Curso de Frances
Curso de Frances
Curso de Frances
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
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
nouns will greatly improve your fluency. Plural nouns take the same indefinite article whether they are masculine or feminine - des:
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
The black boat
quitte
leaves
le port.
the port.
Les bateaux
The boats
quittent
leave
le port.
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
I speak
nous parlons
we speak
tu parles
you speak
vous parlez
you speak
il parle
he speaks (masculine)
ils parlent
they speak (masculine)
elle parle
she speaks (feminine)
elles parlent
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.
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
slow
magique
magic
grand
big / tall
clair
clear
blanc
white
franais
French
petit
small
anglais
English
court
short
espagnol
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
to look at
jouer
to play
je regarde
I look at
je joue
I play
tu regardes
you look at
tu joues
you play
il regarde
he looks at
il joue
he plays
elle regarde
she looks at
elle joue
she plays
nous regardons
we look at
nous jouons
we play
vous regardez
you look at
vous jouez
you play
ils regardent
they look at (masc.)
ils jouent
they play (masc.)
elles regardent
they look at (fem.)
elles jouent
they play (fem.)
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.
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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.
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fminin
And now some words ending in -ment. All nouns ending in -ment are masculine.
masculin
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Bonjour, a va?
Hello, how are you?
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
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when necessary.
CHEZ NOUS
At our place
Bonjour, a va?
Hello, how are you?
C'est ma maison.
It's my house.
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sympathique. Les femmes sont solidaires chez nous! C'est important la solidarit entre femmes, non?
Here are the women in my family, it's a nice, small, close-knit family. The women show solidarity where we come from! Solidarity between women is important, isn't it?
Sur la photo, il y a ma grand-mre droite, ma soeur gauche et ma fille devant. Les diffrentes gnrations, a c'est la vie!
On the photo, there's my grandmother to the right, my sister to the left and my daughter in front. The different generations, that's what life's about!
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:
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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.
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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:
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.
There is a house.
Il y a des pommes.
There are some apples.
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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
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Quelques questions
Look at the pictures and answer the questions.
1)
2)
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3)
1)
2)
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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
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a size
But careful, there are some words where -ille is pronounced eel.
tranquille
peaceful
tranquillement
peacefully
une ville
a town
You'll learn the exceptions with practice. and c c followed by e or i is pronounced s: une cerise
a cherry
une cible
a target
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la cuisine
the kitchen, the cooking
To produce a c with the soft sound s before an a, o or u, we put a squiggle under the c comme a: a
that
a va bien?
Things going well?
franais
French
Franoise
Franoise (the woman's name)
Franois
Franois (the man's name)
The correct name for the squiggle under the c is une cdille.
La traduction
Translate the following sentences into English. All the words used have featured in this lesson. 1) Ma grand-mre est sympathique.
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And now in the other direction, from English into French. 1) My daughter is on the photo. 2) What is the matter? 3) How's it going? Well, thank you, and yourself?
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
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la famille
the family
la soeur
the sister
la maison
the house
la fille
the girl, the daughter
la grand-mre
the grandmother
la campagne
the countryside
la mre
the mother
la pomme
the apple
la poire
the pear
la grille
the gate
la photo
the photograph
la table
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?
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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?
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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.
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could be directed at one person or a group of people - it depends on the context. The verb that follows vous will, generally speaking, end in -ez. -ez in French is pronounced like the letter A in English.
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?
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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.
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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:
Mademoiselle, vous porterez le courrier dans mon bureau, s'il vous plat?
Young lady, would you bring the post to my office please?
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.
Quand tu prends ma voiture, fiston, c'est toujours pareil: tu oublies de remplir le rservoir!
When you take my car, my lad, it's always the same: you forget to fill up the tank.
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.
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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:
Tu pourrais faire attention, chauffard! T'as* eu ton permis dans une pochette surprise?
You could pay attention, road hog. Did you get your driving licence in a lucky dip? *Normally tu as is written as two separate words. T'as is a contraction used to denote slang.
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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
the wall
la structure
the structure
l'amour
love
l'agriculture
agriculture
toujours
always
C'est vous?
Is it you?
la rue
the street
Je suis pour.
I'm for.
la roue
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
a goal
une mule
a mule
un bout
an end
une moule
a mussel
une bulle
a bubble a boule
un moule
a mold a soup
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Comment tu t'appelles?
What's your name? (Informal)
Tu pourrais faire attention, chauffard! T'as eu ton permis dans une pochette surprise?
You could pay attention, road hog. Did you get your driving licence in a lucky dip?
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.
Would you use tu or vous in the following situations? 1) You join a gym club. You are introduced to the teacher and then to fellow members of the club.
2) You go for a drink round the corner and starting chatting with the locals.
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Qui estce?
Who is it?
'i' et ' / / elle' pronunciation practice tre the verb 'to be'
Listen to the dialogue and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to distinguish the sound i:
voici
and the sound :
mon grand-pre
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un rveur ma belle-fille
Bonjour.
Hello.
Mon beau-pre est aussi un professeur retrait. C'est une famille de professeurs!
My father-in-law is also a retired teacher. It's a family of teachers!
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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
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tre
to be
je suis
I am
nous sommes
we are
tu es
you are (singular)
vous tes
you are
il est
he is
ils sont
they are (masculine)
elle est
she is
elles sont
they are (feminine)
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
terrible
difficile
difficult
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formidable
wonderful
splendide
splendid
ordinaire
ordinary
utile
useful
extraordinaire
extraordinary
simple
simple
facile
easy
magnifique
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?
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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?
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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:
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Un exercice d'application
Form the question that might have been asked to get the reply in green. Use the words qui and comment.
Rponse: Ma mre habite ici. Question: Qui habite ici? 1) Elle est extraordinaire.
5) C'est ma fille.
La ngation
Put the following sentences into the negative.
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Ma soeur est tudiante. Ma soeur n'est pas tudiante. 1) Mon fils habite ici. 2) Mon mari est retrait. 3) Ma femme est trs grande. 4) J'aime la campagne. 5) Il y a des poules chez nous.
Le verbe tre
a) Listen to the conjugation of tre. Keep repeating it until you know it off by heart.
je suis
I am
nous sommes
we are
tu es
you are
vous tes
you are
il est
he is
ils sont
they are
elle est
she is
elles sont
they are
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avocat. formidable. retraits. franais ou amricain? trs bien! qui? le fils de madame Boulais. ici? 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.
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le pre
the father
belle
beautiful
la mre
the mother
le frre
the brother
tu es
you are
le problme
the problem
elle est
she is
la plante
the planet
elle
she
Il y a un problme.
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.
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'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
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Oh voil justement, un trs beau pull noir et blanc, trs la mode et pas trop cher.
Ah look exactly, a very beautiful black and white pullover, very fashionable and not too expensive.
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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
I have
nous avons
we have
tu as
you have (singular)
vous avez
you have
il a
he has
ils ont
they have (masculine)
elle a
she has
elles ont
they have (feminine)
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
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she is
But
ils sont
they are
and
ils ont
they have
sound different. When saying ils ont we make a link between the s at the end of ils and the o at the beginning of ont. This liaison is pronounced z:
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.
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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
Possessive adjectives mark ownership: 'my, your, his, her...' French resembles English in that the choice of possessive adjective depends on who's doing the owning. But the choice of the right French adjectif possessif also depends on the number and gender of the object possessed. For example, if I possess a masculine object, I use mon:
J'ai un sac.
C'est ma valise.
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Here are all the possessive adjectives to use when there's just one possessor.
les adjectifs possessifs for a feminine object (singular) for a masculine object (singular)
j'ai un sac
my bag
my suitcase
tu as un sac
your bag
your suitcase
il a une valise
il a un sac
his bag
his suitcase
sa valise
elle a un sac
her bag
j'ai des valises tu as des valises il a des valises elle a des valises
my suitcases
tu as des sacs
your bags
your suitcases
il a des sacs
his bags
his suitcases
her suitcases
Notice that in English we have different possessive adjectives according to the sex of the possessor - 'his' or 'her'. But in French
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son - sa - ses
can mean 'his' or 'her':
his bag her bag his suitcase her suitcase his bags 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
You can form a liaison with the final consonant of trs and trop if the word that follows begins with a vowel:
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C'est trs
intressant.
trzintressant
It's very interesting.
important.
tropimportant
It's not very important.
