et la souris
the cat and the mouse
When you learn a noun, memorise the article that goes with it at the same
time: la maison and not simply maison. Confidence over the gender of
un caf
des cafs
une voiture
des voitures
And plural nouns also take the same definite article whether they are masculine or
feminine - les:
noir
is masculine for black and
noire
is the feminine for black.
Sometimes you will find the root of the word changes a little too, for example:
le mur blanc
the white wall
la maison blanche
the white house
When you learn an adjective, learn its two gender forms at the same time.
blanc / blanche
white
heureux / heureuse
happy, lucky
le chat noir
la voiture noire
Sometimes though, particularly when there is a group of vowels at the end of the
word, making a word plural involves adding an x:
Neither the s for the plural nor the x for the plural is pronounced.
The adjective noir goes after the noun
le caf noir
the black coffee
la mare noire
the black tide: the oil slick
unlike the English 'black', which goes before 'coffee' or 'tide'. This isn't a rule
for all adjectives - but in spoken French the adjectives of colour go after the
noun.
For other adjectives, it's a question of learning by experience. Sometimes the word
order changes the meaning:
un homme grand
a tall man
un grand homme
a great man
le sujet
le verbe
l'objet
Le bateau noir
quitte
le port.
leaves
the port.
Les bateaux
quittent
le port.
The boats
leave
the port.
Verb endings also change according to whether the subject is the first person
je
I
nous
we
tu
you (singular)
vous
you (plural or formal)
il
he, it
elle
she, it
ils, elles
they
Here are the endings for the verb parler - 'to speak':
parler - to speak
je parle
nous parlons
I speak
we speak
tu parles
vous parlez
you speak
you speak
il parle
ils parlent
he speaks
(masculine)
they speak
(masculine)
elle parle
elles parlent
she speaks
(feminine)
they speak
(feminine)
With the verb parler - and all regular verbs ending in er - the pronunciation is the
same for the first, second and third person singular and the third person plural.
je parle
tu parles
il parle
elle parle
ils parlent
elles parlent
verb
adverb
look
peacefully
object
le paysage
at the countryside
In English there is the additional word 'at'. The sense of 'at' is included in the
French verb regarder. There are some verbs in French which stand on their own,
where in English you need a preposition:
regarder
to look at
chercher
to look for
And there are some verbs in French which take a preposition, where the English
equivalent stands alone:
entrer dans
to enter
And sometimes the meaning of a verb can change when it's followed by a
preposition:
chercher
to look for
chercher
to try to
When you learn a verb, always learn the construction that goes with it at the
same time.
Les adjectifs
After each lesson, you will find exercises to test what you've learnt. To begin with
they're easy. As your knowledge builds up, they become more challenging.
a) For your first exercise, put the following adjectives into the feminine form.
bleu
blue
bleue
lent
magique
slow
magic
grand
clair
big / tall
clear
blanc
franais
white
French
petit
anglais
small
English
court
espagnol
short
Spanish
simple
simple
magnifique
magnificent
extraordinaire
extraordinary
beau
beautiful
Les Verbes
Mastering verbs is the key to speaking French fluently. Today we are going to learn
the present indicative of group one verbs. These verbs have the infinitive -er.
Listen to the following conjugations and repeat.
regarder
jouer
to look at
to play
je regarde
je joue
I look at
I play
tu regardes
tu joues
you look at
you play
il regarde
il joue
he looks at
he plays
elle regarde
elle joue
she looks at
she plays
nous regardons
nous jouons
we look at
we play
vous regardez
vous jouez
you look at
you play
ils regardent
ils jouent
elles regardent
elles jouent
Keep practising this exercise. When you feel confident enough, repeat out loud the
conjugation without looking at the words on the screen. Listen back to the French
reading to make sure you have it correct.
10
Record a voice message of exercises 2 and 3. Send it to your tutor for advice and
correction. See the Help section for assistance sending voice messages. For
information about one to one personal tuition click here.
Vocabulaire
To finish, some vocabulary. Many words have the same meaning in French and
English. So a quick way to build up your vocabulary is to recognise types of words
which are often the same in the two languages.
Careful though with the pronunciation, which is not identical. Repeat after each
word. Keep a notebook and jot down words which you're likely to use in the future.
To begin with some words ending in -tion. All French nouns ending in -tion are
feminine.
11
fminin
l'information
la solution
la rvolution
l'intonation
l'intention
la rsolution
l'volution
la gnration
la prsentation
la sparation
la cration
l'adoption
la ngation
And now some words ending in -ment. All nouns ending in -ment are masculine.
masculin
le gouvernement
l'lment
le dpartement
l'appartement
le dveloppement
le parlement
l'agrment
le compliment
le complment
le sentiment
12
Bonjour,
a va?
Hello, how are
you?
a va
bien,
merci,
et vous?
Fine, thank you,
and yourself?
c'est...
this is / it's
il y a...
there is / there are
'ou' et 'ille'
pronunciation practice
qu'est-ce que...?
what...?
Listen to the following text and repeat out loud after each sentence. Pay particular
attention to the sounds ou:
nous
bonjour
and ille:
la famille
The key to acquiring a good accent is careful listening. Pause your sound player
13
when necessary.
CHEZ NOUS
At our place
Bonjour, a va?
Hello, how are you?
C'est ma maison.
It's my house.
14
15
Now we're going to study some key expressions that turn up frequently in French.
1) Qu'est-ce que...?
Qu'est-ce que...? is the French to use when you begin a question What...? It
looks more complicated than it sounds:
kes-ke
Qu'est-ce que c'est?
What's this?
16
2) C'est
The question
c'est
C'est can have different meanings. It can be the equivalent of It's...
C'est calme.
It's calm.
C'est moderne.
It's modern.
C'est bon.
It's good.
C'est bien.
It's right. / It's good.
C'est ma mre.
17
This is my mother.
It depends on the context. For example, if someone asks you who's on the
telephone, you might reply:
C'est ma soeur.
It's my sister.
C'est ma soeur.
This is my sister.
Unlike This is... in English, C'est... can go with plural nouns in spoken French:
This is a house.
This is an apple.
3) Il y a
Il y a is another common expression that works both in the singular and the plural.
It means There is... or There are...
Il y a une maison.
Il y a des pommes.
There is a house.
18
Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?
What's the matter?
a va?
If all's well you can reply:
a va! OK!
Fine! OK!
or
19
Quelques questions
Look at the pictures and answer the questions.
1)
2)
20
3)
1)
2)
21
La prononciation
You'll find on this disc our 'Dictionary of Sounds' (
) - a complete guide to
French pronunciation. You should consult it regularly to work on your accent. But
we'll also be highlighting different sounds as we go through the lessons. Today we
will look at ille. We are also going to discuss the difference between c and .
ille
Listen to the word:
la famille
More often than not an i before two ls is pronounced
ee -ye
Listen now and repeat the following words:
une grille
a gate
une fille
a daughter, a girl
une quille
a skittle (UK), a ninepin (US), a keel
une taille
22
a size
But careful, there are some words where -ille is pronounced eel.
tranquille
peaceful
tranquillement
peacefully
une ville
a town
une cible
a target
c followed by a, o or u is pronounced k:
Coca-cola
Coca-cola
23
la cuisine
the kitchen, the cooking
a va bien?
Things going well?
franais
French
Franoise
Franoise (the woman's name)
Franois
Franois (the man's name)
La traduction
Translate the following sentences into English. All the words used have
featured in this lesson.
1) Ma grand-mre est sympathique.
24
Le vocabulaire
You may have noticed that this lesson contains only feminine nouns. It's important
to remember the gender of words. Learning them in groups is a good way of doing
it. Here is a list to remember from today's lesson:
fminin
25
la famille
la soeur
the family
the sister
la maison
la fille
the house
la grand-mre
la campagne
the grandmother
the countryside
la mre
la pomme
the mother
the apple
la poire
la grille
the pear
the gate
la photo
la table
the photograph
the table
You are now at the end of your second lesson. If you like, why not write a letter to
your tutor, in French if you can manage it, to say how you are getting on?
26
When you want to address someone in English, it's easy. You always use the word
'you'.
In French you can address someone as tu or vous. It's a question of social
practice.
Vous is generally a mark of respect:
Monsieur, je vous demande pardon, vous avez l'heure s'il vous plat?
Excuse me, sir, do you have the time please?
27
But should you be respectful or informal with work colleagues? Strangers? Your
mother-in-law? The distinction is often subtle. Getting it straight from the start is a
good way of building confidence.
First though, let's look at the grammatical distinctions.
1) Tu
Tu is always singular. You pronounce the u sound by making a circle with your
lips and compressing the middle of your cheeks. You'll get a chance to practise at
the end of the lesson.
can only refer to just one person. The verb that follows tu always ends in a silent s.
Tu parles franais?
Do you speak French?
Tu chantes bien.
You sing well.
Tu manges trop.
You eat too much.
Tu es gentil.
You are nice (masculine).
Tu es gentille.
You are nice (feminine).
2) Vous
The vous form is used as a mark of respect when addressing one person. It's
also used when addressing a group of people whatever your relationship with
them. You find the ou sound by making a circle with your lips but relaxing your
cheek muscles.
28
There are two important verbs that don't end in -ez in the vous form in the present:
vous faites
you do, you make
vous dites
you say
3) Tu or Vous?
So, when does one use the respectful vous and when the informal tu? Here are
some guidelines:
a) Children
Children under the age of 13 are normally spoken to in the tu form. A shopkeeper,
for example, or a teacher might say:
Comment tu t'appelles?
What's your name?
29
Tu veux un bonbon?
Do you want a sweet?
Tu as perdu ta langue?
Have you lost your tongue? (Directed at a child who's turned quiet.)
b) Adults
The right to tutoyer les adultes - to speak to other adults in the tu form - depends
on the relationship you have with them.
i) Strangers
Strangers are always vous. This is particularly true of anyone you meet in a
professional context. A shop assistant - even one who looks young enough to be
your son or daughter - is always vous.
The same goes for any adult you meet for the first time in a professional
context.
30
But the vous form is still used by managers who wish to keep their distance. They
use vous to their hierarchical inferiors, knowing full well that they will receive
reciprocal treatment:
Often people who tutoient in private will adopt the vous form in a board meeting or
in a public debate, to show that the context is impersonal. Sometimes they slip up
though. It's amusing to listen out on television for politicians who use tu by accident
when addressing their opponents.
If you have French in-laws, begin with vous and listen for a signal. Some will invite
you to move to tu - others will stick with the formal vous. Either way, you shouldn't
take it personally: it generally depends more on their character than yours.
31
Some people enjoy scandal though. It's said that Franois Mitterrand enjoyed
replying to the invitation to tutoyer with the words:
5) Some subtleties
To finish this lesson, some more subtle connotations of the tu form. In the world of
theatre and dance, everyone uses it. It's a sign of simplicity and friendship:
In the world of politics, it's a sign of alliance. For parties to the right, the connotation
is that of an exclusive club:
And for parties to the left, the use of tu is a sign of egalitarian principles. In the
communist party, for example:
And the tu form can also be used as a means of insulting strangers. For example,
following a traffic accident:
32
La prononciation
To pronounce vous and tu correctly, you must make a clear distinction between
the sounds ou and u. Both are made with the lips in a small circle. With the u
sound, the lips are more tightly compressed. Listen now to the following words and
repeat after each one.
le mur
la structure
the wall
the structure
l'amour
l'agriculture
love
agriculture
toujours
C'est vous?
always
Is it you?
la rue
the street
Je suis pour.
la roue
I'm for.
the wheel
la confiture
the jam
Now look at the following words and read them out, one at a time, before the
French version. Read out the first word now, then start up your audio player.
un but
une mule
a goal
a mule
un bout
une moule
an end
a mussel
une bulle
un moule
a bubble
a mold
a soup
33
Comment tu t'appelles?
What's your name? (Informal)
Record a voice message of exercises 1 and 2. Send it to your tutor for advice and
correction. See the Help section for assistance sending voice messages.
2) You go for a drink round the corner and starting chatting with the
locals.
34
35
Qui estce?
Who is it?
qui? et comment?
who? and why?
la ngation
making sentences negative
Listen to the dialogue and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to
distinguish the sound i:
voici
and the sound :
mon grand-pre
36
un rveur
ma belle-fille
Bonjour.
Hello.
37
Mon fils est tudiant. C'est un jeune homme insouciant. Il n'est pas
sportif.
My son is a student. He's a laid back young man. He's not the sporting type.
Mon petit-fils est colier. C'est un petit garon adorable. Il n'est pas
compliqu. Il est trs sage.
My grandson is a schoolboy. He's an adorable little boy. He's not complicated. He is very wise.
Comment sont-ils?
What are they like?
(lit: How are they like?)
Ils habitent o?
Where do they live?
Mon fils, ma belle-fille et mon petit-fils n'habitent pas ici, mais ils
n'habitent pas loin d'ici.
My son, my daughter-in-law and my grandson don't live here, but they don't live far away.
1) Making descriptions
38
tre
to be
je suis
nous sommes
I am
we are
tu es
vous tes
you are
il est
ils sont
he is
elle est
elles sont
she is
When an adjective follows the verb tre it must agree in number and gender with
the subject of the verb. This is often a question of adding an e for subjects that are
feminine and an s for subjects that are plural. For example:
Il est petit.
He is small.
If an adjective already ends in e in the masculine form, you don't need to add
another one to make it feminine. So the following adjectives, for example, are
identical whether the noun they describe is masculine or feminine:
terrible
difficile
terrible
difficult
39
formidable
splendide
wonderful
splendid
ordinaire
utile
ordinary
useful
extraordinaire
simple
extraordinary
simple
facile
magnifique
easy
magnificent
2) Qui...? et Comment...?
Qui...? is the question word to use when you want to ask a question beginning
Who...?
If you want to ask 'who someone is not', you need to use the expression C'est:
The question word Comment...? is used for questions beginning How? or What
are they like?
Comment a va?
How's it going?
40
The question words Qui...? and Comment...? have just one invariable form.
3) La ngation
Making sentences negative
Two words in French ne and pas perform the function of the one English word not.
The ne goes before the verb and the pas goes after the verb.
Il est petit?
Is he small?
C'est correct?
Is it correct?
41
Il y a des problmes.
There are some problems.
Ne is also contracted before some words beginning with h. For example, using the
verb habiter to live:
42
Un exercice d'application
Form the question that might have been asked to get the reply in green. Use the
words qui and comment.
5) C'est ma fille.
La ngation
Put the following sentences into the negative.
43
Le verbe tre
a) Listen to the conjugation of tre. Keep repeating it until you know it off by heart.
je suis
nous sommes
I am
we are
tu es
vous tes
you are
you are
il est
ils sont
he is
they are
elle est
elles sont
she is
they are
44
1) Je
avocat.
2) Mon mari
formidable.
3) Nous
retraits.
4) Tu
franais ou amricain?
5) '
trs bien!
6) Vous
qui?
7) Je
8) Ils
ici?
9) Non, ils ne
pas ici.
La prononciation
Listen to the following sentences and practice your pronunciation of the sound i it's like the ea in the English please.
45
le pre
belle
the father
beautiful
la mre
the mother
le frre
tu es
the brother
you are
le problme
elle est
the problem
she is
la plante
the planet
elle
Il y a un problme.
she
There is a problem.
la terre
the earth
La traduction
To finish, a translation. Translate the following text into French.
I live in the countryside. Here, it is calm. At our place there
are hens. There is a white gate in front of the house. I am a
student. My brother is a schoolboy. He is fantastic. You*
don't live far away. That's marvellous.
Describe a family that you know and their home. Send your composition to
your tutor for a correction.
46
47
>
C'est
mon
jour de
chance!
It's my lucky
day!
'on' et 'in'
pronunciation practice
avoir
the verb 'to have'
les liaisons
linking words
voici...
here is...
les adjectifs possessifs
possessive adjectives
trs et trop
very and too
Listen to the following text and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to the
sounds:
on
as in
mon
and
in
as in
matin
48
49
1) Le verbe avoir
To have
Avoir is one of the most important verbs in French. You need to be able to conjugate it
without hesitating:
avoir
le prsent de l'indicatif
j'ai
nous avons
I have
we have
tu as
vous avez
you have
il a
ils ont
he has
elle a
elles ont
she has
Make clear in your mind the differences between avoir and tre. The ai in the first
person singular of avoir:
j'ai
I have
sounds the same as the es and the est in the second and third person singular of tre:
tu es
you are
il est
he is
elle est
50
she is
But
ils sont
they are
and
ils ont
they have
Ils
ont seulement des croissants. Mais, ils sont trs bons, les
croissants d'ici. Ils sont trs frais.
No, here they only have croissants. But they are very good, the croissants from here. They are very fresh.
Il y a...
There is...
Il y a encore de la place?
Is there any place left?
2) Voici
Voici is used to present people or objects.
51
Voici ma secrtaire.
Here is my secretary.
Voici le tlphone.
Here's the telephone.
Voici ton journal et tes cigarettes. Est-ce qu'il y a un cendrier sur ton
bureau?
Here is your paper and your cigarettes. Is there an ashtray on your desk?
3) Adjectifs possessifs
Possessive adjectives
J'ai un sac.