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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' une fille adorable. un frre charmant. des parents retraits. une trs petite valise. une maison la campagne. pas le temps de faire son travail.
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7) Elles 8) Tu
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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 Le cours dbutant - Numro 5
www.frenchclasses.com
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Now, translate the following text into English: J'habite une maison trs jolie la campagne. C'est une ancienne ferme. Chez moi, il y a ma famille, mes parents. Mon frre n'habite pas dans la maison. Il a des enfants. Ses enfants sont grands maintenant. Nous, nous avons un chien. Il est trs calme. Chez moi, il y a aussi un jardin, des fleurs, des arbres. Ma fleur prfre est la marguerite.
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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
Your dictionary of sounds will help you with pronunciation and you should consult it frequently. Today we're going to look at some key points to get right when reading French. And in particular we are going to look at word endings.
1) R
r can clearly be heard in the middle of words. The r sound is more emphasised than in English:
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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.
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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
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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.
Non, je lis deux journaux: Le Monde et Libration, mes deux journaux prfrs.
No, I read two newspapers: Le Monde and Libration, my two favourites.
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mon fils
my son
la fleur de lys
the lily flower
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
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intelligent
intelligent
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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
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make. You can use the pause of your audio player when necessary.
La ponctuation
, . : ; ?
virgule (la) point (le) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
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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:
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?
Si le tlphone sonne... c'est vrai j'hsite, mais je rponds quand mme! Si c'est un ami, c'est bien. J'ai le temps.
If the telephone rings... it's true, I hesitate, but I reply all the same! If it's a friend, that's good. I have the time.
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
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)
tu te reposes
you rest (yourself)
il se repose
he rests (himself)
ils se reposent
they rest (themselves)
elle se repose
she rests (herself)
elles se reposent
they rest (themselves)
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Reflexive verbs are more common in French than in English. S'appeller - to be called - for example:
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
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Je suis fatigu.
I am tired.
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
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La traduction
Translate the following sentences from French into English.
Les verbes
Conjugate these reflexive verbs by listening and repeating:
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se rveiller
to wake up
Je me rveille tt.
I wake up early.
Tu te rveilles la nuit.
You wake up in the night.
Il se rveille tard.
He wakes up late.
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se laver
to wash
s'inquiter
to worry
Je me lave le matin.
I wash (myself) in the mornings.
Tu te laves le soir.
You wash (yourself) in the evenings.
Tu t'inquites trop.
You worry too much.
Il s'inquite rarement.
He rarely worries.
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Si j'ai faim, je prpare un petit repas, des ptes. Si j'ai sommeil, je reste au lit.
If I'm hungry, I prepare a little meal, some pasta. If I am sleepy, I stay in bed.
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. repose. regardons la tlvision ou une
, tu t'appelles comment?
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.
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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.
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le son 'in' pronunciation practice faire to do, to make l'infinitif using verbs in the infinitive
de la, du, de l', des describing undefined quantities le dimanche, le lundi... the days of the week
Listen and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to distinguish the sound in: magasin
shop
la fin
the end
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...mais le lundi, j'aime faire du sport, de la marche par exemple. ...but on Mondays I like to do some exercise, walking for example. J'aime aussi faire des courses dans les magasins, mais pas le lundi, plutt la fin de la semaine, le vendredi quand j'ai le temps.
I also like to do the shopping in the shops, but not on Mondays, more at the end of the week, on Fridays when I have the time.
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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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In English to talk about an undefined quantity we employ a noun without an article: 'beer'. In French to talk about 'beer' in this general way you can't just say bire, you must say de la bire.
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
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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'.
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le lundi
Monday
le vendredi
Friday
le mardi
Tuesday Wednesday
le samedi
Saturday Sunday
-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
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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
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dimanche dernier
last Sunday
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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.
2) Toi, tu n'aimes pas rester chez toi, tu prfres te promener ou faire du sport.
3) Est-ce que les Anglais aiment boire du vin? Non, ils prfrent boire de la bire en gnral.
b) Translate the following English sentences into French. 1) Do you play the piano? (use the formal 'vous')
3) On Saturday nights they do some exercise and on Sunday mornings they rest.
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Le dimanche, j'aime rester la maison, mais le lundi, j'aime faire du sport, de la marche par exemple.
On Sundays, I like to stay at home, but on Mondays, I like to do some exercise, walking for example.
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
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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.
Nous allons voir. Elle peut sortir le soir? Tu peux me dire l'heure? C'est une montre en or. Tu aimes faire du sport? Je prfre courir.
in / ain / ien / un in / ain / un and the en in ien are pronounced the same. Listen and repeat.
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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...
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Listen to the following text. Pay particular attention to the sounds oi as in:
savoir
and the sound oin as in:
loin
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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.
Oui, malheureusement, c'est trs loin d'ici. Vous ne pouvez pas y* aller rapidement. C'est pas possible. C'est trs loin.
Yes, unfortunately, it's very far from here. You can't get there rapidly. It's not possible. It's very far.
Oh, c'est pas un problme pour moi. J'ai le temps. Je suis en vacances. Je ne travaille pas. Je me promne juste. Je visite. Je fais du tourisme. C'est pour le plaisir. J'ai le temps, vous savez. Et le numro du bus pour le centre, c'est quoi?
Oh, that's not a problem for me. I have the time. I'm on holiday. I'm not working. I'm just out for a walk. I'm visiting. I'm doing some sightseeing. It's for the pleasure. I have the time, you know. And the number of the bus for the centre, what is it?
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!
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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
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pouvoir
to be able
vouloir
to want
ils peuvent
they can
ils veulent
they want
You don't need a preposition after these verbs - they are followed directly with an infinitive:
savoir faire
to know how to
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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
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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:
9 neuf bananes 16 seize roses rouges 10 dix pommes 17 dix-sept petites filles
4 quatre maisons 11 onze abricots 18 dix-huit appartements 5 cinq enfants 6 six voitures 12 douze arbres 19 dix-neuf euros 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.
Il y a des bus pour aller dans le centre, heureusement. J'ai le temps et je marche tranquillement. Le 3 arrive justement.
There are some buses to go into the centre, fortunately. I have the time and I walk calmly. As it happens, the number 3 arrives.
or
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doux
gentle
douce
gentle
doucement
gently
lent
slow
lente
slow
lentement
slowly
rapide
rapid
rapide
rapid
rapidement
rapidly
dernier
last / latest
dernire
last / latest
dernirement
lately / recently
prochain
next
prochaine
next
prochainement
soon
amical
friend
amicale
friend
amicalement
friendly
cordial
cordial
cordiale
cordial
cordialement
cordially
cruel
cruel
cruelle
cruel
cruellement
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.
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La prononciation
Today, we're going to practise the sounds oi and oin.
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oi pouvoir
to be able
vouloir
to want
dans le coin
in the corner
savoir
to know
le point
the point, the place
avoir
to have
faire le point
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? You don't know how a French duck goes? It goes 'coin coin' (quack quack).
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
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3) C'est une maison . a) belle b) beau c) blanc d) blanche 4) Le tlphone est a) sur b) sr c) sre une petite table.
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 8) Vous avez trs faim? - Non, pas trop, je une pomme pour le dner. a) peux b) veux c) juste d) justement 9) J'aime la couleur a) de le b) du c) de 10) Ils heureux. Ils pain. un jus de pomme.
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.
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adorer to adore aimer to love, to like l'air the air aller to go un ami, une amie a friend l'amour love l'arrt de bus the bus stop aujourd'hui today
beau beautiful bien well la bire beer un bilan a summary blanc, blanche white bonjour hello le bus bus
le centre the centre comment how la chance luck le chat the cat chez at le chien the dog cinq five le cours course les courses shopping
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 un enfant child tre to be un exemple an example par exemple for example
la faim hunger faire to do, to make la famille the family la fatigue tiredness la fille the daughter, the girl la fin the end une fois once, a time le frre the brother le froid the cold
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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 joli, jolie pretty le jour the day le jus de fruit fruit juice juste correct, just justement precisely
le lit the bed loin far lourd, lourde heavy lundi Monday
la maison the house le magasin the shop le matin the morning le mari the husband malheureux, malheureuse unhappy, unlucky malheureusement unhappily, unluckily le mnage the cleaning mme same merci thank you mercredi Wednesday tout le monde everybody
neuf nine la nuit the night noir, noire black non no le numro the number
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le panier the basket les parents parents, relations le parking the parking lot pas not passer to pass se passer to happen petit, petite small le plaisir the pleasure la place the place, the square une poire a pear une pomme an apple
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
rapide, rapide rapid rapidement rapidly un renseignement a piece of information rver to dream
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la table the table le tlphone the telephone le temps the time tt early toujours always travailler to work trs very trois three trop too trouver to find
les vacances holidays vendredi Friday la vie life le vin the wine voil here voir to see une voiture a car vouloir to want vraiment really
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Voici l'enregistrement d'une conversation entre une mre et sa fille le soir, la maison, aprs une journe de travail.
Here's a recording of a conversation between a mother and her daughter in the evening, at the house, after a day of work.
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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!
Ah bon, alors comme a, tu ne vas pas chez tes amis ce soir? Tu es invite pourtant, non?
Ah well, so then, you're not going to your friends this evening? And yet you've been invited, haven't you?
Mais tu peux aller au restaurant, toi aussi, si tu veux. Vas-y, a change les ides de sortir un peu le soir aprs une journe de travail. C'est vrai, a fait du bien. Allez!
But you can go to the restaurant, you as well, if you want. Go on, it changes your ideas to go out a bit in the evening after a day of work. It's true, it will do you good. Go on!
Non, je n'ai pas envie de sortir. J'ai vraiment besoin de me reposer, je te dis.
No, I don't feel like going out. I really need to rest, I tell you.
Tu es sre que tout va bien? Tu es sre que tu n'as pas autre chose? Une peine de coeur par exemple?
Are you sure that you are OK? You're sure that you haven't got something else? A heartache for example?
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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
Remember the v (vais, vas, va, vont) - like v for voyage (or v for vite, which means 'quickly').
Je vais vite.
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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?
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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
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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:
I have desire of rest. I have need of rest. Est-ce que le directeur a besoin du dossier?
Does the director need the dossier?
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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 3) J'ai mal la tte. Elles 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
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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
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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
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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.
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l'hpital
si replying to a negative question 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?
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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.
La malade: Je me repose comme je peux. De toute faon je suis oblige de me reposer ici. Je suis dans mon lit. Qu'est-ce que vous croyez que je fais dans mon lit? Je me repose...
The patient: I am resting as well as I can. In any case I am obliged to rest here. I am in my bed. What do you thing that I am doing in my bed? I am resting...
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:
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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.
Tu te reposes.
You rest.
Tu es chez toi.
You are at your place.
Il se repose.
He rests.
Elle se repose.
She rests.
Ils se reposent.
They rest (m).
Elles se reposent.
They rest (f).
Note that some of them take the same form as the subject pronoun:
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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.
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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.
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a) On ne peut pas prendre l'avion pour aller de Paris New-York? b) On parle anglais en France? c) Vous n'aimez pas le lait? d) Vous allez au travail en voiture? e) Il faut travailler dur pour apprendre le franais?
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?
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Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
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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.
Selon les statistiques il y a beaucoup d'accidents sur les routes cause de la consommation d'alcool et cause de la conduite en tat d'ivresse.
According to the statistics, there are lots of accidents on the roads caused by the consumption of alcohol and caused by driving while in a state of drunkenness.
Souvent, beaucoup de problmes arrivent(1) cause de l'alcool. C'est beaucoup trop. C'est une relle catastrophe. Il faut lutter contre ce phnomne social.
Often, a lot of problems arrive because of alcohol. It's much too much. It is a real catastrophe. It's necessary to campaign against this social phenomenon.
Une campagne de sensibilisation est lance(1) pour lutter(1) contre les consquences de l'alcool au volant. Il faut absolument russir(2).
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An awareness campaign is launched to fight against the consequences of drink-driving. It is absolutely necessary to succeed.
Un plan est labor(1) actuellement par le gouvernement. La police est mobilise(1). Les conducteurs sont avertis(2) par les mdias. Les sanctions sont augmentes (1).
A plan is devised at the moment by the government. The police are mobilised. Drivers are warned by the media. Punishments are increased.
Si nous ne ragissons(2) pas, nous courons vers une catastrophe. Mais, si les mesures de prvention russissent(2), c'est une belle victoire. Boire ou conduire, en effet il faut choisir(2).
If we don't react, we are heading for a catastrophe. But if the prevention measures succeed, it will be a great victory. Drink or drive, effectively it's necessary to choose. le vocabulaire fminin
la sensibilisation*
awareness
la sanction*
punishment, sanction
la prvention*
prevention
une augmentation*
an increase
la consquence imprvisible
the unpredictable consequence
la consommation*
the consumption *Remember: all words ending in -tion are feminine
la police nationale
the national police
le vocabulaire
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masculin
un bord
a side
un volant
a steering wheel
le plan
the plan
un accident
an accident
le gouvernement
the government
un problme
a problem
un conducteur
a driver
un alcool
alcohol, a spirit
Tu chantes bien.
You sing well.
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:
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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
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 and a number after many of the verbs. This refers to the there is a number number of the group in which the verbs are to be found. Notice that not all verbs with an -ir in the infinitive are in the second group. For example:
(1) (2)
courir
to run
dormir
to sleep
look like verbs from the second group, but in the plural we have
not
so they are in the third group of irregular verbs. And conduire ends in -ire and not ir, as do lire (to read) and crire (to write). They too are to be found in the third group of irregular verbs, which we will look at another time.
2) La forme passive
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is a sentence in the passive voice. The structure in French is the same as it is in English:
le participe pass
the past participle
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
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Il y a beaucoup de problmes.
There are a lot of problems.
de is like the word 'of' in English. But in French the de comes up whenever there is an adverb that describes quantity: even where there's no 'of' in English. For example trop de - 'too many':
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:
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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.
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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
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Nous
c) Now transform the following active sentences into passive ones. i) Le gouvernement mobilise la police.
The government mobilises the police.
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Si nous ne ragissons pas, nous courons vers la catastrophe. Mais, si nous russissons, c'est une belle victoire.
If we don't react, we are heading for catastrophe. But, if we succeed, it's a beautiful victory.
Les enchanements
C'est
enfant - des
amis
Il y a aussi un phnomne d'enchanement. Ce n'est pas une lettre mais une syllabe termine par une consonne qui est incluse dans le son suivant.
There is also 'enchanement'. Not just a letter but a whole syllable ending in a consonant is melded
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Boire ou conduire il faut choisir boirou conduiril faut choisir Pas d'alcool au volant pas d'alcolo volant L'affiche est pose sur le bord de la route l'affich pose... Rcoutez puis relisez le texte de la leon en faisant porter vos efforts sur les liaisons et les enchanements.
Relisten then reread the text of the lesson, concentrating your efforts on the liaisons and enchanements.
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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:
vowel s vowel
la
la rose - the rose la chose - the thing la base - the base cause de - because of le dsert du Sahara - the Sahara desert
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les elles
avions - the aeroplanes (airplanes) ont une maison - they have a house
The rule applies even if there is a consonant just before the final s:
espaces - large spaces idiotes - the stupid questions en temps - from time to time
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:
consonant s vowel
la
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:
vowel s consonant
la
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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:
le Stade de France - the name of the sports stadium in Paris le style - the style la station de mtro - the metro station la sparation - the separation la salade - the salad
And, finally it's the same sound for ss. So we have:
nous russissons - we succeed le saucisson de Lyon - the cooked sausage from Lyon l'assurance - the insurance essayer - to try
The different ways of pronouncing s can make an important difference in expression and comprehension. For example, we have:
la table basse - the low table le poisson - the fish la base militaire - the military base le poison - the poison
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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.
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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.
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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) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
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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
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- 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.
- Excellent, bon dpart, mon tour! J'annonce quatre-vingt-dix carreau. Pas mal, hein?
Excellent, good start, my turn! I bid ninety diamonds, not bad, eh?