C'est ma valise.
52
Here are all the possessive adjectives to use when there's just one possessor.
les adjectifs possessifs
for a feminine object (singular)
ma valise
j'ai un sac
my suitcase
my bag
tu as une valise
ta valise
tu as un sac
your suitcase
il a une valise
mon sac
ton sac
your bag
sa valise
il a un sac
his suitcase
son sac
his bag
sa valise
elle a un sac
son sac
her suitcase
her bag
mes valises
my suitcases
tu as des valises
tes valises
tu as des sacs
your suitcases
il a des valises
tes sacs
your bags
ses valises
il a des sacs
his suitcases
mes sacs
my bags
ses sacs
his bags
her suitcases
ses sacs
her bags
Notice that in English we have different possessive adjectives according to the sex of
the possessor - 'his' or 'her'.
But in French
53
son - sa - ses
can mean 'his' or 'her':
his bag
son sac
her bag
son sac
his suitcase
sa valise
her suitcase
sa valise
his bags
ses sacs
her bags
ses sacs
his suitcases
ses valises
her suitcases
ses valises
Unlike in English, in French you need to know the context to know the gender of the
possessor.
4) Trs et trop
Trs and trop are two very common words that sound similar but shouldn't be confused.
trs
very
trop
too
It is too late.
54
C'est trs
intressant.
trzintressant
It's very interesting.
important.
tropimportant
It's not very important.
55
>
Le verbe avoir
Listen to the conjugation of the present indicative of avoir and repeat it until
you know it off by heart.
avoir - to have
J'ai de la chance.
I am lucky.
Il a un bureau immense.
He has a huge office.
Un exercice d'application
Use the verb avoir to complete the following sentences:
1) Tu
2) Elle
3) Ils
4) Vous
5) Nous
6) Il n'
56
7) Elles
8) Tu
de la famille en France?
maison.
Tu as des parents.
C'est
parents.
J'ai un frre.
C'est
frre.
Il a un problme.
C'est
problme.
Elle a un mari.
C'est
mari.
voiture.
Tu as un fils.
C'est
fils.
57
La prononciation
Today we're going to work on the sound a and the sound ai / es (in the
following examples the pronunciation of ai and es is identical).
a et ai / es
le son a
la - la valise - le sac - le panier- les parents - habiter la
campagne - un arbre - C'est calme. - Il y a des arbres.
the - the suitcase - the bag - the basket - the parents - to live in the countryside - a tree It's calm. - There are trees.
le son ai
j'ai - Je n'ai pas de maison la campagne. - C'est mon
anniversaire. - C'est vrai. - J'ai vraiment de la chance.
I have - I don't have a house in the countryside. - It's my birthday. - It's true. - I really am
lucky.
le son es
les parents - des amis - Tu es trs gentil. - Ma soeur est jeune. Ton frre est un intellectuel. - Mes collgues sont ici. - Tes ides
sont intressantes. - Ses frres ont de la chance d'tre l.
the parents - some friends - You are very nice. - My sister is young. - Your brother is an
intellectual. - My colleagues are here. - Your ideas are interesting. - His (or her) brothers
are lucky to be there.
Record a voice message of this exercise. Send it to your tutor for advice and
correction. See the Help section for assistance sending voice messages.
Une traduction
l'coute de la langue franaise
58
59
>
La
lecture
r
when to pronounce the letter r
e
e at the end of a word
-emme
the special sound for the group of letters
-emme
-s et -x
s and x at the end of a word
-ent
when to pronounce the word
ending -ent
1) R
r can clearly be heard in the middle of words. The r sound is more emphasised
than in English:
60
je parle
I speak, I talk
tu parles
you speak, you talk
les parents
the parents, the relatives
aujourd'hui
today
As a general rule, the letter r is also clearly pronounced when it comes at the end
of a word:
un chat noir
a black cat
la grande soeur
the big sister
avoir de l'espoir
to have hope
le matin et le soir
the morning and the evening
bonjour
hello (lit: good day)
bonsoir
good evening
un ascenseur
a lift, an elevator
But words ending -er behave differently. If they have just one syllable, the r sound
is pronounced:
la mer Mditerrane
the Mediterranean sea
Il est fier.
He is proud.
61
un ver
a worm
hier
yesterday
But if they have more than one syllable, the -er ending is pronounced . This is the
case with the infinitive of Group One verbs such as:
manger
to eat
danser
to dance
penser
to think
jouer
to play
le courrier
the post, the mail
le premier
the first
le dernier
the last
2) The letter e
The letter e must be pronounced in the middle of words such as:
l'appartement
the apartment
le gouvernement
the government
le renversement
the reversal, the overthrow
seulement
tranquillement
62
seulement
tranquillement
e isn't pronounced when it comes at the end of a word such as:
une
a
une voiture
a car
une famille
a family
une dame
a lady
3) -emme
When words contain the group of letters -e-m-m-e the vowel sound becomes a. For
example:
une femme
a woman
videmment
obviously
diffremment
differently
violemment
violently
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le corps
the body
Tu manges trop.
You eat too much.
64
mon fils
my son
la fleur de lys
the lily flower
ils mangent
ils parlent
ils jouent
elles travaillent
But the -e-n-t ending is pronounced in all other situations. In nouns such as:
un relent
a bad smell
un appartement
a flat, an apartment
un mouvement
a movement (remember from lesson one that nouns ending in -ment are always masculine)
vraiment
truly
seulement
only
uniquement
uniquely
tranquillement
peacefully
65
intelligent
intelligent
66
>
La prononciation
Putting together what you've learnt from lesson six, practise reading the following
sentences. Keep working on them until you have them mastered.
Tu prfres le th ou le caf?
Do you prefer tea or coffee?
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
67
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
virgule (la)
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
...
points de suspension
68
>
C'est
aujourd'hui
dimanche!
It's Sunday today!
'an' et 'en'
pronunciation practice
rester
a false friend
se reposer
a reflexive verb
avoir faim / tre fatigu
an important construction to learn
Listen and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to distinguish the sound an as in:
dimanche
tranquillement
le temps
Ah non, a non, je ne travaille pas! Pas question. Le dimanche, moi, j'aime rester chez
moi.
No, no way, I'm not working! Out of the question. On Sundays, me, I like to stay at home.
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Non, pourquoi? Nous regardons la tlvision ou une vido, oui, je sais ce n'est pas trs
original...
No, why? We watch the television or a video, yes, I know it's not very original...
Si j'ai faim, je prpare un petit repas pour nous deux, des ptes, un petit ragot, un truc
sympa...
If I'm hungry, I prepare a little meal for us both, some pasta, a little stew, something nice...
Ton tlphone?
Your telephone?
Allo?
Hi?
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1) Rester
The verb rester doesn't mean 'to rest' but 'to stay', in the sense of not moving.
The conjugation of rester is like parler and regarder, which you have already come across.
rester - to stay
le prsent de l'indicatif
je reste
nous restons
tu restes
vous restez
il reste
ils restent
elle reste
elles restent
Note the s that follows tu and the -nt that follows ils or elles. They are always there.
2) Se reposer
So how do you say 'to rest' in French? You use the verb
se reposer
to rest
This is a reflexive verb. A reflexive verb is a verb that needs to be accompanied by a reflexive pronoun:
the equivalent of the English 'myself, yourself, himself ...'.
se reposer - to rest
le prsent de l'indicatif
je me repose
I rest (myself)
we rest (ourselves)
tu te reposes
il se repose
ils se reposent
he rests (himself)
elle se repose
elles se reposent
71
Reflexive verbs are more common in French than in English. S'appeller - to be called - for example:
- Marguerite.
- C'est un joli prnom
That's a pretty first name.
Je m'appelle Pierre.
I'm called Pierre.
Some French verbs change their meaning when they are in the reflexive form. For example,
passer
to pass
se passer
to happen
72
Je suis fatigu.
I am tired.
avoir
+
a noun without the article
An example. The French word for hunger is la faim. The expression 'I am hungry' is:
J'ai faim.
Literally, I have hunger.
J'ai froid.
Lit: I have cold.
Le froid is the noun for 'cold'. There is also an adjective froid / froide. But here we must have the noun
without the article. The difference is important because if you are a woman you must say:
J'ai froid.
not
Another example?
J'ai sommeil.
I am sleepy.
In French you also use avoir when speaking about the time, but here you must keep to the definite article.
l'coute de la langue franaise
73
74
>
La traduction
Translate the following sentences from French into English.
Les verbes
Conjugate these reflexive verbs by listening and repeating:
75
se rveiller
to wake up
je me rveille
Je me rveille tt.
I wake up early.
tu te rveilles
Tu te rveilles la nuit.
You wake up in the night.
il se rveille
Il se rveille tard.
He wakes up late.
elle se rveille
ils se rveillent
elles se rveillent
76
se laver
s'inquiter
to wash
to worry
Je me lave le matin.
Tu te laves le soir.
Tu t'inquites trop.
Il s'inquite rarement.
He rarely worries.
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Les pronoms
Fill in the gaps with the appropriate pronoun.
Si je reste chez m
J'habite avec m
vido.
Je
le dimanche, je
ami Pierre.
appelle Marie. Et
repose.
regardons la tlvision ou une
, tu t'appelles comment?
m'appelle Jacques.
C'est ton frre? Oui!
Il
appelle comment? Lucien.
C'est un prnom rare!
La prononciation
The letters an and en are pronounced the same. Listen and repeat.
78
an et en
J'ai de la chance.
Le temps passe vite ici.
Le dimanche, moi, je ne travaille pas.
Les parents s'inquitent pour les enfants.
Tu t'appelles comment?
Je ne travaille pas pendant les vacances.
Vous avez un bon accent en franais.
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
79
>
- Qu'est-ce
que vous
aimez faire?
- J'adore les
spectacles.
What do you like to do?
I adore shows.
le son 'in'
pronunciation practice
faire
to do, to make
l'infinitif
using verbs in the infinitive
Listen and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to distinguish
the sound in:
magasin
shop
la fin
the end
80
81
je fais
nous faisons
tu fais
vous faites
il fait
ils font
elle fait
elles font
Je fais la cuisine.
I do the cooking.
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2) Using infinitives
In a phrase like
you will see that the verb vous aimez is followed directly by another verb, in this
case faire.
Faire is an infinitive, meaning 'to do'.
When using the infinitive in French you don't need an equivalent for the English
word 'to'. The sense of 'to' is contained in the one word infinitive form. For example,
in English we say:
I love to do something.
In French the equivalent construction is direct:
J'aime lire.
I like to read
J'aime me promener.
I like to go for a walk.
prfrer - to prefer
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adorer - to adore
dtester - to detest
Il prfre voyager seul.
He prefers to travel alone.
de la
is used when the noun that follows is feminine. But when the thing you are talking
about is masculine, de la becomes contracted. You can't say
which becomes
du
J'adore boire du vin.
84
When the thing you are talking about begins with a vowel, we have:
becomes
des
J'aime boire des boissons sans alcool, des jus de fruits par exemple.
I like to drink non-alcoholic drinks, fruit juices for example.
In English we simply drop the article before the noun - in French you need to insert
de la, du, de l' and des.
de la, du, de l' and des can turn up in other expressions where there is no direct
equivalent in English. For example, the construction faire de:
You have already come across another, separate use of des: as the plural of un
and une. Sometimes des would be translated in English by the word 'some'.
85
le lundi
le vendredi
Monday
Friday
le mardi
le samedi
Tuesday
Saturday
le mercredi le dimanche
Wednesday
Sunday
le jeudi
Thursday
-di
is the ending that corresponds to 'dies' in Latin, in English 'day'.
lundi
is Monday, the day of the moon
la lune
Then there are other planets:
Mars - mardi
Mars
Mercure - mercredi
Mercury
Jupiter - jeudi
Jupiter
86
Vnus - vendredi
Venus
For
samedi
it's the sabbath, the Jewish feast day. And then
dimanche
it's
dies dominici
the day of the Lord
If you want to say on Sundays, on Mondays or in the mornings you don't need
a preposition, you just say:
To talk about a precise Sunday you can use dimanche without the article:
In these examples, the Sunday being talked about is understood from the tense of
the verb travailler. The first example clearly refers to next Sunday, while the
second clearly refers to last Sunday. If you want to be more explicit you can say:
dimanche prochain
next Sunday
87
dimanche dernier
last Sunday
88
>
La traduction
a) Translate from French into English.
1) Qu'est-ce que tu aimes faire le mardi? Et le jeudi? Tu aimes aller voir
des films? Moi j'aime rester chez moi. Je prfre me reposer
tranquillement.
3) Est-ce que les Anglais aiment boire du vin? Non, ils prfrent boire
de la bire en gnral.
89
La prononciation
The final -r (revision)
In the infinitive of an -er verb of the first group, we don't hear the final r. -er is
90
pronounced like :
J'aime skier
But when r is followed by -e as in the infinitive faire
Qu'est-ce que vous aimez faire?
you do not pronounce the e, but you must pronounce the final r clearly. The r
is also pronounced in the word endings -ir, -oir.
Listen to the following words and repeat.
in / ain / ien / un
in / ain / un and the en in ien are pronounced the same. Listen and repeat.
91
le vin
Les Franais aiment le vin.
Le pin est un arbre.
J'aime faire des courses dans les magasins.
Je me lve tt le matin.
un
un jour
le lundi
Le lundi n'est pas un jour de repos.
dimanche prochain
J'ai une main gauche et une main droite.
J'aime le pain.
Ma salle de bain est moderne et confortable.
C'est bien.
Le dimanche je ne fais rien.
Mon chien et moi, nous aimons bien regarder la tlvision.
Composition
Write a composition about your activities during the week. Use verbs in the
infinitive to describe what you like, what you prefer, what you adore, what
you dislike. And your friends and your parents?
For example:
Le dimanche, j'adore dormir le matin et sortir le soir...
92
>
Le 3?
Oui, pourquoi pas?
The 3? Yes, why not?
oi
pronunciation practice
pouvoir et vouloir
to be able and to want
savoir
to know
compter jusqu' 20
counting to 20
la formation des adverbes
forming adverbs
Listen to the following text. Pay particular attention to the sounds oi as in:
savoir
and the sound oin as in:
loin
93
Je veux aller dans le centre. O sont les bus? Vous ne savez pas
o sont les bus?
I want to go to the centre. Where are the buses? You wouldn't know where the buses are?
Si, je sais. Vous avez de la chance. L'arrt de bus est sur la petite
place, droite, sur la petite place, juste l.
Yes, I know. You are in luck. The bus stop is on the little square, to the right, on the little
square, just there.
C'est le 1. Le 1, a c'est sr... mais vous avez aussi le 3... Oui, c'est
bien a. Et vous savez, le 3 est mme plus rapide.
It's the 1. The 1, that's certain... but you also have the 3. Yes that's it. And you know, the 3 is
quicker even.
Trs bien, alors le 3, oui, pourquoi pas, si c'est plus rapide? Merci
beaucoup. Ah! Voil dj un 3 justement. Merci encore!
Very well, so the 3, yes, why not, if it's quicker? Thank you! Ah! Here's a 3 already as it
happens. Thanks again!
94
De rien.
Not at all.
*y means there. We will deal with it in more detail later, but keep it in mind. You have seen y in il y a.
1) Pouvoir et vouloir
Pouvoir and vouloir are two verbs that are very similar. It's important not to
confuse them. Learn them together in order to benefit from the similarities and also
in order to get the differences clear.
First, some help to distinguish the meanings.
pouvoir
to be able
Remember the p like the p in power, a word with the same origins as pouvoir.
vouloir
to want
Remember the v like the v in voluntary, a word with the same origins as
vouloir.
Here are the conjugations of the two verbs:
pouvoir et vouloir
95
pouvoir
vouloir
to be able
to want
ils peuvent
ils veulent
they can
they want
You don't need a preposition after these verbs - they are followed directly with an
infinitive:
savoir faire
to know how to
96
3) Learning to count
The verb 'to count' is compter:
Je compte bien.
I count well.
Tu comptes vite.
You count quickly.
Il compte mal.
He counts badly.
un
one
un jour
one day
97
une
one
une heure
one hour
The rest of the numbers are the same whether they refer to masculine or feminine
objects. Here are the first twenty:
1 un jour
une heure
7 sept poires
14 quatorze invits
8 huit oranges
15 quinze personnes
2 deux soeurs
3 trois frres
10 dix pommes
6 six voitures
13 treize places
20 vingt ans!
Malheureusement
is the adverb meaning 'unfortunately'. We're going to look closely now at its
structure in order to learn how to form adverbs.
Heureux
is the masculine form of the adjective meaning 'fortunate' or 'happy'. It's the same
in the singular and the plural:
Tu es un homme heureux.
You are a fortunate man.
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Tu es malheureux.
You are unhappy.
But to construct an adverb, we generally use the feminine form of the adjective for
the root. The feminine of heureux is heureuse and the feminine of malheureux is
malheureuse:
-ment
It's the French equivalent of the English ending -ly. So
heureusement et malheureusement
fortunately and unfortunately
are the adverbs that correspond to the adjectives heureux and malheureux.
or
99
adjective (feminine)
adverb
doux
douce
doucement
gentle
gentle
gently
lent
lente
lentement
slow
slow
slowly
rapide
rapide
rapidement
rapid
rapid
rapidly
dernier
dernire
dernirement
last / latest
last / latest
lately / recently
prochain
prochaine
prochainement
next
next
soon
amical
amicale
amicalement
friend
friend
friendly
cordial
cordiale
cordialement
cordial
cordial
cordially
cruel
cruelle
cruellement
cruel
cruel
cruelly
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>
La traduction
a) English - French
Translate the following sentences from English into French:
1) We want to go quickly to the small square.
2) He can go to the centre.
3) It's bus number 7.
4) She wants to walk slowly.
5) Unfortunately, I haven't the time.
6) I don't know where the bus stop is.
7) - Thanks again, Madam.
- Not at all.
b) French - English
Now the other direction!
1) Vous voulez aller Lyon en bus. Ce n'est pas possible, c'est trs
loin. Vous pouvez y aller en train.
101
La prononciation
Today, we're going to practise the sounds oi and oin.
102
oi
oin
pouvoir
C'est loin.
to be able
It's far.
vouloir
dans le coin
to want
in the corner
savoir
le point
to know
avoir
faire le point
to have
summarise
moins
less
Comment savoir qui est
C'est
moins
bien.
le chat noir?
It's less good.
Il est toi?
Non, il n'est pas moi.
Vous ne savez pas comment fait
Ah quelle histoire! Comment savoir?
le canard franais?
How can we tell to whom the black cat belongs?
Il fait coin coin.
Is it yours?
No, it's not mine.
What a palaver! How can we tell?
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
Rvision
Fill in the gaps with the help of the multiple choice options.
1) Les enfants
lentement mais trs bien.
a) travail b) travaille c) travaillent
2) Mon ami prfre
la maison le dimanche.
a) rester b) de rester c) rester
103
3) C'est une
maison
.
a) belle b) beau c) blanc d) blanche
4) Le tlphone est
a) sur b) sr c) sre
5) En gnral, je me repose
.
a) samedi b) le samedi c) les samedis
6) Je prends toujours des jus de fruits:
a) par exemple b) pour exemple
7) Je reste chez moi:
a) je suis b) j'ai c) j'es
un jus de pomme.
pain.
heureux. Ils
de la marche.
a) font b) sont c) ont
Le vocabulaire
Here is a list of the words that have come up in the first nine lessons. There
are more than 200. The feminine nouns and adjectives are in orange, the
masculine are in green, to help you remember the gender correctly.
Print out the list then listen to the words, repeating after each one and
reflecting on the meaning.
104
adorer to adore
beau beautiful
bien well
la bire beer
un bilan a summary
blanc, blanche white
bonjour hello
le bus bus
la danse dance
demander to ask for
a dpend that depends
dtester to hate
devant before
dimanche Sunday
dix ten
dormir to sleep
droite to the right
dur, dure hard
l'eau water
la faim hunger
un enfant child
tre to be
un exemple an example
par exemple for example
105
un fruit a fruit
un garon a boy
grand tall, large
une grille a gate
habiter to live
ici here
heureux, heureuse happy,
lucky
heureusement happily, luckily
hsiter to hesitate
huit eight
il y a there is
immdiatement immediately
jeudi Thursday
loin far
lourd, lourde heavy
lundi Monday
neuf nine
oui yes
ou or
o where
106
pour for
pourquoi why
pouvoir to be able
prfrer to prefer
prendre to take
prparer to prepare
probablement probably
le problme the problem
se promener to go for a walk
un pull a pullover
pur, pure pure
quatre four
un sac a bag
samedi Saturday
savoir to know
sept seven
si if
six six
la soeur the sister
une solde a sale
sonner to ring
le sommeil sleep
un spectacle a show
sortir to leave, to go out
le sport sport
sur on
sr, sre sure
bien sr of course
surtout above all
sympathique, sympathique
nice, pleasant
107
108
>
Quand le
coeur va,
tout va!
When the heart is
well, all is well!
aller
to go
que
that
109
La fille: Non, je ne vais pas trs bien aujourd'hui. C'est pas terrible,
a ne va pas!
Non, I'm not very well today. Things aren't great, all's not well.
Oui... non... Je veux dire... oui, je suis fatigue. J'ai trs mal la
tte. C'est une migraine. Je veux me reposer. Je veux rester
tranquille. Laisse-moi tranquille!
Yes... no... I mean to say... yes, I am tired. I've a very bad headache. It's a migraine. I want to
rest. I want a bit of peace. Leave me in peace!
110
Mais non, puisque je te dis que c'est la tte, c'est pas le coeur,
c'est la tte, na!
But no, as I'm telling you it's my head, not my heart, it's my head, so there!
Ah bon, alors, c'est pas grave. Parce que quand le coeur va, tout
va!
Ah well, then, it's not serious. Because when the heart is well, everything is well!
1) Le verbe aller - to go
After tre and avoir, which you have already come across, aller is the third key
verb in French.
It means 'to go'. Here is its conjugation:
aller- to go
le prsent de l'indicatif
je vais
nous allons
tu vas
vous allez
il va
ils vont
elle va
elles vont
Remember the v (vais, vas, va, vont) - like v for voyage (or v for vite, which
means 'quickly').
Je vais vite.
111
I go quickly.
Elles ne vont pas Paris en train, elle y vont en avion, l'avion va plus
vite.
They don't go to Paris by train, they go there by plane, the plane goes quicker.
with:
Remember too the special use of aller to say 'how things are going':
Tout va bien?
Everything's going OK?
Comment a va aujourd'hui?
How's it going today?
112
She has a headache, she's not well today. (lit: she's going badly)
a va bien.
Fine. (lit: it's going well)
2) Que - that
When a sentence has two clauses in it, each with its own separate verb and
subject, you need to use the conjunction que to introduce the second clause.
Elle veut que les enfants mangent de la soupe le soir mais ils dtestent
a.
where in English we would use a direct construction:
She wants (that) the children to eat soup in the evening but they hate
113
that.
Nous savons bien que le bus numro 4 ne va pas au centre ville, c'est
le 3.
We know very well that the bus number 4 doesn't go to the town centre, it's the 3.
or by a noun:
Note the presence of the de after envie and besoin. L'envie and le besoin are
both nouns:
l'envie - desire
le besoin - need
So a more literal translation of the French way of speaking would be:
114
115
>
Un exercice d'application
a) Put the following sentences into the person indicated.
1) Je ne vais pas trs bien aujourd'hui.
Il
2) Je suis fatigu.
Nous
4) Je veux me reposer.
Vous
La conjugaison
Conjugate the expression vouloir se reposer.
je veux me reposer
tu
il
elle
nous
vous
ils
elles
116
La traduction
Translate the following sentences into English.
Elle est sre que le restaurant est complet, mais vous pouvez quand
mme tlphoner pour rserver si vous voulez.
Les verbes
Continuing our series of key verbs to learn by heart, aller to go. O vont-ils?
aller - to go
117
Je vais la plage.
Tu vas l'cole le dimanche?
Il va bien maintenant.
Elle va trop vite en voiture.
Nous allons chez nous.
Vous allez en vacances o?
Ils vont en Espagne.
Elles vont en Tunisie.
Une composition
You have now learnt three important French irregular verbs
avoir - to have
118
aller - to go
tre - to be
and you also know the verbs
aimer - to like
vouloir - to want
Invent a character of your choice. Using these verbs and the vocabulary that
you know, describe a typical day in the life of your character. Use the third
persons singular il or elle.
119
>
l'hpital
il faut
it's necessary to
si
replying to a negative question
allons! allez!
degrees of encouragement
me et moi
different pronouns for different positions in a sentence
Le docteur: Allons, il faut ragir, il faut manger un peu. Il faut manger et boire pour
prendre des forces et pour gurir.
The doctor: Come on, it's necessary to react, it's necessary to eat a little. It's necessary to eat and drink to gain
strength and get well.
La malade: Non, je ne peux pas manger. C'est tout fait impossible. Il n'y a rien
faire.
The patient: No, I can't eat. It's completely impossible. There's nothing to be done.
Le docteur: Si, si, j'insiste. Voici une gentille infirmire. Elle vous apporte quelque
chose manger. Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? Un gteau? Une tisane?
The doctor: Yes, yes, I insist. Here's a nice nurse. She's bringing you something to eat. What do you want? A biscuit
(or: cake)? A herbal tea?
120
La malade: Si vous insistez, oui, un petit gteau, s'il vous plat, avec un th.
The patient: If you insist, yes, a little biscuit, please, with a tea.
Le docteur: Non, non, non, pas question! Le th est beaucoup trop fort pour vous.
Une tisane plutt, ou un jus de fruits la rigueur, du lait l'extrme rigueur. C'est
tout.
The doctor: No, no, no, out of the question! Tea is much too strong for you. A herbal tea more like, or a fruit juice at
a push, some milk at the very limit. That's all.
La malade: Non, surtout pas a! J'aime pas le lait, le lait n'est pas bon pour moi,
docteur.
The patient: No, anything but that! I don't like milk, milk isn't good for me doctor.
La malade: Moi, je prfre la crme, vous savez. Ah, et puis un bon camembert,
avec un petit coup de rouge. Un bon rgout de mouton... Je regrette tout a.
The patient: Me, I prefer cream you know. Ah, and then a good camembert, with a little glass of red. A good lamb
stew... I miss all that.
Le docteur: Allons, vous savez bien: il faut manger pour vivre et non vivre pour
manger!
The doctor: Come on, you know very well: it's necessary to eat to live and not live to eat!
La malade: C'est des mots tout a. Des mots, des mots, toujours des mots. Je suis
fatigue des conseils.
The patient: That's all just words. Words, words, always words. I'm tired of advice.
Le docteur: Vous tes fatigue, je vois bien. Alors, il faut vous reposer surtout.
The doctor: You are tired, I can well see. So, above all it's necessary for you to rest.
Le docteur: Il faut dormir, je veux dire. Vous avez des mdicaments pour dormir?
Non? Je vous donne des pilules, d'accord?
The doctor: It is necessary to sleep, I mean. You have some sleeping medicines? No? I'm giving you some pills,
OK?
La malade: Oui, oui, je suis d'accord sur tout, il faut dormir, il faut manger, et il
faut boire du lait, mais c'est difficile parce que je n'ai pas faim et que je n'ai pas
sommeil et que je dteste le lait. C'est bon pour les bbs, le lait, c'est pas pour
les mms! Pouah, moi, boire du lait! J'enrage!
The patient: Yes, yes, I agree to everything, it's necessary to sleep, it is necessary to eat and it is necessary to drink
milk, but it is difficult because I am not hungry and I am not sleepy and I hate milk. Milk is good for babies, it's not for
grannies. Pah, me, drink milk! Outrageous!
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Il faut is a very common expression. The closest English translation is 'It's necessary to...'. But il faut
is also used where in English you'd be more likely to say 'I must', 'you must', 'he must...'.
Let's look more closely at the construction:
Il faut manger.
It is necessary to eat.
Notice first that there's no need for a French equivalent for the English 'to'. 'To' is contained in the
infinitive manger.
Notice also that il is the French for 'it' in this expression. Here 'it' (or il) doesn't refer to anything in
particular - it's an impersonal pronoun.
So to recap, we have three different uses of the word il.
Il representing a male person - translated as he in English:
Le monsieur arrive.
The gentleman arrives.
Il arrive.
He arrives.
Il faut is always impersonal. You can never for example, have another person as the subject:
122
2) Allons! et Allez!
Come on!
Allons! and Allez! are two forms of the verb aller - to go. They are both used to give
encouragement, but the sense of each is slightly different.
Allons! (from nous allons) is slightly reproachful, as if the person you're talking to should be trying
harder.
Allez! (from vous allez) is more encouraging. For example, when the French national football team
plays, the fans chant:
3) Si
You have already come across the word si meaning 'if':
Si vous voulez.
If you want.
A second use of si is when you want to insist on the answer 'yes', in response to a negative question.
If the question is:
Oui.
Yes.
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Si.
Yes.
4) Me et Moi
Me et moi are both pronouns that refer to 'me'. Their use depends on the construction of the
sentence.
You have already come across reflexive verbs such as:
Je me repose.
I rest.
The literal translation of this sentence is 'I rest myself'. In this sentence me is the reflexive pronoun:
'myself' in English. It goes before the verb.
But when we want to use a pronoun referring to 'me' after a preposition, we need to use the
word moi. For example:
The pronoun moi comes after the preposition pour. Moi can follow prepositions other than pour. For
example:
Here's a table showing all the different pronouns to use after a preposition.
les pronoms
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Reflexive pronoun
Je me repose.
I rest.
I am at my place.
Tu te reposes.
Tu es chez toi.
You rest.
Il se repose.
He rests.
He is at his place.
Elle se repose.
She rests.
We rest.
You rest.
Ils se reposent.
Elles se reposent.
Note that some of them take the same form as the subject pronoun:
elle
elles
nous
vous
whereas some of them have a different form:
moi
toi
lui
eux
Il se repose chez lui le soir.
He rests at his place in the evenings.
125
126
>
La traduction
Translate the following English sentences into French:
a) It is necessary to eat to live.
b) It is necessary to drink some milk.
c) I prefer to drink some tea, I hate milk.
d) I like to eat at my place.
e) You like to rest at your place.
Use the informal 'tu' form.
Les verbes
Conjugate the following verbs in the present indicative, adding an object
each time.
je donne un renseignement
tu donnes ton numro de tlphone, etc...
a) donner - to give
je
tu
il
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elle
nous
vous
ils
elles
c) manger - to eat
je
tu
il
elle
nous
vous
ils
elles
Un exercice de comprhension
Reply to the following questions with oui, non or si.
128
La prononciation
Today, we're going to focus on the different ways of pronouncing the letter o.
The vowel sounds marked in yellow are O ouvert - you open the mouth slightly to
get the right sound.
The vowel sounds marked in green are O ferm - you close the lips a little to get
the right sound.
o ouvert - apporter
o ferm - c'est trop, c'est beau
Il faut vous reposer.
C'est des mots, tout a.
Il a besoin de repos.
C'est beau, la vie!
C'est beau, l'amour!
Un tout petit gteau, c'est trop?
Allo... ? Allo? Allo, qui est-ce?
Elle apporte quelque chose.
C'est trop fort, le th.
Alors quoi?
129
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
130
>
L'affiche est pose(1) sur le bord des routes pour sensibiliser(1) les
gens au problme de l'alcool au volant.
The poster is placed on the roadsides to raise awareness among people about the problem of drinkdriving.
131
a beautiful poster
an uncontestable victory
a dangerous road
une statistique
impressionnante
la sensibilisation*
awareness
a powerful statistic
la sanction*
une catastrophe
pouvantable
punishment, sanction
la prvention*
prevention
a dreadful catastrophe
une augmentation*
an increase
an effective campaign
la consquence imprvisible
the unpredictable consequence
la police nationale
the national police
la consommation*
the consumption
*Remember: all words
ending in -tion are feminine
le vocabulaire
132
masculin
un bord
un volant
a side
a steering wheel
le plan
the people
the plan
un accident
le gouvernement
an accident
the government
un problme
un conducteur
a problem
a driver
un alcool
alcohol, a spirit
the media
We sing in chorus.
Tu chantes bien.
Il chante faux.
He sings off-key.
There are three groups of verbs in French and today we are going to look at verbs
from the second group:
133
Verbs in the second group have two defining characteristics: their infinitive ends in ir and they have a form -iss in the plural. Let's look at an example:
choisir - to choose
le prsent de l'indicatif
je choisis
nous choisissons
tu choisis
vous choisissez
il choisit
ils choisissent
elle choisit
elles choisissent
russir
to succeed
avertir
to warn
ragir
to react
obir
to obey
dsobir
to disobey
rougir
to turn red
gurir
to get well
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If you look now at the text at the beginning of the lesson you'll understand why
(1)
(2)
courir
to run
dormir
to sleep
look like verbs from the second group, but in the plural we have
not
2) La forme passive
135
le participe pass
To form the past participle of a verb in the first group, replace the -er ending of the
infinitive with -. The infinitive and the past participle are pronounced the same:
laborer
labor
For verbs in the second group, replace the -ir of the infinitive with i. The
pronunciation changes:
choisir
choisi
When constructing a verb in the passive voice, the past participle must agree with
the subject: add an e when the subject is feminine and an s when the subject is
plural. For example:
la forme passive
masculin singulier
136
Il y a beaucoup de problmes.
There are a lot of problems.
Il y a trop de problmes.
There are too many problems.
(lit: There are too many of problems)
Notice too that the noun doesn't have an article before it, it comes straight after
the de. When we talk about defined quantities of something, the article
disappears.
To recap, when we talk about undefined amounts of something 'problems in
general', we need to use the indefinite article des:
Il y a des problmes.
There are problems.
But when we define a quantity (and 'none at all' counts as a defined quantity), we
use de without an article:
137
Il y a trop d'accidents.
There are too many accidents.
It's good to learn this structure by heart. Because it's different from the English, it
can cause problems. Here are some more examples to practise with:
Il y a beaucoup d'accidents.
Boire ou conduire il faut choisir: pas d'alcool au volant.
Il y a un problme. Il n'y a pas de problme.