Et le jeu commence. Et a dure longtemps. Parfois, nous jouons tout l'aprs-midi. Nous adorons a, jouer aux cartes quand il fait mauvais.
And the game begins. And it lasts a long time. Sometimes we play all afternoon. We love that, playing cards when the weather's bad.
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
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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:
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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:
mes sacs et mes valises tes sacs et tes valises ses sacs et ses valises
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
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une ide
an idea
we have:
un projet
a project
we have:
and
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:
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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':
N'insiste pas, laisse tomber la discussion, ce type est compltement saoul... Il ne faut surtout pas monter avec lui en voiture. Laisse tomber, je te dis!
Don't insist, let the discussion drop, this guy is completely drunk... Don't get in the car with him whatever you do (lit: above all). Let it drop, I tell you!
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Un exercice d'application
Transform the following expressions using possessive adjectives.
C'est ma maison.
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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...
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But do you know which are masculine and which are feminine?
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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.
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- Bonjour, bonjour, j'ai une lettre recommande pour vous. Et aussi un colis. Vous avez de la chance aujourd'hui.
- Hello, hello, I have a recorded delivery letter for you. And also a parcel. You're in luck today.
- Un moment s'il vous plat, j'arrive. Oh, d'accord, je vois, c'est un trs
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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
the entrance door
la livraison
the delivery
la lettre recommande
the recorded delivery letter
la place
the place (also: the square)
la feuille
the paper, the slip
une histoire
a story, a saga
la signature personnelle
the personal signature
une habitude
a habit
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le vocabulaire masculin
le facteur
the postman
les parents
parents (also: relatives)
le colis
the parcel
un anniversaire
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
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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:
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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.
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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:
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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
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Un exercice d'application
Choose the correct word - quel, quelle, quels or quelles - to fill in the gaps: 1) 2) exercice facile! est ta meilleure amie? langue, le franais ou l'anglais? heure arrive le train de Nice? est votre restaurant prfr? ge? bus il faut prendre pour aller dans le centre?
3) Tu prfres 4) 5)
est l'ge normal de la retraite? est le montant des cotisations sociales? bonne ide! vilain temps!
Une traduction
Translate the following texts into French.
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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)
4) Do you like this black and white pullover? - Yes it is fairly nice, but it is fairly expensive too. And I don't have enough money on me.
(use the tu form)
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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
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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.
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J'ai le plaisir de t'crire aujourd'hui dans ta propre langue. En effet j'apprends le franais depuis six semaines. Je pense que a te surprend. Pour moi, je suis trs heureux. Il faut que je te raconte mon exprience en dtails.
I have the pleasure of writing to you today in your own language. What it is is that I have been learning French for six weeks. I think that that will surprise you. As for myself, I am very happy. I must tell you about my experience in detail.
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Je prends des cours de franais sur Internet. Je lis les textes attentivement, et je les rpte voix haute. J'tudie la grammaire et je fais des exercices. Comme tu imagines, c'est difficile, mais je fais des progrs parce que je travaille rgulirement.
I take French courses by Internet. I read the texts carefully and I repeat them out loud. I study the grammar and I do the exercises. As you can imagine, it's difficult, but I make progress because I work regularly.
J'espre que je ne fais pas trop de fautes et que tu me comprends bien. Je travaille avec Audio pour la prononciation. l'universit, il y a des Franais. Je parle un peu avec eux maintenant. Je les comprends et ils me comprennent. C'est trs encourageant.
I hope that I am not making too many mistakes and that you understand me well. I work with Audio for the pronunciation. At the University, there are some French people. I talk a little with them now. I understand them and they understand me. It is very encouraging.
Je te quitte. J'espre avoir bientt des nouvelles de toi. Tu peux m'crire en franais, n'est-ce pas?
I am leaving you now. I hope to have some news from you soon. You can write to me in French, can't you?
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
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le prsent de l'indicatif
Je finis mon contrat. Tu finis quand? Il finit son traitement mdical. Nous finissons le repas. Vous ne finissez pas la soupe? Ils finissent toujours temps.
As for the Third Group, it's a bit rich calling it a 'Group': it's simply a way of describing all the other verbs. They can have an infinitive ending in -re, -oir or -ir and the members don't always resemble each other that much. But 'Group' is what it's known as. We will study Group Three verbs gradually. Today we are going to look at prendre and the verbs that resemble it.
1) Le verbe prendre
The verb prendre means 'to take'. This is the conjugation in the present indicative:
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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.
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apprendre
- to learn
surprendre
to surprise
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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
me
nous
us
te
you
vous
you
le
him or it
les
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.
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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.
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Un exercice d'application
Put the verbs in brackets into the present of the indicative. 1) Les lves ne (comprendre) 2) Ma soeur (apprendre) 3) Vous ne (comprendre) pas le code pnal.
le chinois.
4) Je ne peux pas aller chez toi aujourd'hui, j'ai trop de travail finir, tu ? (comprendre) 5) J' (apprendre) le droit des affaires depuis deux mois.
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)
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2) We understand very well your decision. When I visit a town, I take time: I like to visit it completely.
(use the vous form)
3) What do I learn? The competing company is taking our market? That surprises me very unpleasantly.
Les pronoms
Replace the words in green by the appropriate pronoun.
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4) Je surprends les chats dans la cuisine, ils mangent dans mon assiette!
Une traduction
Translate into French. 1) You understand me.
(use the tu form)
2) I am leaving you.
(use the tu form)
La prononciation
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When conjugating verbs the final s is not pronounced. So we have for prendre and its composites:
Je prends mon temps. Tu prends des vacances bientt? Il prend un air important. Je comprends votre problme, mais... Tu comprends difficilement sa dmission. Elle ne comprend rien la comptabilit. J'apprends une triste nouvelle. Tu apprends vivre en France. Il apprend tape par tape.
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.
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Faites attention!
l'impratif
un moment...
C'est la grve.
There's a strike.
En ce moment, il y a la grve la SNCF (la Socit Nationale des Chemins de Fer). Quelle pagaille! C'est impossible de voyager. Surtout en direction de Paris. Presque tous les trains de banlieue sont supprims.
At the moment, there is a strike at the SNCF (the French national railway company). What a mess! It's impossible to travel. Above all in the Paris direction. Nearly all the suburban trains are cancelled.
Je ne sais absolument pas quoi faire. J'ai un rendez-vous extrmement important Paris. Je demande au bureau de renseignements:
I just don't know what to do. I have an extremely important meeting at Paris. I ask at the information desk:
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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?
Je la remercie et je vais sur le quai. Effectivement, un TGV arrive presque immdiatement. Un haut-parleur crie: Attention, loignez-vous de la bordure du quai, le TGV n 103 entre en gare.
I thank her and I go onto the platform. Indeed a TGV arrives almost immediately. A loudspeaker blares: 'Attention, move back from the edge of the platform, the TGV n 103 is entering the station.'
J'ai de la chance dans mon malheur. Je vais Paris et si je ne peux pas revenir ce soir, alors moi Paris by night! quelque chose malheur est bon, non?*
I have a stroke of luck in my misfortune. I am going to Paris and if I can't get back this evening, then it's Paris by night for me! Misfortune is good for something, isn't it? *a proverb
le vocabulaire fminin
la bordure
the edge, the border
la grve
the strike
la chance
luck
la pagaille
the mess
la direction
the direction (the management)
la vitesse
the speed
la gare
the station
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masculin
le bureau
the office
un renseignement
information
un haut-parleur
a loudspeaker
le voyage
the voyage, the journey
le malheur
the misfortune
le quai
the platform
un rendez-vous
a meeting verbes et adverbes
aimablement
kindly
faire
to do, to make
annuler
to cancel
presque
almost
crier
to shout, to blare
supprimer
to cancel
surtout
above all
effectivement
effectively, indeed
voyager
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).
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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.
You enter.
Entre!
Enter!
Nous entrons.
We enter.
Entrons!
Let's enter!
Vous entrez.
You enter.
Entrez!
Enter!
demander
to ask
supprimer
to 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.
You finish.
Finis!
Finish!
Nous finissons.
We finish.
Finissons!
Let's finish!
Vous finissez.
You finish.
Finissez!