Il y a un accident. Il n'y a pas d'accident.
Il y a des problmes. Il n'y a pas de problmes.
Il y a trop de problmes.
Il y a trop d'accidents cause de l'alcool.
Il ne faut pas boire d'alcool au volant.
Voulez-vous un peu de sucre dans le caf?
We'll come across more adverbs that behave in this way in the future.
138
>
Un exercice d'application
a) The following sentences are written in the first person singular je. Rewrite
them using the first person plural (nous).
i) Quand je vais au restaurant midi, je choisis(2) toujours le plat du
jour. Je ne mange(1) pas de dessert.
When I go to the restaurant at mid-day, I always choose the dish of the day. I don't eat pudding.
Quand nous
Si nous
Quand nous
Nous
Nous
139
Nous
140
Les enchanements
C'est
enfant - des
amis
141
142
>
La
prononciation
Today we're going to work on the pronunciation of the letter s. The letter s is pronounced
differently depending on the letters that surround it.
1) S pronounced as z
When an s appears between two vowels for example:
la
vowel
vowel
143
amnsique - amnesiac
la tlvision - the television
You have come across the same z sound when there is a 'liaison' between two words. An s at the
end of a word is not normally pronounced. But when a word that ends in s is followed by a word
beginning with a vowel, the s is treated as if it were between two vowels, so it's pronounced z. For
example:
les
elles
The rule applies even if there is a consonant just before the final s:
les grands
les questions
de temps
2) S pronounced as s
In all other situations, s is pronounced as s like in the English word 'simple'. When the order is
consonant + s + vowel:
la
consonant
vowel
observer - to observe
j'observe
tu observes
il observe
conserver - to conserve
une capsule - a capsule
un psychologue - a psychologist
un arsenal - an arsenal
And when the order is vowel + s + consonant:
la
vowel
consonant
144
il est - it is, he is
At the start of the word the sound is also s. This is especially important if Spanish or German is
your first language - Spaniards have a tendency to begin words with the sound es and Germans
with the sound z:
145
>
La prononciation
Read out loud the following sentences. Record your voice and listen back to it. If
you have any doubts check back over the lesson. Then start up your audio player
to see if your pronunciation is correct.
Tu es en vacances demain?
Are you on holiday tomorrow?
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
146
Le vocabulaire
Now an exercise to help you build your vocabulary. It is very important to
learn the gender of words when you learn their meaning. Today we are going
to look at the words to describe the face. One way to memorise the gender
of the nouns describing the face is to divide it in two. The top half of the face
is masculine - the bottom half is feminine. Take a look at this picture.
147
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
virgule (la)
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
...
points de suspension
148
>
Une
partie de
cartes
endiable
A wicked game
of cards
le temps
les adjectifs possessifs (2)
tomber
Nous sommes quatre amis. Nous sommes en vacances. Aujourd'hui, nous sommes
runis. Nous projetons une promenade, mais hlas, il pleut torrent. Notre projet
tombe l'eau. Pas question de sortir. Qu'est-ce que nous pouvons faire la maison
quand il ne fait pas beau?
We are four friends. We are on holiday. Today, we are together. We plan a walk, but alas, it's raining torrents.
Our plan has fallen flat. No question of going out. What can we do in the house when the weather's not fine?
- Bonne ide, c'est gnial, nous pouvons jouer la belote, puisque nous
sommes quatre, a tombe bien.
Good idea, that's great, we can play belote, as there are four of us, that works out well.
- Excellente ide! Voil un jeu de trente deux cartes et voil le tapis de jeu. Qui
149
- Oui, cinq. Ensuite, les joueurs font leur annonce, ou leurs annonces s'ils ont
plusieurs annonces bien sr. Aprs les annonces, il faut distribuer encore trois
cartes chaque joueur. Et le jeu commence. Qui veut crire le score sur un
papier? Toi, Jeanne? D'accord.
Yes five. Then, the players make their bid, or bids if there are several bids, of course. After the bids, it is
necessary to distribute three more cards to each player. And the game begins. Who wants to write the score on
a piece of paper? You, Jeanne? OK.
- Non, ce n'est pas lui, c'est moi, c'est moi de commencer. J'annonce cent
coeur.
No, it's not him, it's me, it's me to begin. I bid a hundred hearts.
1) Le temps
The word le temps has several distinct meanings. Firstly, there's the grammatical sense:
le temps prsent
the present tense
le temps pass
the past tense
150
le temps futur
the future tense
Les temps anciens et les temps modernes sont trs diffrents technologiquement.
The olden times and modern times are technologically very different.
Il y a souvent du beau temps dans le sud et du mauvais temps dans le nord, c'est
fatal.
There's often good weather in the South and bad weather in the North, there's no getting away from it. (lit: it's fate)
When describing the weather, you need to employ the expression il fait:
The il in il fait is impersonal here. The replies too, use the impersonal form. Never say:
but instead:
151
Il fait chaud.
It's hot.
Il fait froid.
It's cold.
Il fait du vent.
It's windy.
Il pleut.
It's raining.
Il neige.
It's snowing.
Il fait jour.
It's daytime.
Il fait nuit.
It's night time.
Be careful not to mix il fait - the impersonal expression that describes sensation or experience,
and il faut ( Lesson 11 ) meaning 'It is necessary to'. For example, from today's lesson:
mon sac
ton sac
son sac
ma valise
ta valise
sa valise
Today we will look at the possessive adjectives when there is more than one owner.
If the thing that's owned is a feminine singular object, such as an idea
152
une ide
an idea
we have:
your idea
their idea
un projet
a project
we have:
your project
their project
your ideas
their ideas
and
your projects
their projects
As you can see, when there's more than one owner, we use the same possessive adjective
regardless of the gender of the thing being owned.
3) Tomber
The verb tomber has several different meanings.
The first, basic, meaning is 'to fall':
But there are also more figurative meanings. You can use tomber to describe a coincidence of
events:
153
Mon anniversaire tombe le jour de Nol. Pas de chance, j'ai seulement un cadeau et
pas deux.
My birthday falls on Christmas Day. No luck, I get just one present, not two.
a tombe bien and a tombe mal express good and bad coincidences:
Vous tes disponible? C'est bien pour vous mais a tombe mal pour moi parce que
j'ai beaucoup de travail en ce moment.
You are available? That's good for you but that falls badly for me, because I have a lot of work at the moment.
Laisser tomber means literally 'to let fall'. In more natural English, we would say 'to drop' or 'to
abandon':
154
>
Un exercice d'application
Transform the following expressions using possessive adjectives.
C'est ma maison.
155
Une traduction
Translate the following text into English.
Demain je pars en voyage. Il faut partir tt. a tombe bien
parce que j'aime me lever tt, mme quand je suis en
vacances. Je vais en Europe, en France. Je sais qu'il fait
trs beau. J'ai le projet de faire beaucoup de tourisme. Je
veux visiter plusieurs pays. Je prends l'avion pour aller
Paris, et je continue en train, puisque les distances ne sont
pas grandes. Nous sommes trois amis. Nous voyageons
ensemble.
Comment voyagez-vous?
How do you travel?
Je voyage...
156
But do you know which are masculine and which are feminine?
un train
1)
avion
2)
camion
3)
vlo
4)
moto
5)
voiture
6)
bateau
157
L'intonation
Le franais n'a pas d'accent tonique. L'intonation est assez libre.
Souvent, la fin des mots est marque. coutez et rptez.
French isn't a language in which it's obligatory to put stress on a particular syllable. The intonation is
fairly free. Often though, the ends of words are stressed. Listen and repeat.
Une composition
You have organised a surprise party for friends. Using verbs in the present
tense, describe what happens.
158
>
Quel
jour
sommesnous?
What day is it?
- Un moment s'il vous plat, j'arrive. Oh, d'accord, je vois, c'est un trs
159
gros paquet.
- One moment please, I am coming. Oh, OK, I see, it's a very large packet.
- Oui, un gros paquet, et puis c'est assez lourd. Voil, je peux vous
demander une petite signature?
Yes, a large packet, and it's fairly heavy. Here, can I ask you for a little signature?
- Oui, o a?
Yes, whereabouts?
- L, sur la feuille de livraison. C'est petit comme feuille de livraison. Estce qu'il y a assez de place pour signer?
There, on the delivery sheet. It's a small delivery sheet. Is there enough room to sign?
- Oui, a va. Quelle histoire! Vous tes sr que c'est pour moi? a vient
d'o ce colis? De Paris? C'est mes parents peut-tre. Je suis surprise.
C'est pas leur habitude. Mais au fait, quel jour sommes-nous?
Yes, that's OK. What a saga! Are you sure that it's for me? Where does it come from, this parcel? From
Paris? From my parents, maybe. I am surprised. They're not in the habit... But hold on, what day is it
today? (lit: what day are we?)
-Le huit, le huit juin, alors c'est pour mon anniversaire, je comprends tout
maintenant.
The 8th, the 8th of June, so it's for my birthday, I understand everything now.
le vocabulaire
fminin
la porte d'entre
la livraison
the delivery
la lettre recommande
la place
la feuille
une histoire
a story, a saga
la signature personnelle
une habitude
a habit
160
le vocabulaire
masculin
le facteur
les parents
the postman
le colis
un anniversaire
the parcel
a birthday
le paquet
the packet
1) Quel
a) Quel... ?
Quel followed by a question mark is the equivalent of the English 'What...?' or 'Which...?' It's
an adjective that hooks up with a noun to form a question.
Because it's an adjective, it must agree in number (singular or plural) and gender
(masculine or feminine) with the noun it's linked to.
So we have in the masculine singular:
(Notice that even though the word for hour is feminine - une heure - the question is
161
Tu prfres quels livres: les romans, les policiers, les livres d'histoire?
What books do you prefer: novels, detective stories, history books?
b) Quel... !
Quel followed by an exclamation mark means 'What a... !' For example:
Quelle histoire!
What a story!
Quel problme!
What a problem!
Quel, quelle, quelles and quels are all pronounced the same.
c) ...quel...
...quel..., ...quelle..., ...quels... and ...quelles... are conjunctions used to link two clauses of
a sentence: '...what...' or '...which...' in English.
2) Assez
Assez is an adverb used to describe quantity. As an adverb it only has one form: there
aren't different versions for masculine and feminine, singular and plural.
Assez has two meanings. Firstly quite:
162
If you want to say, 'enough of something', you must add in the word de before the
something you want to describe. For example,
Vous avez assez de temps pour rgler les questions importantes avant la fin
de la journe.
You have enough time to sort out the important questions before the end of the day.
J'ai peu de relations dans l'entreprise. Mes amis travaillent ailleurs, dans un
autre secteur. C'est un nouveau poste pour moi.
I have few contacts in the company. (I don't have many contacts in the company). My friends work elsewhere,
in another sector. It's a new job for me.
163
4) Comme
Comme is used to express a comparison. It can go with nouns, the equivalent of 'like' in
English:
Mon nouveau collgue n'est pas un homme comme les autres, il est
exceptionnel.
My new colleague isn't a man like the others, he's exceptional.
Listen out for this construction in spoken French. It is used very often:
164
C'est intressant comme journal, Libration? Oui, il faut reconnaitre que c'est
pas mal.
Is it interesting as a newspaper, Libration? Yes, you have to acknowledge that it's not bad.
Note that the noun is used without an article in this construction, unlike in the English
translation:
comme journal
as a newspaper
165
>
Un exercice d'application
Choose the correct word - quel, quelle, quels or quelles - to fill in the gaps:
1)
exercice facile!
2)
3) Tu prfres
4)
5)
6) Vous avez
ge?
7) Vous savez
8)
9)
10)
bonne ide!
11)
vilain temps!
Une traduction
Translate the following texts into French.
166
2) You want to reserve a room for what day? What shows do you want
to see during your trip in Lyon? You live in which town? You want to
dine at what hour?
(use the vous form)
167
Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?
'What's up?' or 'What's happening?'
La prononciation
Today we're going to work a little more on the different ways of pronouncing
the letters e-u:
eu closed
and
eu open
168
un peu
J'ai peur.
Elle a un peu peur de l'avenir.
Quelle heure est-il?
Il est exactement neuf heures moins deux minutes.
Le facteur est jeune.
Je peux vous demander un renseignement?
C'est un jeune chat.
C'est un vieux chien.
jeune - vieux
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
169
>
Prendre,
comprendre,
apprendre
To take, to understand,
to learn
170
Trs amicalement.
In friendship,
Paul.
We need now to advance a bit more with your knowledge of verbs. You may remember
that there are three groups of verbs in French.
The First Group contains all the regular verbs with an infinitive ending in -er. For example
tomber:
tomber - to fall
171
le prsent de l'indicatif
Je tombe mal?
Tu tombes pic au contraire.
tomber pic
1) Le verbe prendre
The verb prendre means 'to take'. This is the conjugation in the present indicative:
je prends
tu prends
il prend
the three are pronounced the same
nous prenons
vous prenez
172
ils prennent
You can use the verb prendre in many different situations:
There's also the verb reprendre to express the idea of 'beginning again':
And there are other compound verbs which have the same conjugation:
comprendre
to understand
je comprends
tu comprends
il comprend
nous comprenons
vous comprenez
ils comprennent
Je comprends peu peu les choses.
I understand things little by little.
Tu comprends?
Do you understand?
Il ne comprend rien.
173
apprendre
- to learn
surprendre
to surprise
174
We also use the passive form. If the person being surprised is masculine:
Je les comprends.
I understand them.
When you want to replace the object of a sentence, like les Franais in the example
above, by a pronoun, like les in the example above, you must place the direct object
pronoun before the verb.
The word order is different, then, in French to English. The direct object pronouns are:
les complments d'objet direct
me
nous
me
us
te
vous
you
you
le
les
him or it
them
la
her or it
Notice that in the third person, the direct object pronoun is identical to the definite article:
Je prends le bus.
I take the bus.
175
Je le prends.
I take it.
Je prends la voiture.
I take the car.
Je la prends.
I take it.
If the verb that follows begins with a vowel, me, te, le, la are reduced to m', t' and l':
Here are some examples of sentences in the letter from Paul to Pierre that use a direct
object pronoun:
Je te surprends.
I surprise you.
176
>
Un exercice d'application
Put the verbs in brackets into the present of the indicative.
1) Les lves ne
(comprendre)
2) Ma soeur
(apprendre)
le chinois.
3) Vous ne
(comprendre)
4) Je ne peux pas aller chez toi aujourd'hui, j'ai trop de travail finir, tu
?
(comprendre)
5) J'
(apprendre)
6) Votre visite me
(surprendre)
Une traduction
Translate the following texts into French.
1) Do you understand me when I speak French? Your progress
surprises me. As for me, I prefer to learn French by Internet.
(use the vous form)
177
Les pronoms
Replace the words in green by the appropriate pronoun.
178
Une traduction
Translate into French.
1) You understand me.
(use the tu form)
2) I am leaving you.
(use the tu form)
La prononciation
179
and it's the same with all verbs ending -endre. Listen and repeat:
entendre
J'entends du bruit.
Tu entends une sonnerie.
Il entend des voix, comme Jeanne d'Arc.
attendre
J'attends mon taxi.
Tu attends le dbut des cours impatiemment.
Elle attend son petit frre la gare.
Il attend une rponse immdiate.
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Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
181
>
Faites
attention!
l'impratif
un moment...
C'est la grve.
There's a strike.
182
Qu'est-ce qu'il faut faire? Est-ce qu'il faut que j'annule mon voyage?
What is to be done? Is it necessary to cancel my trip?
- Non, il ne faut rien annuler du tout. Allez sur le quai et attendez! Un train est
annonc. Prenez-le. Votre billet est valable de toute faon, non?
No, it's not necessary to cancel anything. Go to the platform and wait. A train has been announced. Take it.
Your ticket is valid at any rate, isn't it?
le vocabulaire
fminin
la bordure
la grve
the strike
la chance
la pagaille
luck
the mess
la direction
la vitesse
the speed
la gare
the station
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masculin
le bureau
un renseignement
the office
information
un haut-parleur
le voyage
a loudspeaker
le malheur
the misfortune
le quai
the platform
un rendez-vous
a meeting
verbes et adverbes
aimablement
faire
kindly
to do, to make
annuler
presque
to cancel
almost
crier
supprimer
to shout, to blare
effectivement
to cancel
surtout
above all
voyager
effectively, indeed
to travel
s'loigner de
to distance yourself from,
to keep back from
1) L'impratif
The imperative - l'impratif - is the mode you use when you want to give orders or
instructions. For example, someone knocks on your door. You shout out:
Entrez!
Enter!
That's an imperative.
is also an imperative. Because orders and instructions, by their nature, are addressed directly to
someone, there is no imperative in the first person singular (je) nor in the third person
singular or plural (il, elle, ils, elles).
184
So what are we left with? First let's look at verbs in Group One - regular verbs with the infinitive
ending in er. To make a Group One verb imperative you need to drop the subject pronoun: tu,
nous or vous. And in the tu form, you need to lose the s at the end of the verb as well.
l'impratif
Present indicative
Imperative
Tu entres.
Entre!
You enter.
Enter!
Nous entrons.
Entrons!
We enter.
Let's enter!
Vous entrez.
Entrez!
You enter.
Enter!
demander
to ask
Ask!
Let's ask!
Ask!
supprimer
to cancel
Cancel!
Let's cancel!
Cancel!
With verbs from Group Two, verbs with an infinitive -ir and a nous form -iss, you create the
imperative simply by dropping the subject pronoun.
l'impratif
Present indicative
Imperative
Tu finis.
Finis!
You finish.
Finish!
Nous finissons.
Finissons!
We finish.
Let's finish!
Vous finissez.
Finissez!
You finish.
Finish!
choisir
to choose
Let's choose!
Choose!
It's the same principle for Group Three (irregular verbs). Just drop the tu, nous and vous from
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prendre
to take
faire
to do, make
Take!
Let's take!
Take!
Fais!
Faisons!
Faites!
Do!
Let's do!
Do!
You can also form imperatives in the negative by adding ne and pas.
Tu te promnes.
Promne-toi librement!
Walk freely around!
In the negative, the reflexive pronoun stays before the verb. And in that position, the te
remains te:
Ne te promne pas sans prendre ton parapluie, le temps n'est pas sr aujourd'hui!
Don't go for a walk without your umbrella, the weather's uncertain today!
Another imperative you hear quite often, especially as a child, comes from the verb se taire to
keep quiet:
186
Tais-toi!
Keep quiet!
Taisez-vous!
Keep quiet!
2) Un moment...
Le moment means 'a moment' or 'a little time':
Je suis heureux de pouvoir passer un petit moment avec toi, c'est si rare!
I am happy to be able to spend a little time with you, it's so rare!
Les employs ne peuvent pas nous donner de rponse pour le moment, demain
peut-tre, ou peut-tre la semaine prochaine.
The employees can't give us a reply for the moment, tomorrow maybe, or maybe next week.
187
>
La traduction
a) English into French
I go for a walk with a friend. We are hungry.
My friend: Let's enter this restaurant.
Me: Is it open?
The cook: Of course, enter! Hello, enter! Welcome. Choose your table.
Here is the menu. Would you like an aperitif?
My friend: No thank you. Do you do sandwiches?
The chef: No, we only do set menus.
Me: Very well, so let's take set menus, shall we? What do you think?
You are not hungry enough to take a set menu?
My friend: Yes, I think that I am.
188
Un exercice d'application
Use the verb faire to fill in the gaps:
1) Je
de sport en ce moment.
189
ce soir?
5) L't, il
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
virgule (la)
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
...
points de suspension
190
>
Le pass compos
le pass compos
191
Vocabulary note
faire un plan means to make a map or a drawing, as in un plan de la ville for a map of the town.
avoir des projets, ou faire des projets pour l'avenir means to have plans or make plans for the future.
Le pass compos
When you want to talk about an action in the past, you must use a verb in the past
tense. There are a number of different past tenses in French, as there are in
English. Today we are going to look at le pass compos.
Le pass compos is used to express a specific action that takes place in the
past.
192
Regardons la formation.
Let's look at how it's formed.
J'ai
achet.
I have
bought.
J'ai
tlphon.
I have
telephoned.
The present tense of the verb avoir you should know by now:
avoir - to have
193
le prsent de l'indicatif
j'ai
nous avons
tu as
vous avez
il a
ils ont
elle a
elles ont
We looked at past participles when we studied the passive form. To form them, you
need to know which group your verb comes from.
For the verbs in Group One, you form the past participle by replacing the -er
ending of the infinitive with -. The infinitive and the past participle are pronounced
the same:
acheter
aimer
tlphoner
achet
aim
tlphon
So putting the present tense of avoir with the past participle we get le pass
compos:
le pass compos
194
with -i:
finir
choisir
fini
choisi
dormir
J'ai dormi comme une marmotte.
sometimes it is -u:
tenir
J'ai tenu la situation en main.
voir
J'ai vu une chose incroyable.
sometimes -ert:
ouvrir
J'ai ouvert la porte.
For prendre and its family the ending is -is:
195
prendre
J'ai pris une dcision difficile prendre.
comprendre
J'ai compris l'essentiel.
Then we have:
faire
J'ai fait beaucoup d'efforts.
tre
J'ai t ridiculement optimiste.
avoir
J'ai eu beaucoup de chance finalement.
This is all we are going to cover for today.
Learning le pass compos is extremely important (we're not quite finished - there
are a dozen or so verbs that are formed with the present tense of tre not avoir,
but we'll deal with those another time). So take your time to go back over this
lesson and make sure you have it all sorted out.
196
>
Un exercice d'application
Put the following situation in the past by using le pass compos.
Aujourd'hui, il y a une grve des bus. Alors je dcide de rester chez
moi. Mon ami et moi, nous regardons la tlvision. Un ami voisin
tlphone pour nous inviter sortir dner avec lui. Nous acceptons
mais nous prfrons trouver un restaurant dans notre quartier. Nous
choisissons un petit bistro sympa, pas cher. Nous passons une soire
trs agrable.
"Samedi dernier, il y ...
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
197
virgule (la)
...
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
points de suspension
La prononciation
Notez bien la prononciation du participe pass de avoir: J'ai eu. C'est une
exception.
Note carefully the pronunciation of the past participle of avoir. It's irregular.
Une composition
Write a composition using le pass compos to describe an event that's
198
199
>
Le
futur
le futur simple
200
end d'octobre.
Here is the weather forecast for next weekend, the last weekend in October.
Le futur
When we want to talk about the future, we need to use a verb in the future tense.
Today we are going to look at le futur simple.
For verbs in Groups One and Two, such as manger, donner, choisir, finir, we
form le futur simple by taking the whole of the infinitive as the stem, and then
adding the ending:
201
je mangerai
nous mangerons
tu mangeras
vous mangerez
il mangera
ils mangeront
elle mangera
elles mangeront
je choisirai
nous choisirons
tu choisiras
vous choisirez
il choisira
ils choisiront
elle choisira
elles choisiront
dormir
Elle dormira dans ma chambre si elle veut.
partir
Nous partirons le plus tt possible.
202
With Group Three verbs such as prendre you need to drop off the 'e' from the
infinitive:
prendre
Nous prendrons les prcautions ncessaires.
comprendre
Je comprendrai mieux aprs vos explications, c'est sr.
For more irregular verbs, it is just a question of learning the appropriate roots. Here
are some examples:
faire - to do, to make
le futur simple
je ferai
tu feras
il / elle fera
nous ferons
vous ferez
ils / elles feront
je voudrai
tu voudras
il / elle voudra
nous voudrons
vous voudrez
ils / elles voudront
203
je viendrai
tu viendras
il / elle viendra
nous viendrons
vous viendrez
ils / elles viendront
Je viendrai seul.
Tu viendras tard.
Il viendra la fin de la sance.
Nous viendrons srement.
Vous viendrez?
Elles ne viendront pas skier avec nous.
tre - to be
le futur simple
je serai
tu seras
il / elle sera
nous serons
vous serez
ils / elles seront
Je serai l demain.
204
C'est...
It is...
avoir - to have
le futur simple
j'aurai
tu auras
il / elle aura
nous aurons
vous aurez
ils / elles auront
205
is the future of
Il y a...
There is...
Now you are advancing with your studies, it's worth mentioning that you'll find it
extremely useful to get yourself a reference book containing the conjugations of all
the French verbs. If you haven't already got one, try Le Bescherelle des
conjugaisons which is very widely available.
206
>
Un exercice d'application
Put the verbs in green into le futur simple.
1) Si vous travaillez, vous
russir
2) Si tu joues, tu
gagner
.
.
demain matin.
Un exercice de comprhension
Read and understand the following sentences to get a precise idea of how
the expression la mme chose is used in French.
Un MacDonald's et un bon petit restaurant, c'est pas
exactement la mme chose.
Vous voulez une place au deuxime rang ou au troisime
rang?
- C'est presque la mme chose, non?
J'ai des problmes avec la langue franaise.
- C'est normal, c'est la mme chose pour tout le monde.
Vous prfrez le football ou le rugby?
- Pour moi c'est la mme chose. Je ne suis pas intresse
207
par le sport.
Vous prfrez le piano ou le football?
- Votre question me surprend parce que ce n'est pas du
tout la mme chose!
La prononciation
il y a
Il y a beaucoup de monde le samedi dans les magasins.
il y aura
Il y aura beaucoup de monde et peu de places libres samedi prochain
au match de foot.
il y a eu
Il y a eu un appel pour vous, j'ai pris un message, c'est sur votre
bureau.
Il y a, il y aura, il y a eu sont prononcs diffremment dans la langue parle. C'est
plus souvent, phontiquement:
il y a
ia
il y aura
iora
il y a eu
ia-u
il y a quelqu'un ici?
208
ia quelqu'un ici?
209
>
Regardez
le bateau
qui passe
sur la
rivire! Il
est
norme.
Prenons la phrase:
Let's take the sentence:
You have already come across the word qui meaning who? during the game of cards
(Lesson 14).
When qui is used as a question word, it must always refer to a person, not a thing. If
we want to ask a question about an object, we say, for example:
210
Que voulez-vous?
What do you want?
and qui represents a town, Paris, not a person. On this occasion qui is being used not
as a question word, but as a relative pronoun.
A relative pronoun is a word that links a noun with a subclause. And qui is the relative
pronoun to use when the noun you are linking up with is the subject of the clause that
follows.
Let's look at some examples to make this clear.
les pronoms relatifs
Main clause
Relative pronoun
Subclause
qui
sont romantiques.
I like films
which
are romantic.
211
The sole criteria is that the noun being linked to is the subject of the
subclause.
As such, French is different from English, where a distinction is made between 'who'
and 'which', depending on whether you're referring to a person or a thing.
The verb in the subclause must agree with its subject, so if qui is referring to a plural
noun, the verb must be plural:
212
213
>
214
2)
est-ce
- Un mystrieux colis
3)
est-ce
- Votre secrtaire.
La prononciation
La lettre q est accompagne d'un u sauf en fin de mot comme: le coq.
Qu est suivi d'une voyelle: a, e, i, o.
215
>
Bonjour toutes et
tous!
tous et toutes
le futur simple de aller
mieux
le verbe recevoir
quelques homonymes
216
Je compte sur nos Franais et sur nos Franaises, pour les aider passer un
agrable sjour.
I count on our French men and women to help them have an enjoyable stay.
Mais assez de discours maintenant, je suppose que vous tes tous impatients
d'aller au buffet qui est prpar pour clbrer notre nouveau partenariat.
Profitez largement de notre gastronomie, c'est une partie de notre culture.
Nous avons beaucoup de plaisir la partager. Le plateau de cochonailles
vous attend et le tonneau de Beaujolais galement.
But that is enough talking for now, I suppose that you are all impatient to go to the buffet which has been
prepared to celebrate our new partnership. Take full advantage of our cooking, it is a part of our culture. It's a
great pleasure for us to share it. The plate of pork delicacies awaits you, as does the barrel of Beaujolais.
1) Tous / toutes
In the phrase at the beginning of our text:
217
the expression tous et toutes means 'to all' or 'to all of you'.
tous
is masculine plural. Notice that the final s in tous is pronounced.
toutes
is feminine plural - it refers to the women in the audience. In mixed company you can just
say
Bonjour tous!
or
218
The primary reference of tous is to the fingers of the glove. The secondary reference is to
people of different races.
Cette image illustre aussi l'expression
This picture also illustrates the expression
219
As you can see, it's irregular: its stem is not the infinitive. Here is the conjugation:
aller - to go
le futur simple
J'irai en Italie.
Tu iras Rome.
Il ira en Irlande.
3) Mieux
mieux
better
is the comparative of
bien
well
just as in English you can't say 'more well'. So if you're having a bad day:
220
4) Le verbe recevoir
The verb recevoir, meaning to receive, is an irregular verb from the third group. Here's the
conjugation:
recevoir - to receive
le prsent de l'indicatif
je reois
tu reois
il / elle reoit
nous recevons
vous recevez
ils / elles reoivent
5) Quelques homonymes
Homonyms are words that sound the same but have a different meaning. For example:
une cour
Les enfants jouent dans la cour de l'cole.
The children play in the courtyard of the school.
221
un court
Le terrain de tennis s'appelle un court de tennis.
The pitch in tennis is called a tennis court.
un cours
Vous suivez un cours de perfectionnement.
You follow a course to perfect your skills.
Tu ne cours jamais.
You never run.
222
>
Un exercice d'application
Reply to the questions using the following model:
Notice that the object pronoun les comes before the verb, unlike its
English equivalent 'them'.
1) Tu aimes les fruits?
"Oui,
Une traduction
Translate into French.
223
224
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
virgule (la)
...
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
points de suspension
Un exercice de composition
Practise using the verb recevoir by imagining a conversation between two
office workers discussing the e-mails they have received in their letterboxes.
225
226
>
Le service
est
compris.
servir / servir
chercher / chercher
demander
enrichir votre vocabulaire
227
Sylvie: D'accord. Alors trois, des bires lgres. Et... vous avez des
allumettes?
OK. So three, light beers (not strong in alcohol). And... do you have some matches?
Sophie: T'as pas chaud avec ton gros pull? Moi je meurs de chaud
aujourd'hui!
You're not hot with your thick jumper? Me, I am dying of heat today!
Sylvie: Oui, c'est vrai qu'il y a foule aujourd'hui. Mais c'est sympa
comme terrasse et l'avantage, c'est qu'ils servent aussi des repas la
carte, sans interruption. Je viens parfois ici pendant ma pause. Mon
bureau est dans la rue qui est juste derrire. C'est pratique, c'est
rapide, c'est au soleil quand il fait beau... et en plus c'est pas cher.
Yes, it's true that there's a crowd today. But it's a nice terrace and the advantage is that they also
serve la carte meals throughout the day. I come here sometimes during my break. My office is in
the road just behind. It's practical, it's quick, it's in the sun when the weather's fine... and what's
more it's not expensive.
228
1) Servir et Servir
The verb servir followed by a noun means 'to serve'.
The verb servir is an irregular verb from Group Three. Its conjugation:
servir - to serve
le prsent de l'indicatif
servir
is used for describing. It doesn't translate very directly into English, the loose
translation is 'is used to' or 'is good for':
229
2) Chercher et Chercher
Another verb which can mean different things depending on the construction is
chercher. Chercher on its own means 'to look for':
But
chercher + infinitif
means 'to try to'. For example:
Je cherche comprendre.
I am trying to understand.
With these two verbs, chercher and servir, you can see how prepositions can
change the meaning of sentences.
French is like English in this way: 'to look, to look like, to look for, to look after' all
have very different meanings.
3) Demander
Demander means 'to ask for'. It's tricky because the construction is the reverse of
English. In the sentence:
230
we use a direct construction for the person being asked - John - and an indirect
construction for the thing being sought - for some cigarettes. In the French
equivalent:
On demande
direct
indirect
direct
231
C'est une pice de monnaie, une pice de cinq euros, une pice de
deux euros. Il y a aussi des billets.
It's a coin: a five euro coin, a two euro coin. There are also notes.
232
Quelle salade!
What a mess! (lit: What a salad!)
Et une cuisinire?
And une cuisinire?
Une cuisinire est une femme qui fait la cuisine, si c'est un homme,
c'est un cuisinier.
Mais une cuisinire est aussi l'appareil qui sert faire la cuisine. Est-ce
que vous avez une cuisinire gaz ou une cuisinire lectrique?
Une cuisinire is a woman who does the cooking, if it is a man, it's un cuisinier.
But une cuisinire is also the apparatus which is used to do the cooking. Do you have a gas
cooker or an electric cooker?
233
>
Un exercice d'application
Choisissez servir, servir , chercher, chercher et conjuguez
convenablement les verbes choisis.
1) Je ne trouve pas mes cls de voiture, je les
2) La jeune femme qui
partout.
rien. Je
la panne.
234
Une composition
Mon restaurant prfr
Use the relative pronoun qui to describe the activities in a restaurant. You
can begin like this:
Dans la cuisine du restaurant, il y a beaucoup d'ustensiles qui servent
...
Complete the composition using the following vocabulary. You can also use
a dictionary to help you.
des casseroles - des cuillres en bois - des pices - des assiettes - des
cuillres et des fourchettes - des couteaux - des verres - des bons
petits plats
saucepans - wooden spoons - spices - plates - spoons and forks - knives - glasses - good little
dishes
235
>
Les lections
l'adjectif tout
Dans tous les pays dmocratiques il y a des lections. Les gens votent
pour lire le prsident de la Rpublique, le maire de la ville o ils
habitent, les dputs. C'est comme a, la dmocratie. Tout le monde
peut voter pour donner son opinion. Il y a eu des luttes sociales pour
a.
In all democratic countries there are elections. The people vote to elect the president of the republic,
the mayor of the town where they live, members of parliament. That's how it is,
democracy. Everyone can vote in order to give their opinion. Social conflicts have been fought for
that.
236
- Pourquoi?
Why?
237
- Et vous jeune homme, est-ce que vous voulez voter pour les
prochaines lections municipales?
And you young man, do you want to vote in the next municipal elections?
- Des lections? Ah oui, c'est vrai, j'avais oubli. Oui, pourquoi pas,
j'irai peut-tre voter.