Finish!
choisir
to 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
Fais!
Do!
Faisons!
Let's do!
Faites!
Do!
You can also form imperatives in the negative by adding ne and pas.
Reflexive verbs are a bit special when it comes to the imperative. In the affirmative, the reflexive pronoun comes after the verb. And in that position, we need to use the emphatic form of the pronoun. In practical terms, that means te becomes toi. So for example, with se promener - 'to go for a walk':
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:
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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!
En ce moment je suis surcharg de travail, il faut mettre la comptabilit en ordre avant la fin du mois.
I'm overwhelmed with work at the moment, I have to put my accounts in order before the end of the month.
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.
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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.
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b) Translate from French into English 1) Il fait presque nuit. 2) Qu'est-ce que vous faites le dimanche? 3) Qu'est-ce que tu veux? Tu veux quoi? 4) Fais attention, un bus arrive, reste ici. Il y a une grve, non?
6) Il pleut rgulirement depuis mon arrive, mais aujourd'hui j'ai de la chance, il fait presque beau!
Un exercice d'application
Use the verb faire to fill in the gaps: 1) Je beaucoup d'efforts pour apprendre le franais. de sport en ce moment.
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ce soir?
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) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
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Le pass compos
le pass compos
Je suis vieux maintenant, et ma femme est vieille aussi. Nous n'avons pas eu d'enfants. Nous sommes la retraite. Nous ne travaillons plus.
I am old now and my wife is old too. We didn't have children. We are retired. We no longer work.
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Oh, nous avons travaill, nous avons voyag aussi. Nous avons habit dans diffrents pays, en Europe, et puis en Amrique. Eh oui, mais tout a, c'est du pass.
Oh, we worked, we travelled as well. We lived in different countries in Europe and then in America. Ah yes, but all that's the past.
Nous avons achet notre maison l'anne dernire. C'est rcent. J'ai fait les plans de cette maison. Ma femme a fait les plans du jardin. Les voisins nous ont aids. Ils ont t trs aimables.
We bought our house last year. That's recent. I drew up the plans of this house. My wife drew the plans of the garden. The neighbours helped us. They were very friendly.
Maintenant la vie est calme. Nous apprcions la tranquillit pour le moment. Mais bien sr, nous avons encore beaucoup de projets pour l'avenir.
Now life is calm. We appreciate the tranquillity for the time being. But of course, we have lots of plans for the future.
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.
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It must be an action that happens at a specific time and place. You should be able to imagine its beginning and its end.
It is not the tense to describe 'the way things were' or 'the way we used to do things' - we'll tackle that another day. Travaillons sur des exemples pour comprendre.
Let's work on some examples to understand.
Regardons la formation.
Let's look at how it's formed.
Le pass compos as the name suggests, is a tense that is composed in two different parts:
le pass compos Avoir in the present tense The past participle of the verb you wish to conjugate
J'ai
I have
achet.
bought.
J'ai
I have
tlphon.
telephoned.
The present tense of the verb avoir you should know by now:
avoir - to have
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le prsent de l'indicatif
j'ai tu as il a elle a
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:
So putting the present tense of avoir with the past participle we get le pass compos:
le pass compos
J'ai achet une voiture neuve. Tu as achet ton appartement crdit? Il a achet un aspirateur ridicule. Nous avons achet des lgumes frais. Vous avez achet votre maison trop cher. Elles ont achet des chocolats dlicieux.
For verbs in Group Two (verbs with an infinitive ending in -ir and -iss in the stem of the nous form), we form the past participle by replacing the -ir of the infinitive
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with -i:
finir choisir
and so in le pass compos we have:
fini choisi
J'ai fini de lire mon livre. Tu as fini la leon 19? J'ai choisi du mobilier moderne. Tu as choisi la bonne solution.
For the irregular verbs in Group Three there are no hard and fast rules for forming the past participle. It's just a question of learning by practice. Sometimes the ending is -i like for Group Two verbs:
tenir J'ai tenu la situation en main. voir J'ai vu une chose incroyable.
sometimes -ert:
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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.
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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
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, . : ; ?
virgule (la) point (le) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
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.
J'ai eu un peu peur quand j'ai vu ta soeur. Tu as eu assez de beurre pour faire la sauce? Il a eu des douleurs abdominales et il a vu un docteur. Nous avons eu un problme majeur cause d'une grave erreur. Vous avez eu un immense bonheur le jour de votre anniversaire. Elles ont eu du courage. Elles ont jou un jeu trs dangereux.
Une composition
Write a composition using le pass compos to describe an event that's
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Le futur
le futur simple
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end d'octobre.
Here is the weather forecast for next weekend, the last weekend in October.
Ce sera la mme chose au sud du pays, en Provence, en Camargue et dans le Roussillon. Le soleil brillera trs fort.
It will be the same to the South of the country, in Provence, the Camargue and in Roussillon. The sun will shine very brightly.
Des nuages couvriront le ciel l'est, en Alsace. Il pleuvra dimanche et le vent soufflera fort. La neige tombera.
Clouds will cover the sky to the East, in Alsace. It will rain on Sunday and the wind will blow strongly. Snow will fall.
Nous vous souhaitons un bon week-end. Ne travaillez pas trop. Soyez prudents sur les routes! A lundi.
We wish you a good weekend. Don't work too much. Be careful on the roads! Until Monday.
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:
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dormir Elle dormira dans ma chambre si elle veut. partir Nous partirons le plus tt possible.
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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 les comptes. Tu feras les dmarches la banque. Il fera des progrs. Nous ferons notre possible. Vous ferez des erreurs. Elles feront un norme bnfice.
vouloir - to want le futur simple
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Il voudra aller au cinma, c'est sr. Nous voudrons voir le dossier pour faire des vrifications. Vous voudrez bien m'excuser mais je serai en retard la runion. Elles voudront savoir si vous viendrez les voir bientt.
venir - to come le futur simple
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 l demain.
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Tu seras satisfait du rsultat. Il sera le chef de projet. Nous serons l'heure, c'est promis. Vous serez en retard. Elles seront les reines de la soire! Ce sera...
It will be...
C'est...
It is... avoir - to have le futur simple
J'aurai un journal dans la main droite. Tu auras le dernier mot. Elle aura raison. Nous aurons beaucoup de plaisir vous revoir.
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Vous aurez de la chance si vous trouvez un htel Paris au mois d'aot. Ils auront une grande dception quand ils apprendront la mauvaise nouvelle. Il y aura...
There will be...
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.
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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. .
4) S'il fait beau, le voyage fantastique. tre 5) Si nous voulons rserver dans votre restaurant, nous vous . tlphoner
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
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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:
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ia quelqu'un ici?
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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:
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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
which
sont romantiques.
are romantic.
J'aime les films is our main clause. Je is the subject. But les films is the subject of our subclause - it's films which are romantic. So to link the two clauses we use the relative pronoun qui. Some more examples:
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The children are doing the shouting, so we use qui. As you can see we use qui whether we are referring to animals, objects, people, singular or plural.
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:
Qui est-ce qui veut un caf? - Moi, s'il te plat. Qu'est-ce qui fait du bruit? - C'est le camion qui fait du bruit.
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Qu'est-ce qui te pique les yeux? - C'est l'oignon qui me pique les yeux. Qui est-ce qui est capable de traduire un texte en chinois ici? - Je ne vois vraiment pas, le chinois n'est pas courant ici.
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4) Pour nous qui rgulirement la tlvision, la qualit des programmes est importante. regarder 5) Les lves qui envoyer un courriel. vouloir s'inscrire au cours de franais, peuvent
6) Si c'est toi qui les places au restaurant pour ce soir, demande des places la terrasse. rserver b) Choose qui, que or qu' to fill in the gaps. 1) apporte le courrier le matin? - Le facteur.
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2)
est-ce
5) Il y a une nouvelle note de service ne fait pas plaisir tout le monde: il est interdit de fumer dans les bureaux.
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.
J'aime la nourriture de bonne qualit. Pour monter dans un avion il faut une carte d'embarquement. La rpublique est une institution. Il y a un banc public dans un jardin public. Une crmonie publique a lieu le 14 juillet. Un quota de chansons franaises est obligatoire la radio. Qu'est-ce qui se passe? Il faut garder l'quilibre skis. Vous arriverez quand?
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Deux socits, une entreprise franaise et sa filiale amricaine, organisent des changes avec leurs employs. Pour commencer, un groupe de Franais reoit des jeunes stagiaires amricains. Et l'anne prochaine, en change, des Franais iront Chicago. Un responsable de l'encadrement en France prononce un discours de bienvenue pour l'quipe amricaine dans la grande salle de rception o sont runis les membres qui font partie de cette opration.
Two companies, a French enterprise and its American subsidiary, organise exchanges between their employees. To begin with, a group of French people receive some young American trainees. And next year, in exchange, some French people will go to Chicago. A person in charge of training in France gives a welcoming speech for the Americans in the large reception hall where those involved in the operation have gathered together.
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Nous sommes tous runis aujourd'hui pour clbrer la rencontre de nos tablissements respectifs. C'est une grande joie pour moi de vous accueillir ici.
We are all gathered today to celebrate the coming together of our respective organisations. It's a great joy for me to welcome you here.
Pendant un mois, nous travaillerons ensemble. J'espre que le sjour de nos amis amricains sera intressant. Ils sont ici pour apprendre le franais et nos mthodes de travail, c'est sr, mais aussi pour connatre mieux la France, sa culture, son histoire.
During one month we will work together. I hope that our American friends' trip will be interesting. They are here to learn French and our working methods, that's sure, but also to get to know France better, her culture, her history.
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:
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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
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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
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As you can see, it's irregular: its stem is not the infinitive. Here is the conjugation:
aller - to go le futur simple
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:
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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
Notice the use of the . Normally, before an a an o or a u, c is pronounced hard like k or coca-cola. But the sound c in the verb recevoir is soft. So to keep it soft, after je, tu, il, elle, ils and elles we need to use the . It's not necessary to have a after nous or vous, because c before an e is naturally soft (at it is before an i as well). As for le pass compos we have:
recevoir - to receive le pass compos
Nous avons reu un choc. Vous avez reu des nouvelles? Ils ont reu le pape.
5) Quelques homonymes
Homonyms are words that sound the same but have a different meaning. For example:
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c'est trs court En hiver les jours sont courts et les nuits sont longues. En t les nuits sont courtes et les jours sont longs au contraire.
In winter the days are short and the nights are long. In summer, on the contrary, the nights are short and the days are long.
Tu ne cours jamais.
You never run.
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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.
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Je compte sur nos amis franais pour les aider passer un agrable sjour.
I count on our French friends to help them have a pleasant stay.
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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) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
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.
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Sophie: Appelle le serveur, il ne nous voit pas. Je vais aux toilettes. Demande des allumettes aussi, j'ai perdu mon briquet.
Call the waiter, he's not seeing us. I am going to the toilets. Ask for some matches too, I've lost my lighter.
Le serveur: Voil, j'arrive. Bonjour, qu'y a-t-il pour votre service, mesdemoiselles?
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Le serveur: Dsol nous ne servons pas de pression ici, nous avons des bouteilles seulement.
I'm sorry we don't have draught beer here, we only have bottles.
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?
Le serveur: Entendu, a marche, trois bires, trois. Tenez, voici dj la bote d'allumettes en cadeau.
Understood, that's fine, three beers, three. Take this, here's the box of matches already as a present.
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.
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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
Je sers les clients. Tu sers le vin, chri? Elle sert table. Nous servons sur la terrasse. Vous servez tard ici. Ils servent des grosses portions.
But when servir is followed by the preposition and then an infinitive it takes on a different meaning.
servir
is used for describing. It doesn't translate very directly into English, the loose translation is 'is used to' or 'is good for':
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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:
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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
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C'est un tablissement o les livres sont emprunts. En gnral, une bibliothque est un tablissement public.
A library is an institution where books are borrowed. In general, a library is a public institution.
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.
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C'est une pice de thtre, une pice de Shakespeare, une pice de Molire.
It's a play in the theatre, a play by Shakespeare, a play by Molire.
C'est une pice mcanique. Le moteur de ma voiture est compos de diffrentes pices.
It's a mechanical piece. The motor in my car is made up of different pieces.
Quelle salade!
What a mess! (lit: What a salad!)
Le mot la cuisine a deux significations - C'est la nourriture qui est prpare: est-ce que vous faites bien la cuisine? est-ce que vous aimez la cuisine franaise? Le mot la cuisine dsigne aussi la pice de la maison o nous faisons la cuisine: j'ai une cuisine confortable. Dans les appartements modernes, les cuisines sont souvent trs petites.
The word la cuisine has two meanings - it's the food that is prepared: do you cook well? do you like French cooking? The word la cuisine also describes the room in the house where we do the cooking: I have a comfortable kitchen. In modern apartments, kitchens are often very small.
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?
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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.
3) J'ai dcid de vendre ma cuisinire. Elle ne prends mes repas au restaurant. 4) Mon ordinateur ne marche pas. Je 5) Les enfants 6) Je beaucoup. avoir toujours raison.
la panne.
J'attends un ami la gare. Il est tard. J'ai apport une camra. a va? Now notice the a sound can also be heard in oi
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quoi a sert de chercher comprendre les femmes? La camra est moi mais le sac est toi, n'est-ce pas? Tu ne veux pas boire? Non, pas ce soir. Je ne peux pas croire a! C'est incroyable! Regarde, l-bas, la voiture noire qui sort du garage. Envoie-moi une carte postale quand tu seras l-bas, en Espagne.
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
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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.
En fait, ce n'est pas toujours exactement comme a. En fait, tout le monde ne vote pas. Je suis toujours surprise quand je regarde le rsultat des votes. Le pourcentage des participants est bas. C'est pratiquement la mme chose dans tous les pays du monde, en Italie, en
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France, en Russie. Je cherche comprendre pourquoi. C'est une nigme pour moi.
In practice, it's not always exactly like that. In fact, not everyone votes. I am always surprised when I look at the result of the votes. The percentage of participation is low. It's practically the same thing in all the countries of the world, in Italy, in France, in Russia. I try to understand why. To me it's an enigma.
Est-ce que les gens se dsintressent du gouvernement de leur pays, ou bien est-ce qu'ils pensent que la politique est une comdie qui ne sert rien?
Is it because people aren't interested in the government of their country, or rather is it that they think that politics is just a charade that's no use for anything?
- Pourquoi?
Why?
- Non, non. Je n'ai pas le temps, je reois toute ma famille, mes enfants, mes petits-enfants, c'est plus important!
No, no. I haven't the time, I am having all the family round, my children, my grandchildren, that's more important!
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- 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.
Quelle dsaffection! Je ne connais pas votre opinion. Au fait, qu'est-ce que vous pensez de ces ractions?
What disaffection! I don't know your opinion. As a matter of fact, what do you think of these reactions?
- 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!
You will remember that the s in Bonjour tous! is pronounced. Now we're going to look at a similar word, tout:
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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
En ce moment, je travaille tout le temps, tous les jours de la semaine. Mais je ne veux pas continuer toute ma vie comme a. Je veux vivre normalement comme tout le monde. Je veux voir rgulirement tous
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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.
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Un exercice d'application
Fill in the gaps with tout, toute, tous or toutes. 1) Je tlphone les jours mon mari. le temps.
3) Est-ce que vous avez reu vos papiers pour prendre l'avion, votre passeport, votre billet, vos euros? 4) Tu ne mangeras pas 5) Est-ce que 6) - Non, pas ce gros gteau seul? - Si!
les passagers ont compost leur billet de train? , pas moi! le monde l'a fait sauf vous.
9) Si la pluie tombe la nuit, nous n'irons pas nous promener demain. Le sol sera tremp.
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Est-ce que les gens se dsintressent du gouvernement de leur pays, ou bien est-ce qu'ils pensent que la politique est une comdie?
Are people not interested in the government of their country, or rather is it that they think that political life is just a charade?
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?
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La guinguette
venir de / venir
dire que
- Voil, voil, a vient... J'arrive tout de suite prendre la commande, hein? Une minute et je suis vous.
OK, OK, coming... I'm coming straight away to take your order, alright? One minute and I'm with you.