The elections? Ah yes, it's true, I had forgotten. Yes, why not, maybe I will go to vote.
- Ah, enfin un patriote. Bravo monsieur. Alors, dites haut et fort tout
le monde pourquoi il faut voter.
Ah, at last a patriot. Well done sir. So, tell the world loud and clear why it's necessary to vote.
- Mais parce que je suis candidat, pardi! Votez tous pour moi et vous
ferez votre devoir de citoyen!
Because I am a candidate, good heavens! Vote for me everybody and you will do your duty as
citizens!
Bonjour tous!
Hello to all!
238
tout le monde
all the world
Tout le monde aime les spaghetti? C'est bon, je fais des spaghetti pour
tout le monde!
Everyone likes spaghetti? That's good, I'm making spaghetti for everyone!
Notice the unusual place for this type of adjective: before the indefinite article (le in
this case).
Because tout is an adjective, it must agree with the word it describes. So we have:
l'adjectif tout
masculin singulier
239
Bonjour tous!
But the s isn't pronounced in the masculine plural adjective tous, whereas it is in
the pronoun tous. So we say for example:
Pronom
Je ne les aime pas tous, ses films, j'aime seulement les premiers.
I don't like them all, his films, I only like the first ones.
Adjectif
Je n'aime pas tous ses films, j'aime seulement les premiers.
I don't like all his films, I only like the first ones.
240
>
Un exercice d'application
Fill in the gaps with tout, toute, tous or toutes.
1) Je tlphone
le temps.
ce gros gteau
seul? - Si!
et
9) Si la pluie tombe
la nuit, nous n'irons pas nous promener
demain. Le sol sera tremp.
241
Une composition
Faites un essai, rpondez la dernire question du texte: Qu'est-ce
que vous pensez des gens qui ne votent pas? Au fait, est-ce que
vous, vous votez?
Write an essay, replying to the question in the text. What do you think of people who do not vote?
As a matter of fact, do you vote?
242
>
La
guinguette
venir de / venir
dire que
Il y a un monde fou aujourd'hui. Normal, c'est l't, c'est dimanche et il fait beau.
Tout le monde a eu la mme ide. C'est pourquoi le service est si lent.
It's crazy the number of people here today. That's to be expected, it's the summer, it's Sunday and the
weather is fine. Everybody had the same idea. That's why the service is so slow.
243
A la table voisine, les gens s'impatientent aussi. Pourtant, eux, ils viennent
d'arriver. C'est un jeune couple. Le monsieur lve la voix pour rclamer:
At the next table, the people are getting impatient too. And yet they've just arrived. It's a young couple.
The gentleman raises his voice to demand:
- Sois patient, chri, nous venons juste d'arriver. C'est dimanche, nous
avons le temps, non?
- Be patient, darling, we have just arrived. It's Sunday, we've got time, haven't we?
Il rpond:
He replies:
- Mais je viens de voir le serveur. Il peut nous donner la carte au moins. J'ai
faim, moi.
- But I have just seen the waiter. He could at least give us the menu. I am hungry, I am.
Et, comme sa femme n'apprcie pas son comportement et fronce les sourcils, il
ajoute:
And since his wife does not appreciate his attitude and frowns, he adds:
Elle sourit.
She smiles.
1) Venir de / venir
Venir de / venir is an irregular verb from Group Three meaning 'to come'.
venir de / venir - to come
244
le prsent de l'indicatif
Je viens de loin.
I come from far.
Tu viens d'o?
You come from where?
D'o venez-vous?
Where do you come from?
Je viens de Lyon.
I come from Lyon.
Venir de has a different meaning when it's followed by another verb in the infinitive.
venir + de + un infinitif
means 'to have just ..':
The construction is called le pass immdiat. Here are some more examples:
Tu es l depuis longtemps?
245
2) Dire + que
You'll remember that que is the word to use when you want to say 'I am sure that...' or 'I
think that...'
The verb dire means 'to say'. Sometimes it's direct: you don't need que. This is the
case when no second verb follows:
With direct speech you don't need que either. You just add inverted commas and a
colon or a comma:
But when you report indirect speech you must use que, or qu' if the word that follows
begins with a vowel:
246
- Nous venons de recevoir une nouvelle note de service. La note dit que la
rduction du temps de travail 35 heures hebdomadaires est applicable
notre secteur d'activit immdiatement.
We've just received a new memorandum. The memo says that the reduction of the working week to 35
hours is applicable immediately in our sector of activity.
- Les employs ne disent rien pour le moment. Le patron dit que c'est
ridicule et que c'est le dbut de la fin pour les petites entreprises. Il pense
que c'est une loi scandaleuse.
The employees aren't saying anything at the moment. The boss says that it's ridiculous and that it's the
beginning of the end for small businesses. He thinks that the law is scandalous.
247
>
Une traduction
Traduisez en franais.
1) I have just seen a horrible film.
248
10) That's normal, I took courses in France this summer, in fact I have
just returned.
249
Une composition
Vous venez de recevoir une lettre de votre ami Sbastien qui est en
vacances. Vous racontez le contenu de la lettre une collgue de bureau au
style indirect.
Sbastien m'crit qu'il fait du ski, qu'il ...
250
>
apprendre compter
l'usage des chiffres et les oprations
l'criture et la phontique des chiffres fondamentales
0 zro
1 un
251
2 deux
3 trois
4 quatre
5 cinq
6 six
7 sept
8 huit
9 neuf
cent deux
102
252
10 dix
Je parie dix contre un que le Pre Nol n'existe pas. Gagn!
11 onze
12 Douze oeufs, c'est une douzaine d'oeufs.
13 treize
14 C'est reparti comme en quatorze!
Comme au dbut de la guerre de 1914, les Franais croyaient la
victoire.
15 quinze
16 seize
17 dix-sept
18 dix-huit
19 dix-neuf
20 vingt
On n'a pas tous les jours vingt ans, a nous arrive une fois
seulement.
21 vingt et un
22 vingt-deux
23 vingt-trois
24 vingt-quatre
25 vingt-cinq
26 vingt-six
27 vingt-sept
28 vingt-huit
29 vingt-neuf
30 trente
Trente points, j'ai gagn, vive l'quipe, vive moi!
253
31 trente et un
32 trente-deux
Nous avons 32 dents dans la bouche... normalement.
33 trente-trois
Dites 33, dit le mdecin pour examiner la gorge du malade.
34 trente-quatre
35 trente-cinq
36 trente-six
37 trente-sept
38 trente-huit
39 trente-neuf
Mais qu'est-ce que tu comptes?
40 quarante
Les moutons, je compte les moutons pour dormir...
41 quarante et un
42 quarante-deux
43 quarante-trois
44 quarante-quatre
45 quarante-cinq
46 quarante-six
47 quarante-sept
48 quarante-huit
49 quarante-neuf
50 cinquante
a marche!
51 cinquante et un
Oui c'est a, un 51 comme d'habitude (un Pastis 51).
254
52 cinquante-deux
53 cinquante-trois
54 cinquante-quatre
55 cinquante-cinq
56 cinquante-six
57 cinquante-sept
58 cinquante-huit
59 cinquante-neuf
60 soixante
La srie des soixante va jusqu'
soixante-dix-neuf.
70 soixante-dix
61 soixante et un
71 soixante et onze
62 soixante-deux
72 soixante-douze
63 soixante-trois
73 soixante-treize
64 soixante-quatre
74 soixante-quatorze
65 soixante-cinq
75 soixante-quinze
66 soixante-six
76 soixante-seize
67 soixante-sept
77 soixante-dix-sept
68 soixante-huit
78 soixante-dix-huit
69 soixante-neuf
79 soixante-dix-neuf
80 quatre-vingts
La srie des quatre-vingts va
jusqu' quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.
90 quatre-vingt-dix
81 quatre-vingt-un
91 quatre-vingt-onze
82 quatre-vingt-deux
92 quatre-vingt-douze
83 quatre-vingt-trois
93 quatre-vingt-treize
255
84 quatre-vingt-quatre
94 quatre-vingt-quatorze
85 quatre-vingt-cinq
95 quatre-vingt-quinze
86 quatre-vingt-six
96 quatre-vingt-seize
87 quatre-vingt-sept
97 quatre-vingt-dix-sept
88 quatre-vingt-huit
98 quatre-vingt-dix-huit
89 quatre-vingt-neuf
99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf
100 cent
101 cent un
102 cent deux...
1) L'criture et la phontique:
trente commence comme trois
30 begins like 3
quatre-vingts
80 is four times 20
Quatre-vingts prend un s mais pas quand il est suivi par un autre nombre:
80 takes an 's' but not when it is followed by another number:
quatre-vingt-deux
82
256
Numbers are invariable. So you must avoid the temptation to add an 's' where there isn't one.
Vous dites:
You say:
et pas:
and not:
Parfois, pour ironiser sur cette faute populaire, vous voyez des restaurants qui
s'appellent
Sometimes, to treat this popular fault ironically, you see restaurants which are called
mais justement, pour montrer que le propritaire a de l'humour, c'est crit avec un
z.
but precisely to show that the owner has a sense of humour, it is written with a 'z'.
257
2) L'usage
Pour dire le jour du mois, vous dites:
To talk about the first day of the month, you say:
le premier janvier
the first of January
la question
To the question
il faut rpondre
you must reply
258
Encore un exemple?
Another example?
Bien sr, vous utilisez aussi les chiffres en calcul. Voici les oprations
fondamentales:
Of course, you also use figures for calculations. Here are the basic functions.
L'addition
un plus deux gale trois
1+2=3
La soustraction
dix moins six gale quatre
10 - 6 = 4
La multiplication
trois fois six dix-huit
3 x 6 = 18
La division
cinquante divis par cinq gale dix
50 5 = 10
259
Les dcimaux
Pour prononcer un nombre dcimal, vous dites:
To pronounce a decimal number you say:
10,6
92,6
92.6 ninety two point six (lit: ninety two comma six)
Je sais compter.
Tu sais o est ma cl de voiture?
Elle sait lire l'heure.
Nous savons que les rsultats sont mauvais.
Vous savez que la cuisine est formidable ici?
Ils ne savent rien.
260
>
Un exercice d'application
Spell out the following numbers in words:
33
16
71
44
80
62
78
90
31
91
18
94
53
261
12
81
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the numbers and write them down in
words. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
virgule (la)
...
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
points de suspension
La prononciation
262
trente
quarante
cinquante
soixante
soixante-dix
cent
Une composition
Write a composition inventing an extraordinary character and all the
numbers in his life: for instance his age, his teeth (true and false), the
number of children he has, his salary, the number of rooms in his house, the
number of stairs he has to climb, etc. Spell out the numbers in words.
263
>
Le
temps
passe,
l'heure
tourne!
Time moves
on!
le verbe devoir
Les heures des repas sont assez prcises ici, vous savez. Mes collgues ont
comme une horloge dans l'estomac. A midi pile, tout le monde quitte son
bureau et se prcipite au restaurant de l'entreprise, au dernier tage de
l'immeuble.
Meal times are fairly precise here, you know. My colleagues seem to have clocks in their stomachs. At
264
midday precisely, everyone leaves their office and rushes to the company canteen, on the top floor of the
building.
Les gens vont dans les petits bistrots des rues voisines prendre le caf. Entre
midi et deux, les places y sont chres. C'est mme impossible de trouver une
place assise. Aprs le caf, les gens reviennent petit petit au travail. Ils ne
prennent pas de rendez-vous srieux avant 14 heures de toute faon, c'est la
rgle ici. Vous devez savoir a.
People go to the little bistros in the neighbouring streets to take their coffee. Between noon and two, places
are at a premium. It's impossible even to find a place to sit down. After coffee, people return little by little to
work. They don't organise serious meetings before two o'clock in any case. That's the rule here. You should
know that.
C'est important de savoir dire l'heure. Pour prendre rendez-vous, pour prendre le train ou
l'avion, le bus, le bateau, vous devez apprendre dire l'heure.
It is important to know how to tell the time. To organise a meeting, to take the train, or the plane, the bus, the
boat, you must learn to tell the time.
Il y a deux faons de dire l'heure, une faon usuelle et une faon officielle.
There are two ways of telling the time, an informal way and a formal way.
Il y a l'heure usuelle:
There's the informal:
265
Il est trois
heures.
Il est trois
heures cinq.
Il est trois
heures et quart.
Il est trois
heures vingt.
Il est 3 heures
et demie.
Il est quatre
heures moins
vingt-cinq.
Il est quatre
heures moins
le quart.
Il est quatre
heures moins
dix.
Il est midi.
Il est quatre
heures.
266
Il est minuit.
Il est minuit
et quart.
Et l'heure officielle:
And the formal way:
L'heure officielle annonce les heures de 0 heure (zro heure) 23 heures (vingt-trois
heures) et les minutes de une cinquante-neuf.
The formal way of telling the time is to use the hours from 0 hours to 23 hours and the minutes from 1 to 59.
Bien sr, il ne faut pas mlanger les deux faons de dire l'heure, c'est la mme chose en
anglais. Si vous dites l'heure quelqu'un dans la rue, ne dites pas, par exemple:
Of course, you mustn't mix the two ways of telling the time, just as you wouldn't in English. If you tell the time
to someone in the street, don't say, for example:
mais dites
but say
Quand vous utilisez l'heure usuelle, vous pouvez prciser, en fonction du moment:
267
When you use the informal way of telling the time, you can specify, according to the time of day:
Mais, souvent, vous ne prcisez pas parce que c'est vident, bien sr.
But of course often you don't have to specify because it's obvious.
Si votre prononciation n'est pas claire, vous aurez des mauvaises surprises en France.
Pensez vos futurs rendez-vous, c'est peut-tre l'histoire de votre vie qui changera. Alors,
attention, c'est srieux!
If your pronunciation is not clear, you will have some unpleasant surprises in France. Think of future
meetings, it could be the story of your life that will change. So pay attention, it's serious!
Le vocabulaire
Pour lire l'heure, il y a:
To read the time, there is:
268
une montre
une pendule
un rveil
une horloge
un quadrant solaire
(mais c'est assez compliqu, et il
faut du soleil, non?)
Tous ces objets sont composs d'un quadrant, d'une petite aiguille et d'une grande aiguille.
Si vous avez une montre, elle a un bracelet. Le rveil a une sonnerie.
All these objects are composed of a clock face, a little hand (needle) and a big hand. If you have a watch, it
has a bracelet. The alarm clock has a bell.
Devoir
Devoir est un verbe irrgulier du 3me groupe. Voici la conjugaison:
Devoir is an irregular verb from the third group. Here is the conjugation:
devoir - must
le prsent de l'indicatif
Je dois rflchir.
Tu dois dormir.
Il doit rpondre vite.
Nous devons attendre encore un peu.
Vous devez avoir faim!
Elles doivent tre l maintenant.
269
Mes amis ont d appeler un taxi pour aller la gare cause de leurs bagages.
My friends had to call a taxi to go to the station because of their baggage.
270
Vous avez compris? - Trs bien, alors je vous quitte parce que l'heure tourne et... j'ai
encore faire.
Have you understood? Very well, then I'll leave you because time is moving on and... I still have things to do.
271
>
Un exercice d'application
a) Traduisez l'heure usuelle en heure officielle et l'heure officielle en heure
usuelle.
Translate the informal way of telling the time into the formal way and the formal way into the informal.
272
Heure usuelle:
Heure officielle (le soir):
Heure officielle (le matin):
La prononciation
273
274
>
Il ne faut pas
perdre la
boule!
Restez
calme. Il ne
faut pas
perdre la tte.
You mustn't lose your
marbles! Stay calm.
Don't loose your head.
(une boule: a bowling
ball)
prpositions
questions d'orientation
le verbe perdre
1) Les prpositions
Pour situer les choses dans l'espace, on utilise des prpositions: devant, sur, etc.
To situate things in space, we use prepositions: in front of, on, etc.
275
Et puis certaines prpositions sont suivies de de, par exemple loin de, prs de,
auprs de, ct de. De c'est--dire une certaine distance de quelque
chose. C'est l'valuation d'une distance.
And then there are certain prepositions that are followed by de, for example 'far from, near to, just
by, at the side of'. De is used in the construction une certaine distance de quelque chose. It's
an evaluation of distance.
276
Au milieu de:
In the middle of:
277
En face de:
Opposite:
gauche de
to the left of
droite de
to the right of
au bout de la rue
at the end of the street
en haut de
at the top of
en bas de
at the bottom of
278
Ma maison est situe dans une rue tranquille. Devant chez moi, il y a une
petite picerie, juste en face de chez moi, c'est pratique. Derrire ma
maison, il y a un terrain de sport. Le samedi, des groupes de jeunes
viennent jouer au football. J'aime les regarder jouer. Les joueurs courent
autour du terrain pour s'entraner et ensuite, au bout d'un moment, ils
viennent au milieu du terrain pour faire un match.
My house is situated in a quiet street. In front of my home, there is a little grocer's store, just
opposite my home, it's very practical. Behind my house, there's a sports ground. On
Saturdays, groups of young people come to play football. I like to watch them play. The
players run around the pitch to warm-up and then after a while, they come into the centre of
the pitch to play a match.
Je n'habite pas trs loin de l'aroport, mais les avions ne passent pas audessus de chez moi, heureusement.
I don't live very far from the airport, but the planes don't pass over my home, luckily.
279
2) Les questions
Il faut avoir le sens de l'orientation mais, si vous tes perdu, vous devez demander
votre chemin.
You need a good sense of direction but, if you are lost, you must ask your way.
Pour poser des questions concernant la situation, la direction, vous pouvez utiliser
le mot o. Par exemple:
To ask questions about where you are, the direction to go, you can use the word o. For example:
280
Notez bien le mot l'endroit. Dans ce sens, il faut dire un endroit et non une place,
comme en anglais 'at which place?'
Note the use of the word l'endroit. In this context it's necessary to say un endroit and not une
place as in the English 'at which place?'
La place c'est
La place is
la place de cinma
a place at the cinema
ma place au bureau
my place in the office
ma place table
my place at the table
la place de La Concorde
La Concorde Square
Le futur:
281
je perdrai
Je ne perdrai pas mes avantages, pas question!
I will not lose my benefits, it's out of the question!
Le participe pass:
perdu
J'ai perdu mes cls.
I have lost my keys.
282
>
Une traduction
Traduisez en franais. Voici quelques mots pour vous aider.
Translate into French. Here's some vocabulary to help you.
le vocabulaire
fminin
une assiette
la nappe
a plate
the tablecloth
la fourchette
la bouteille
the fork
the bottle
masculin
le verre
le plat
the glass
the dish
le couteau
le rti
the knife
the roast
le pain
the bread
283
9) The bottle is not at the side of the glass, it is at the end of the table.
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
284
virgule (la)
...
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
points de suspension
Un exercice d'application
Choisissez la rponse juste.
Choose the correct answer.
285
ct de sa femme table.
286
>
le futur immdiat
le verbe se demander
287
Sur le champ non, j'ai bien peur que non! Non il ne va pas pouvoir
venir avant la semaine prochaine, peut-tre! Il est dbord en ce
moment.
On the spot no, I'm afraid not. No, he can't come before next week, maybe. He's overwhelmed at
the moment.
...et vous vous rveillez en sursaut. Vous tes soulag car c'est juste
un mauvais rve. Mais vous allez quand mme discrtement dans votre
bureau pour contrler les faits. Votre ordinateur... Il est l. Et vous avez
mme oubli de l'teindre et vous tes charm subitement par son
ronronnement rassurant. Il marche merveille, tout va bien. Vous
retournez au lit, compltement rassur.
...and then you wake up with a start. You're relieved because it's only a bad dream. But you go
discretely anyway into your office to check the facts. Your computer... it's there. You've even
forgotten to turn it off and you're suddenly charmed by its reassuring purr. It's working marvellously,
everything's well. You return to bed, completely reassured.
288
de grammaire
1) Le futur immdiat
a) La morphologie
Vous connaissez le futur simple (lesson 19).
You know the simple future.
Ie futur immdiat
je ferai
je vais faire
I will do
I am going to do
289
b) L'usage
Comme en anglais, les deux futurs ont un emploi particulier. Le plus souvent, le
futur immdiat marque une action venir immdiatement. Il marque aussi une
prise de dcision:
As in English, the two futures have distinct uses. Most often, le futur immdiat signifies an action
that's going to come in the immediate future. It also marks the taking of a decision:
L'anne prochaine, ce n'est pas l'immdiat, mais la dcision est ferme, elle.
Next year isn't immediately, but the decision is firm.
Bien sr dans la construction du futur immdiat aller perd son sens de base.
Comme en anglais 'to go' d'ailleurs. Si vous reprenez le texte, vous voyez bien qu'il
y a une diffrence entre:
Of course in the construction of the futur immdiat the verb aller loses its basic meaning. As
with the English 'to go' moreover. If you look back at the text, you will see that there is a difference
between:
290
2) Se demander
Nous avons dj vu le verbe demander et sa construction demander quelque
chose quelqu'un. (voir cours n9)
We've already seen the verb 'to ask' and its construction 'ask somebody for something'.
se demander
to wonder
291
>
La guerre est finie. La paix est signe. Les gens rentrent chez eux. La
vie continue. Je retrouve ma maison, c'est une grande joie.
1) Le patron
aujourd'hui.
3) Si quelqu'un
je ne suis pas libre avant jeudi.
4) Tout le monde
La direction
Une traduction
Traduisez en franais:
Translate into French:
292
It is soon the holidays. It is the summer. This year we are going to visit
Europe. I think that it will be a very rich voyage. We are going to do
more than two thousand kilometres by train. I hope that we will meet
some interesting people. Only in September will we return to our place.
It will almost be winter, the good time for looking at photos of our trip
around the fireside.
293
>
L'animal que
je prfre...
L'animal que je prfre... c'est le chat. C'est le chat qui est mon animal
prfr. J'aime son lgance et sa finesse. J'ai toujours eu deux ou trois
chats chez moi. C'est comme a depuis mon enfance.
The animal that I prefer... it's the cat. It is the cat which is my preferred animal. I like its elegance and its
finesse. I have always had two or three cats at my place. It has been like that since my childhood.
En ce moment, j'ai un tout petit minou que j'ai trouv dans la rue. C'est une
petite chatte. Je crois que je vais la garder car elle est trs mignonne,
vraiment. Elle reste sagement dans la corbeille que je prpare pour elle
dans le bureau, ct de la chemine. Elle n'a pas encore explor toute la
maison.
At the moment, I have a tiny pussy cat that I found in the street. It is a little female cat. I think that I will
keep her because she is very pretty, really. She stays sensibly in the basket which I prepare for her in the
office, next to the chimney. She has not yet explored all the house.
J'ai aussi un bon gros matou adorable, il est tout blanc et il a les yeux
bleus. Il a un caractre indpendant. C'est un personnage! Pour l'instant,
les deux font bon mnage. Le gros n'est pas jaloux du petit.
I also have a big adorable tom cat, he is all white and has blue eyes. He has an independent character.
He's a personality! For the moment, the two are a good mix. The big one is not jealous of the little one.
294
Que here is a relative pronoun. You have already come across one relative pronoun qui.
Qui is used when the noun referred to is the subject of the clause which follows:
Il y a du bruit chez moi cause des voitures qui passent devant la maison
et qui vont trs vite.
It is les voitures which pass in front of the house and which go quickly, so we use qui.
Que is the relative pronoun to use when the noun it refers to is the object of the clause
that follows:
295
Main clause
Relative pronoun
Subclause
que
which
Relative pronoun
Subclause
que
which
qui
viennent du march.
which
Les lgumes are the object of the subclause in the first sentence, so we use que.
But they are the subject of the subclause in the second sentence so we use qui.
Here are another two pairs of sentences to look at:
Qui can refer to any thing or person, masculine or feminine, singular or plural.
Que too can be used to refer to any thing or person, masculine or feminine, singular or
plural.
The only criteria for using que is that it should be the object of the
296
Rappel
Vous connaissez maintenant trois que.
You now know three que's.
2) Que conjonction
Je pense que vous avez raison.
I think that you are right.
3) Que relatif
Il est complment d'objet direct, il peut tout dsigner. C'est le cours d'aujourd'hui.
It's a direct object, it can designate anything. It's today's lesson.
297
>
Un exercice d'application
Choose qui or que to complete the following sentences.
1) Les photos
pour moi.
2) L'arbre
je prfre.
La prononciation
Because qui and que have different meanings, it is important to pronounce
them differently.
qui / que
Before a vowel, the e of que is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe:
qu'
In this case you read the qu' and the vowel that follows as if it were one
word with a single sound.
298
Une dicte
Now try this test in dictation. Listen to the text and write down the words that
you hear. Give yourself 20 points and deduct one point for every mistake you
make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
virgule (la)
...
point (le)
point d'exclamation
deux points
point virgule
point d'interrogation
()
entre parenthses
points de suspension
299
J'ai aussi un bon gros matou adorable, il est tout blanc et il a les
yeux bleus.
I also have a fine adorable big tom cat, he is all white and has blue eyes.
300
>
Si c'tait
possible,
oui, ah, si
seulement
je pouvais!
la morphologie de l'imparfait
Vous tes en vacances Lyon. Vous logez dans un petit htel sympa. Vous
avez fait connaissance avec un jeune homme qui occupe la chambre
voisine. Il vient vous voir pour parler un petit peu avec vous. Lui aussi, il est
en vacances...
You are on holiday in Lyon. You are staying in a nice little hotel. You have met a young man who is in the
room next door. He comes to talk a little with you. He's also on holiday...
- C'tait bien?
Was it good?
- Oui, pas mal. Mais il y avait beaucoup de monde. J'ai pris un guide qui tait
trs intressant mais comme il y avait trop de monde, je n'entendais pas
bien ses explications. Mais a va, je crois que j'ai compris l'essentiel. Il faut
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pas se plaindre.
Yes, not bad. But there were a lot of people. I took a guide who was very interesting, but as there were too
many people, I did not hear his explanations very well. But it was OK, I think that I understood the essential.
Mustn't complain.
L'indicatif imparfait
Vous connaissez le pass compos comme temps du pass:
You already know le pass compos:
je mange
j'ai mang
je fais
j'ai fait
je dis
j'ai dit
je comprends
j'ai compris
le pass compos
J'avais faim
I was hungry
so I ate.
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l'imparfait
Le facteur a sonn
Pour faire toujours le bon choix entre le pass compos et l'imparfait, vous aurez besoin
de temps. C'est comme pour les Franais quand ils doivent choisir entre 'I was' et 'I have
been'.
To always make the right choice between le pass compos and l'imparfait, you will need time. It is
like for the French when they have to choose between 'I was' and 'I have been'.
Le malheur c'est qu'on ne traduit pas toujours le mme temps anglais par le mme temps
franais.
The unfortunate thing is that you don't always translate the same tense in English by the same tense in
French.
et que
and that
Ou encore, voici un exemple qui peut vous aider. Vous racontez une pice de thtre.
Vous dites:
Or again, here is an example which could help you. You recount a theatre play. You say:
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La formation de l'imparfait
La terminaison est pour tous les verbes:
The ending for all verbs is:
a i s
a i s
a i t
i ons
i ez
a i ent
Pour la prononciation, on prononce ai de la mme faon aux trois personnes du singulier
et la troisime personne du pluriel.
For the pronunciation, one pronounces ai in the same way for the three singular forms and the third
person plural.
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l'imparfait de l'indicatif
j'allais
tu allais
elle allait
nous allions
vous alliez
elles allaient
avoir - to have
l'imparfait de l'indicatif
j'avais
tu avais
il avait
nous avions
vous aviez
ils avaient
tre - to be
l'imparfait de l'indicatif
j'tais
tu tais
elle tait
nous tions
vous tiez
elles taient
penser - to think
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l'imparfait de l'indicatif
je pensais
tu pensais
il pensait
nous pensions
vous pensiez
ils pensaient
choisir - to choose
l'imparfait de l'indicatif
je choisissais
tu choisissais
il choisissait
elle choisissait nous choisissions
vous choisissiez
ils choisissaient
elles choisissaient
L'imparfait des verbes du groupe 3 est form sur la premire personne du pluriel du
prsent de l'indicatif: nous. Nous le verrons progressivement.
The imperfect of verbs in group 3 uses as its base the first person plural of the present indicative nous.
We will look at it gradually.
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La prononciation
Le son ai
J'ai faim.
J'avais faim.
La mer tait trs belle sous les toiles.
C'est parfait.
Quand Pierre tait petit, il n'aimait jamais l'cole.
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Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
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>
Dans une
agence de
location
immobilire...
In a property rental
agency...
Si vous voulez sjourner Lyon, vous pouvez louer un appartement. Comment faire?
C'est simple. Vous contactez une agence par tlphone:
If you wish to stay in Lyon, you can rent an apartment. How do you do it? It is simple. You contact an agency by
telephone:
- Allo, bonjour. Je voudrais louer un appartement Lyon. Je sais depuis peu que
je vais devoir travailler l-bas.
- Hello, good day. I would like to rent an apartment in Lyon. A little while ago I discovered that I am going to have to
work there.
- J'ai besoin de quatre pices: il me faut un espace commun, deux chambres avec
salle de bain et un bureau, plus une cuisine videmment ou une cuisine
amricaine.
- I need four rooms: I need some shared space, two bedrooms with bathroom and an office, plus a kitchen of
course or a kitchen / living room.
- Est-ce que vous avez une prfrence pour la situation, je veux dire le quartier?
- Do you have a preference for the location, I mean to say the district?
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- Je pense que je peux payer environ 1000 euros par mois, charges comprises.
- I think that I can pay around 1000 euros per month, charges included.
- Dans ce cas, c'est sans problme. Nous avons un grand choix d'appartements de
ce type en ce moment. Vous avez l'intention de le prendre dans combien de
temps?
- In that case, there's no problem. We have a large choice of apartments of that type at the moment. How long is it
before you intend to move in?
- Justement, le problme, c'est que je suis assez press. En fait, j'arriverai Lyon
dans trois semaines, et je veux mon appartement presque immdiatement ds
mon arrive. Je n'ai pas l'intention de sjourner trop longtemps dans un htel
parce que c'est ruineux.
- This is it, the problem is that I am fairly rushed. The fact is, I arrive in Lyon in three weeks and I want my
apartment almost immediately on my arrival. I don't intend to stay too long in a hotel because it's ruinously
expensive.
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- Entendu, merci.
- Understood, thank you.
- De rien, bientt.
- Not at all, see you soon.
- Merci, et au revoir.
- Thank you and goodbye.
In English, when we want to express the passage of time, we use for with the past tense to say
'how long we have been here for':
Je suis Lyon.
I am in Lyon.
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So, in English we change tense to express the difference between what has happened and an
overall project.
In French we keep to the present tense, but we use depuis if we want to describe what has
already happened:
Le vocabulaire
Une location et une situation
Comme tous les mots qui se terminent en -tion, ces deux mots sont fminins.
Like all words ending in -tion, these two words are feminine.
Une location...
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Aussi, vous pouvez voir dans les vitrines des stations de ski
Also, you can see in the windows at ski stations
Location de matriel
Equipment to Rent
par exemple.
for example.
La situation dsigne...
1) L'endroit o quelque chose est situ:
La situation describes the place where something is situated:
2) La profession:
A professional position:
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>
Un exercice d'application
Posez les bonnes questions: Vous tes l depuis combien de temps?,
Vous tes l pour combien de temps? ou Vous partez dans combien de
temps?
Ask the appropriate question to generate the following responses:
a)
Nous sommes arrivs le 15 janvier.
b)
Nous partons la fin juin.
c)
Je suis en France pour deux ans.
d)
Mon train part dans cinq minutes.
e)
Je suis ici depuis l'anne dernire.
Une composition
Ecrivez un texte pour dcrire vos activits.
Write a text describing your activities.
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La lecture
Quand tout le monde a quitt le service le soir, Jeanne
commence son travail, elle. Elle est femme de mnage dans
cette entreprise depuis 3 ans. Chaque jour elle vient pour
quelques heures, aprs le dpart des employs. Elle est seule,
mais dans une semaine, elle aura une collgue avec elle. Une
autre femme de mnage vient d'tre engage.
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la provenance
vocabulaire
Vous habitez o?
En Europe.
O a, en Europe?
Au Portugal.
O a au Portugal?
Lisbonne.
Si vous voulez expliquer o vous habitez, il faut utiliser une prposition devant un
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le Mexique, le Cambodge
Pour les continents, c'est la mme chose. Les continents sont tous fminins:
For the continents, it's the same thing. The continents are all feminine:
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Je vais au Canada.
Je suis au Japon.
iii) Un pays pluriel
En ce qui concerne les tats-Unis, on dit un tat, les tats, c'est donc un
masculin pluriel. Alors, comme on ne dit pas les, mais aux on dit:
As for the United States, it's un tat, so les tats is masculine plural. As we don't say les but
aux, we say:
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J'habite Paris.
Je vais New York.
Pour les continents et les pays fminins vous utilisez de sans l'article:
For continents and feminine countries you use de without an article:
Je viens d'Europe.
Je viens de France.
Pour les villes, c'est pareil:
For towns, it's the same:
Je viens de Lyon.
Je viens de Londres.
Pour les pays masculins, on utilise du:
For masculine countries we use du:
Je viens du Japon.
Je viens du Canada.
Pour les tats-Unis, on utilise des:
For the United States, we use des:
4) Vocabulaire
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Bien sr, pour trouver la bonne prposition, vous devez connatre le nom
gographique franais.
Of course, to find the right preposition, you must know a place's geographical name in French.
l'Autriche
Austria
l'Allemagne
Germany
le Groenland
Greenland
la Hongrie
Hungary
la Norvge
Norway
la Sude
Sweden
la Suisse
Switzerland
Mais beaucoup de noms de pays ressemblent aux noms anglais. Souvent une
terminaison en 'a' en anglais correspond une terminaison en e en franais.
But a lot of names of countries resemble English. Often the ending 'a' in English corresponds to the
ending e in French.
la Bulgarie
la Russie
la Hollande
la Finlande
l'Irlande
l'Islande
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Une traduction
Translate the following sentences into French:
1) I come from London.