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.
- Mais vraiment, l il y a de l'abus, a ne vient pas vite. Nous n'avons pas encore command et nous sommes l depuis une demi-heure presque!
But really, this is just taking the mickey, the service isn't coming quickly at all. We haven't yet ordered and we have been here for almost half an hour!
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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
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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?
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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:
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- 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.
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Une traduction
Traduisez en franais. 1) I have just seen a horrible film.
6) And where do you come from exactly in the United States? From Seattle.
(use the vous form)
7) Don't tell me that you have just eaten, I want to invite you to the restaurant!
(use the tu form)
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8) Unfortunately yes, I have just finished my dinner, the next time, telephone me a little in advance.
9) What are you saying? I am saying that you speak French well now.
(use the tu form)
10) That's normal, I took courses in France this summer, in fact I have just returned.
11) And you will continue your French studies? Yes I have just joined up for the next year at the University.
(use the tu form)
2) La fleuriste dit: Les fleurs sont rares et chres en ce moment Qu'est-ce qu'elle dit?
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3) Vous dites: Il n'y a plus de billets pour la pice de thtre ce soir. Qu'est-ce que vous dites?
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 ...
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Un, deux, trois, j'irai dans les bois, Quatre, cinq, six, cueillir des cerises, Sept, huit, neuf, dans mon panier neuf, Dix, onze, douze, elles seront toutes rouges...
apprendre compter l'usage des chiffres et les oprations l'criture et la phontique des chiffres fondamentales
0 zro 1 un
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cent deux
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C'est pratiquement impossible de chiffrer le montant des pertes dues un tremblement de terre.
It's practically impossible to put a figure on the losses caused by an earthquake.
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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!
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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).
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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. 61 soixante et un 62 soixante-deux 63 soixante-trois 64 soixante-quatre 65 soixante-cinq 66 soixante-six 67 soixante-sept 68 soixante-huit 69 soixante-neuf 80 quatre-vingts La srie des quatre-vingts va jusqu' quatre-vingt-dix-neuf. 81 quatre-vingt-un 82 quatre-vingt-deux 83 quatre-vingt-trois 70 soixante-dix
71 soixante et onze 72 soixante-douze 73 soixante-treize 74 soixante-quatorze 75 soixante-quinze 76 soixante-seize 77 soixante-dix-sept 78 soixante-dix-huit 79 soixante-dix-neuf 90 quatre-vingt-dix
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84 quatre-vingt-quatre 85 quatre-vingt-cinq 86 quatre-vingt-six 87 quatre-vingt-sept 88 quatre-vingt-huit 89 quatre-vingt-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
Les nombres sont invariables. Alors il faut viter la tentation d'ajouter un s o il n'y en a pas.
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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'.
Les enfants ont tous mille et un talents. Ils ont des talents innombrables.
Children all have a thousand and one talents: their talents are beyond counting.
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Ce un ne prend pas de s, alors il ne faut pas chercher faire une liaison, comme avec les mots pluriels. On dit:
This un does not take an 's', so you shouldn't look to make a liaison as you would with plural words. You say:
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
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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.
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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.
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Un exercice d'application
Spell out the following numbers in words: 33 16 71 44 80 62 78 90 31 91 18 94 53
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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) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
La prononciation
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The nasal sound an / en comes up frequently in numbers. It is important to pronounce it clearly. Notice also that the x in soixante is pronounced se:
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.
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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
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midday precisely, everyone leaves their office and rushes to the company canteen, on the top floor of the building.
Le djeuner dure jusqu' une heure, une heure et quart approximativement. une heure et demie, il ferme nouveau. De toute faon, il n'y a plus rien manger.
Lunch lasts 'til one o'clock, one fifteen approximatively. At one thirty, the canteen closes again. And in any case, there's nothing left to eat.
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:
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Il est midi.
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Il est minuit.
Et l'heure officielle:
And the formal way:
Le train au dpart de Lille 19 heures 17 arrivera en gare de Paris Gare du Nord 20 heures 32 avec un retard de 6 minutes.
The 19.17 train from Lille will arrive at Paris Gare du Nord at 20.32 with a delay of six minutes.
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:
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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:
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une montre
une pendule
une horloge
un rveil
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.
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J'ai d prendre un taxi. Tu as d avoir peur! Il a d changer son billet. Nous avons d rester sur place. Vous avez d rserver une chambre. Elles ont d tlphoner.
Le futur est:
The future is: devoir - must le futur
Je devrai faire vite. Tu devras patienter. Il devra prendre une dcision. Nous devrons dmnager. Vous devrez insister. Elles devront tre l'heure.
Ce verbe est construit avec l'infinitif:
This verb is constructed with the infinitive:
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.
Quand je serai l'universit, je devrai travailler beaucoup, c'est pourquoi j'hsite prendre ma dcision.
When I will be at University, I will have to work a lot, that's why I hesitate over taking my decision.
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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.
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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.
Je vous donne rendez-vous quatre heures moins le quart. Rponse: quinze heures quarante-cinq - deux heures quatorze
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Heure usuelle: Heure officielle (le soir): Heure officielle (le matin):
Heure usuelle (le jour): Heure usuelle (la nuit): Heure officielle (le jour): Heure officielle (la nuit):
La prononciation
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Rendez-vous deux heures prcises devant le kiosque journaux, d'accord? Le directeur n'est pas l avant onze heures habituellement. Je fais la pause-caf trois heures sinon je craque. Les enfants emportent leur quatre heures l'cole. J'ai appel un taxi pour six heures pile demain matin. Je dois tre au bureau la premire heure.
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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)
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.
Prenons une figure de gomtrie dans l'espace, ce sera pratique. Prenons un cube, par exemple, et une boule.
Let's take a geometric figure in space, it will be practical. Let's take a cube for example and a ball.
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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.
Le cube n'est pas loin de la boule. La boule est prs du cube. La boule est ct du cube.
The cube isn't far from the ball. The ball is near the cube. The ball is by the side of the cube.
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Au milieu de:
In the middle of:
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En face de:
Opposite:
En face de la mairie, il y a l'glise dans les villages, c'est une tradition. Et en face de l'glise il y a presque toujours une ptisserie. C'est une autre tradition.
Opposite the town hall in villages there's the church, it's a tradition. And opposite the church there is nearly always a cake shop. That's another tradition.
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
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.
A droite de ma maison, il y a la maison des voisins. Mon garage est gauche de la maison. Aprs, il n'y a rien, c'est le bout de la rue.
To the right of my house, there is the neighbours' house. My garage is to the left of the house. After that, there's nothing, it's the end of the road.
Sur le toit, il y a une antenne de tlvision. J'ai un grand grenier sous le toit o je peux ranger les vieilles choses. Sous la maison, au sous-sol, il y a la cave.
On the roof, there is a television aerial. I have a large attic under the roof where I can store old things. Beneath the house, in the basement, there's the cellar.
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Mon bureau est situ en haut d'un immeuble de 10 tages. C'est le dernier tage. Au-dessus du dixime tage, il y a une terrasse sur le toit mais ce n'est pas en accs libre pour le personnel pour des raisons de scurit. Dommage!
My office is situated at the top of a 10 storey building. It's the top storey. Above the 10th storey there's a rooftop terrace but it's not accessible to staff for security reasons. Pity!
Mon bureau personnel se trouve au bout d'un long couloir, droite de la sortie de l'ascenseur. Je suis rarement drang parce que je suis assez loin de tous mes collgues.
My personal office is to be found at the end of a corridor, at the right of the lift exit. I am rarely disturbed because I am fairly far from all my colleagues.
J'ai un fauteuil confortable et beaucoup d'espace de rangement. La lumire est bonne. De ma place, derrire ma table de travail, j'ai une belle vue sur la ville. Mais je ne peux pas profiter du spectacle cause des dossiers qui s'accumulent devant moi.
I have a comfortable armchair and lots of space to arrange things. The light is good. From my place, behind my work table, I have a beautiful view over the town. But I can't take advantage of the spectacle because of the files which pile up in front of me.