Automatismes
Pour acqurir les bons automatismes choisissez les bonnes prpositions
devant les noms suivants.
le Prou
au Prou
la Chine
le Japon
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l'Indonsie
Londres
Pkin
l'Italie
Los Angeles
la Suisse
le Guatemala
l'Argentine
les Galapagos
Milan
San Franciso
la Haye
(c'est une ville)
la Hollande
Madrid
le Niger
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le Sngal
la Havane
(c'est une ville)
Une composition
Racontez un grand voyage que vous avez fait. Nommez les villes et les
pays. Dcrivez-les aussi, bien sr.
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>
Quand la
nuit est
tombe, le
voyageur
s'est
endormi.
When night fell, the
traveller fell asleep.
retourner et revenir
J'ai pris le train la gare de Berlin le matin. Le train de cinq heures quarantecinq. A cause de l'heure matinale, le restaurant de l'htel n'tait pas encore
ouvert et je n'ai pas pu prendre mon petit djeuner, mme pas un caf. Tant pis!
I took the train at Berlin station in the morning. The 5.45 train. Because of the early morning hour, the hotel
restaurant wasn't yet open and I couldn't have my breakfast, not even a coffee. Oh well!
Il y avait beaucoup de monde dans le train. Mais j'avais rserv, donc j'tais
tranquille. Et j'ai eu de la chance parce que le wagon-restaurant tait juste ct
de mon wagon.
The were lots of people in the train. But I had reserved, so I was calm. And I had some luck because the
restaurant car was just next door to mine.
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Dans la leon sur le pass compos (la leon n 18) nous avons dit que la rgle de formation
du pass compos tait:
In the lesson on le pass compos we said that the rule for its formation was:
Par exemple:
For example:
manger
j'ai mang, tu as mang
aimer
j'ai aim, tu as aim
finir
j'ai fini, tu as fini
comprendre
j'ai compris, tu as compris, elle a compris
Mais pour certains verbes, il faut utiliser:
But for certain verbs, you must use:
Reflexive verbs are verbs that need a reflexive pronoun in front of them. A reflexive pronoun is
a pronoun that refers to the subject of the verb: 'myself', 'yourself' in English. The French
reflexive pronouns are:
me
myself
te
yourself
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se
himself, herself, itself
nous
ourselves
vous
yourselves
se
themselves
Je m'endors rapidement.
Tu t'endors trop tard.
Elle s'endort difficilement.
Nous ne nous endormons pas au travail.
Vous vous endormez pendant la confrence.
Elles s'endorment devant la tl.
Au pass compos, a devient:
In le pass compos it becomes:
s'endormir - to fall asleep
le pass compos
Ds que vous commencez un pass compos par je me... vous avez automatiquement:
As soon as you begin a pass compos with je me... the verb tre follows automatically:
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Je me suis promen(e).
I went for a walk.
Je me suis rveill(e).
I woke up.
We also use tre in le pass compos for certain verbs which express movement.
It is not the verbs that involve a physical description of actions, such as 'to run' or 'to jump',
which take tre: they take avoir. Rather it's the verbs which describe a change of position ...
'to come' or 'to go'.
Here they are:
natre
to be born
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to leave
329
natre
Je suis n(e) en France, Strasbourg prcisment.
Note that a literal translation of the French would be 'I am born'.
venir
Vous tes venus(es) comment? - En avion ou bien en train?
How have you come? By aeroplane or by train?
arriver
Tu es arriv(e) quelle heure?
At what time did you arrive?
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monter
Elle est monte au troisime tage.
She has gone up to the third floor.
aller
Elle est alle directement chez le directeur.
She has gone directly to the director's place.
entrer
Est-ce que vous tes dj entr(e) dans une mosque?
Have you entered a mosque before?
For the polite form vous in the singular there's no 's' on the past participle.
passer
Pour entrer dans la salle de restaurant nous sommes passs(es) par le jardin.
To enter the restaurant, we passed through the garden.
rester
Tu connais bien Marseille?
Non, je ne suis pas reste assez longtemps pour a, seulement deux jours.
Do you know Marseille well?
Non, I didn't stay there long enough for that, only two days.
sortir
Ma soeur est sortie du cinma minuit. Le film est trs long.
My sister left the cinema at midnight. The film is very long.
descendre
Tu es descendu(e) par l'escalier ou par l'ascenseur?
Did you go down by the staircase or the lift?
tomber
J'ai couru pour avoir le bus et je suis tomb sur le trottoir.
I ran to get the bus and I fell on the pavement.
mourir
Napolon est mort dans l'le de Sainte Hlne.
Napoleon died on the Island of Saint Helena.
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partir
Partir, c'est mourir un peu, comme dit le pote.
Tous mes amis sont partis, mais heureusement, ils ne sont pas morts. Ah! les
potes... il ne faut pas toujours croire ce que disent les potes.
'To leave is to die a little', as the poet says. All my friends have left, but happily they are not dead. Poets, eh! You
shouldn't always believe what poets say.
Revenir et retourner
Il faut ajouter revenir et retourner.
To the verbs that take tre we should add 'to come back' and 'to return'.
Quelle est la diffrence entre revenir et retourner? Tout dpend de votre point de dpart:
What is the difference between revenir and retourner? Everything depends on your departure point.
Si vous habitez aux Etats-Unis, vous allez en France et vous revenez aux tatUnis. Plus tard, vous retournerez en France peut-tre. A Paris vous avez des
amis franais qui vous ont demand de revenir trs vite.
If you live in the United States, you go to France and you come back to the United States. Later, you will return to
France maybe. In Paris you have some French friends who have asked you to come back very quickly.
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Un exercice d'application
Mettez les phrases au pass compos.
Put the sentences into le pass compos
Une traduction
Traduisez en franais
I adore taking the train because one can admire the
countryside. When there is a restaurant car in the train, it is
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La prononciation
Le son .
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Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
335
>
Vous en
voulez
combien?
le pronom en
le verbe peser
- Bonjour, je vais prendre des prunes rouges et aussi des jaunes, des
mirabelles.
Hello, I will take some red plums and also some yellow ones, some mirabelles.
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- Il m'en faut deux kilos de rouges peu prs. C'est pour faire de la
confiture.
I need two kilos of reds approximately. It's to make jam.
- Deux kilos, voil, voil. Et hop, c'est fait. Ah, il y en a un peu plus, a
fait deux kilos deux cents grammes, qu'est-ce que je fais? Je laisse ou
j'en enlve?
Two kilos, here we are now. And 'hop', it's done. Ah, it's a little over, that's two kilos two hundred
grammes, what shall I do? Leave them on or take them off?
Une fois chez elle, Madame Martin pose son panier sur la table, elle le
vide, elle range ses provisions et elle commence prparer sa confiture.
Once back home, Madame Martin places her basket on the table, she empties it out, she puts away
her supplies and begins to prepare her jam.
Elle pse les fruits. Elle pse aussi le sucre. Le tout pse presque quatre
kilos. Elle verse le mlange dans une marmite qu'elle met sur la
cuisinire. Bientt une fantastique odeur envahit la cuisine. Elle
surveille la cuisson de prs.
She weighs the fruits. She weighs the sugar as well. The total weighs almost four kilos. She pours the
mixture into a large pot that she puts on her cooker. Soon a wonderful odour invades the kitchen. She
watches closely how it's cooking.
Quand c'est assez cuit, elle laisse refroidir, puis elle verse la confiture
dans des bocaux. Il y a douze petits bocaux en tout. Assez pour passer
l'hiver.
When it's cooked enough, she lets it cool down, then she pours the jam into the jars. There are twelve
little jars in total. Enough to last the winter.
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de grammaire
En
En est utilis pour remplacer un complment d'objet indirect introduit par de.
En is used to replace an indirect object introduced by de.
La phrase est:
The sentence is:
Pour remplacer de prunes, on utilise en plac devant le verbe. Ici, le verbe est a
dans l'expression il y a.
To replace de prunes, we use en, placed in front of the verb. Here the verb is a in the
expression il y a.
remplace
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replaces
Comme vous pouvez le constater, l'usage de en est, dans ces expressions, li des
expressions de quantit: combien de, plus de, davantage de.
As you can see, the use of en in the above expressions is linked to expressions of quantity: 'how
many of, more of, more of'.
Il faut en profiter.
One must take advantage of it.
Peser - to weigh
Ce verbe est intressant plusieurs gards.
This verb is interesting on a number of levels.
et aussi:
and also:
Dans le langage moderne des hommes d'affaires, quand on dit par exemple:
In the modern language of business people, when one says for example:
339
je pse
je pz
Quand on prononce la syllabe finale, comme dans peser, nous pesons, vous
pesez, on ne met pas d'accent sur le premier e.
When you pronounce the final syllable you don't put an accent on the first e.
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>
4) Combien tu p
ses?
342
Une traduction
a) Traduire en anglais
Translate into English
La prononciation
In the word moins the s is not pronounced.
Vous voulez ce gros morceau de fromage?
- Non, un peu moins, s'il vous plat.
Il fait moins chaud aujourd'hui.
But if a vowel follows you can make a liaison, which is pronounced z.
Le dimanche, le journal est moins
autres jours de la semaine.
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With plus it's a little more complicated. The s isn't pronounced in front of a
consonant.
Il fait plus chaud aujourd'hui.
The s of plus is pronounced if the word is on it's own.
Vous avez assez de fromage comme a?
- Non, j'en voudrais un peu plus, s'il vous plat.
If there is a liaison with a following vowel, the s is pronounced z.
Le samedi, le journal est plus
jours.
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
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Le plus
beau
pays du
monde
l'expression du superlatif
le chauvinisme
c'est cool!
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Ne m'en parle pas, je suis allergique au pollen. Oui, je vois bien ce que
tu veux dire. J'avais envie de discuter un peu. Sur le fond tu as raison,
je suis d'accord avec toi. Tu fais quoi pendant les prochaines
vacances, au fait?
Don't talk to me about it, I am allergic to pollen. Yes, I well see what you want to say. I wanted to
discuss a little. Basically you're right, I agree with you. What are you doing during the next holidays,
by the way?
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1) L'expression du superlatif
Pour la plupart des adjectifs, si vous voulez donner le superlatif dans le sens de la
supriorit, il faut ajouter le mot plus devant l'adjectif.
For the majority of adjectives, if you want to give the superlative in the sense of superiority, you
must add the word plus in front of the adjective.
Par exemple:
For example
le beau pays
the beautiful country
Vous pouvez dire le plus beau pays ou le pays le plus beau. En fait, les Franais
utilisent facilement les deux manires de s'exprimer.
You can say either le plus beau pays or le pays le plus beau. French people use both
expressions interchangeably.
Au pluriel:
In the plural:
Pour la plupart des adjectifs, si vous voulez donner le superlatif dans le sens de
l'infriorit, il faut ajouter le mot moins devant l'adjectif:
For the majority of adjectives, if you want to give the superlative in the sense of inferiority, you must
add the word moins in front of the adjective:
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a, c'est la meilleure!
That's the best one I've heard!
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2) Le chauvinisme
L'origine du mot est Chauvin. Nicolas Chauvin, c'est le nom d'un brave soldat de la
Rpublique. Il tait clbre pour son patriotisme, il avait la rputation d'tre naf et
excessif dans ses sentiments patriotiques. Ses camarades le critiquaient pour a.
En 1831, Cogniard a crit une pice de thtre comique sur lui et son nom est
devenu clbre. Sur son nom, le mot le chauvinisme a t form.
The origin of the word chauvinism is Chauvin. Nicolas Chauvin is the name of a brave soldier of
the Republic. He was known for his patriotism, he had the reputation of being nave and excessive
in his patriotic sentiments. His colleagues criticised him for that. In 1831, Cogniard wrote a comic
piece of theatre about him and his name became famous. On the basis of his name, the word
chauvinisme was formed.
A ce propos, j'en profite pour vous signaler que les noms abstraits en -isme:
Whilst we're on the subject, it's worth pointing out that abstract names ending in -isme:
3) C'est cool!
Je vous dois une explication sur l'emploi de ce mot que vous reconnaissez. Vous
pensez mais c'est un mot anglais, au voleur!
I need to give you an explanation about the use of this word which you recognise. You're thinking,
'But it's an English word, stop, thief!'
C'est vrai, c'est un mot anglais, mais les Franais l'utilisent avec un sens diffrent.
En franais, le mot cool est assimil phontiquement au mot couler: tre coulant
c'est--dire indulgent.
That's true, it's an English word, but the French use it with a different sense. In French, the word
'cool' is assimilated phonetically to the verb couler: 'to flow, to be flowing', that's to say indulgent.
tre coulant
to be flowing
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un prof cool
a cool teacher
un boulot cool
a cool job
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Une composition
Imaginez une conversation entre deux amis en train de discuter de leurs
projets pour les vacances. Utilisez les expressions Pardi! et a c'est la
meilleure de l'anne!.
La prononciation
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le chauvinisme
(pas izem comme en anglais)
le libralisme
le professionalisme
l'intgrisme
le totalitarisme
le voyeurisme
le j'menfoutisme*
*Je m'en fous (en langage familier) = a ne m'intresse pas.
Le j'menfoutisme est l'attitude de quelqu'un qui ne fait pas les choses
srieusement.
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Une histoire
drle
A funny story
homonymes
la franaise
Comme vous avez bien travaill, je vous propose de vous dtendre avec une
histoire drle la franaise. Cette histoire concerne les escargots.
As you have worked well, I suggest a little relaxation with a funny story, French style. This story
concerns snails.
...qui s'appelle Ren et qui adore les escargots. Je veux dire que ce
type adore manger des escargots. Ce type a un problme: il aime aussi
boire avec ses copains, au bistro du coin. Sa femme, elle, n'aime pas
du tout cette habitude et elle interdit son mari de sortir. Il doit rester
la maison tout seul. Il est triste. Il s'ennuie.
...who's called Ren and who adores snails. What I mean to say is that he adores eating snails. This
fellow has a problem: he likes to drink with his friends as well, in the bistro round the corner. As for
his wife, she doesn't like this habit at all and she forbids her husband to go out. He must stay in the
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Ren est trs excit. Il supplie sa femme de lui permettre de sortir. Il lui
dit: Je te promets d'aller seulement ramasser des escargots. Je n'irai
pas au bistro, je ne boirai pas avec mes copains. Je ramasserai des
escargots et je rentrerai aussitt la maison. Sa femme accepte.
Ren is very excited. He beseeches his wife to let him go out. He tells her: 'I promise you I'm only
going to collect snails. I won't go to the bistro, and I won't drink with my friends. I will collect snails
and I will return immediately to the house.' His wife accepts.
Il arrive chez lui, avec son seau d'escargots. Il monte les escaliers
silencieusement. Mais, il manque la dernire marche d'escalier et il
tombe. Tous les escargots sont disperss sur le sol et sur les murs.
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Le vocabulaire
Un groupe d'homonymes
Je veux attirer votre attention sur un groupe d'homonymes, c'est--dire des mots
qui ont la mme prononciation mais qui ont une signification diffrente.
I want to draw your attention to a group of homonyms, that's to say, words which have the same
pronunciation but which have a different meaning.
le seau
the bucket
Il y a aussi:
There is also:
le saut
the jump
le sot
the fool
et
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le sceau
the seal (on a document)
Tous ces mots sont prononcs exactement pareil. C'est le contexte qui vous
donnera le sens correct l'oral, mais, si vous crivez ces mots, il ne faut pas faire
d'erreur.
All these words are pronounced exactly the same. It is the context which will give you the correct
meaning when listening to spoken French, but, if you write these words, you mustn't make a mistake.
la franaise
la franaise
signifie la manire franaise. Vous pouvez...
la franaise signifies 'in the French manner': You can...
manger la franaise
eat French-style
premier (masculin)
premire (fminin)
first
first
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deux
trois
quatre
deuxime
troisime
quatrime
neuf
neuvime
six
sixime
si-z-ime
Vous connaissez le film Le sixime sens avec Bruce Willis, peut-tre.
You know the film 'The Sixth Sense' with Bruce Willis, maybe.
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>
Un exercice d'application
Formez les adjectifs ordinaux des chiffres suivants:
Form the ordinal adjectives from the following cardinal numbers:
trois
troisime
quatre
treize
cinq
quatorze
six
quinze
sept
seize
huit
dix-sept
neuf
dix-huit
dix
dix-neuf
onze
vingt
douze
Un exercice de comprhension
Questions about the text.
1) Est-ce que Ren aime les escargots?
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La composition
C'est la fin de votre stage comme dbutant. Nous esprons que a vous a
aid et que a vous a fait plaisir. Si vous le voulez, nous serons heureux de
vous accueillir dans notre cours intermdiaire.
It's the end of your training as a beginner. We hope that it has helped you and given you pleasure. If
you like, we'll be happy to welcome you into our intermediate level course.
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Pour votre dernier exercice ce niveau, crivez une lettre pour donner votre
avis sur ces cours que vous venez de suivre. Tous les lves, non
seulement ceux qui sont en formule cours particulier, sont invits faire
cette composition.
For your last exercise at this level, write a letter giving your opinion on the course that you have just
followed. All pupils, not just those who are on the personal tutor course, are invited to write this
composition.
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