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:
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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:
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Le participe pass:
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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
a plate
la nappe
the tablecloth
la fourchette
the fork masculin
la bouteille
the bottle
le verre
the glass
le plat
the dish
le couteau
the knife
le rti
the roast
le pain
the bread
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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
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, . : ; ?
virgule (la) point (le) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
Un exercice d'application
Choisissez la rponse juste.
Choose the correct answer.
1) Pour prendre une photo de groupe, les petits sont placs... devant les grands. derrire les grands. 2) Le monsieur a un chapeau... sur la tte. sous la tte. 3) L'avion vole... au-dessus de l'ocan. au-dessous de l'ocan. 4) Il faut mettre la fourchette... droite de l'assiette. gauche de l'assiette. 5) Le mari prfre tre... loin de sa femme table.
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ct de sa femme table.
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le futur immdiat
le verbe se demander
Votre ordinateur est en panne. C'est un vritable cauchemar! Mais c'est pas possible!
Your computer has broken down. It's a real nightmare! But it can't be possible!
Vous ne pouvez ni envoyer, ni recevoir les messages. Pourtant vous avez normment de travail faire. Vous attendez des informations importantes, que dis-je importantes, des informations capitales. La composition de l'quipe pour le prochain match de foot.
You can neither send nor receive messages. Moreover, you have an enormous amount of work to do. You are awaiting important information and when I say important, I mean information of capital importance. The team line-up for the next soccer match.
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Allo, bonjour, monsieur Andr, l'appareil. Andr! Mon ordinateur ne marche plus, a vient d'arriver brutalement. Pouvez-vous m'envoyer un rparateur sur le champ? Il y a urgence.
Hello, good day, Mr. Andr on the phone. Andr. My computer doesn't work any more, it has just happened suddenly. Can you send me a repairman on the spot? It's urgent.
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.
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de grammaire
1) Le futur immdiat
a) La morphologie
Vous connaissez le futur simple (lesson 19).
You know the simple future.
je ferai
I will do
je vais faire
I am going to do
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C'est simple, mais il faut connatre parfaitement la conjugaison de aller. Le reste est un jeu d'enfants.
It is simple, but you must know the conjugation of aller perfectly. The rest is child's play.
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:
Je vais ragir, c'est dcid! L'anne prochaine je vais demander un changement de poste et je vais quitter ce pays.
I'm going to take action, it's decided. Next year I'm going to ask for a change of job and I'm going to leave this country.
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:
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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
Je me demande si mon ordinateur est cass. Tu te demandes quelle heure il est. Elle se demande pourquoi son ami est en retard. Nous nous demandons si nous avons raison dans nos choix. Vous vous demandez qui est le patron ici? Ils se demandent o ils vont passer la nuit, tous les htels sont complets en ce moment.
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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. 2) Les touristes hsitent, ils ils vont aller. 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:
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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.
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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.
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Le chat est un animal secret et silencieux. Mais il occupe une place importante dans la maison et il rgne sur le jardin, son territoire.
The cat is a secretive and silent animal. But he occupies an important place in the house and he reigns in the garden, his territory.
Il miaule doucement quand nous rentrons le soir pour nous souhaiter la bienvenue. Et puis il nous observe. Il apprcie les caresses que nous lui faisons et les petits plats que nous lui mijotons, base de pain et de lait.
He meows softly when we return in the evening to welcome us. And then he observes us. He appreciates the caresses which we give him and the little dishes that we concoct for him, based on bread and milk.
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:
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Main clause
Relative pronoun
Subclause
que
which
Un site touristique is what I saw in my guide. It is the object of the subclause, so we use que. Now compare these two examples:
que
which
qui
which
viennent du march.
come from the market.
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:
J'habite dans une maison que mes parents possdent. J'habite dans une maison qui est mes parents.
I live in a house which my parents own. I live in a house which is my parents'.
Voici l'ami que j'ai rencontr l'universit. Voici l'ami qui tudie l'universit avec moi.
Here is the friend that I met at University. Here is the friend who studies at University with me.
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
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Rappel
Vous connaissez maintenant trois que.
You now know three que's.
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.
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Un exercice d'application
Choose qui or que to complete the following sentences. 1) Les photos pour moi. 2) L'arbre je vais vous montrer sont des bons souvenirs
passent la tlvision ne sont pas intressants. j'ai achet la semaine dernire ne marche plus. est gare devant la porte?
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.
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L'animal que je prfre est le chat, et, en ce qui concerne le chat, l'animal qu'il prfre est... le poisson.
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) deux points point virgule point d'interrogation
... ! ()
points de suspension point d'exclamation ouvrez les guillemets fermez les guillemets entre parenthses
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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.
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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.
- Si c'tait possible, oui, ah, si seulement je pouvais! Mais ce n'est pas possible parce que je vais devoir repartir dans deux jours et je dois faire mes bagages. C'est dommage mais je dois penser au retour maintenant. Dommage! Mais je reviendrai.
If it were possible, yes, ah, if only I could! But it's not possible because I leave in two days and I have to pack my bags. It's a pity, but I must think about my return now. What a pity! But I will come back.
L'indicatif imparfait
Vous connaissez le pass compos comme temps du pass:
You already know le pass compos:
J'avais faim
I was hungry
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Le facteur a sonn
The postman rang
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
Ce matin, je dormais profondment quand le tlphone a sonn. J'ai couru vers le tlphone. Mais, dommage, trop tard!
This morning, I was sleeping deeply when the telephone rang. I ran to the telephone. But, a pity, too late!
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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Sur la scne, il y avait une table et deux chaises. Un homme tait l, il dormait sur la table comme s'il tait ivre.
On the stage there was a table and two chairs. A man was there, he was sleeping on the table as if he was drunk.
Soudain une femme a ouvert une porte, elle a cri le nom de l'homme. Lui, il n'a pas boug, il dormait toujours. Mais elle a insist.
Suddenly, a woman opened a door, she shouted the name of the man. As for him, he didn't move, he was still sleeping. But she insisted.
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
penser - to think
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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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1) Je finissais mon livre. 2) Je pouvais tlphoner quand je voulais. 3) Je ne savais pas si elle tait l. 4) Tu avais de la chance dans ton malheur.
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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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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- Oui, je veux habiter dans le centre, ct d'une bouche de mtro si possible. Je cherche un appartement calme, clair et ensoleill et d'un prix abordable pour un salaire moyen.
- Yes, I want to live in the centre, next to a metro entrance if possible. I am looking for an apartment that's calm, bright and sunny and that's at an affordable price for someone with a moderate salary.
- 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.
- Bon, je vous comprends. Ce n'est pas un problme du tout. Il y a des petites formalits remplir. Il faut verser une caution qui reprsente le double de votre loyer mensuel. Il faut aussi prendre un contrat pour l'eau, l'lectricit et le tlphone, mais c'est trs rapide galement. Il faut prendre rendez-vous avec un fonctionnaire de l'EDF-GDF (lectricit de France, gaz de France) c'est tout. Nous avons les coordonnes ncessaires. Je vous conseille de nous appeler quand vous serez en France. Vous pourrez visiter plusieurs appartements qui correspondent votre recherche et faire les formalits trs rapidement pour la location. Voil, appelez-nous ds votre arrive, d'accord? Merci de votre appel. A bientt?
- Very well, I understand. That's not a problem at all. There are some small formalities to go through. You must leave a deposit that represents the double of your monthly rent. You must also take a contract for the water, the electricity and the telephone, but that is very rapid too. You need to make an appointment with a representative of the EDF-GDF, that's all. We have the necessary addresses. I advise you to call us when you are in France. You can visit several flats that fit your requirements and go very rapidly through the formalities for the rent. There we are, call us as soon as you arrive, OK? Thank you for your call. See you soon?
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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.
Depuis combien de temps vous habitez l o vous tes? Vous avez un contrat pour combien de temps? Vous viendrez en France dans combien de temps? Et pour combien de temps?
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Comment faire? C'est simple. Vous contactez une agence par tlphone.
How do you do it? It's simple. You contact an agency by telephone.
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
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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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J'habite en France depuis 7 ans. Je vais en Italie trs souvent. Je suis en Provence pour trs longtemps, pour toute la vie.
De la mme faon, on dit:
In the same way, we say:
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Pour les continents et les pays fminins vous utilisez de sans l'article:
For continents and feminine countries you use de without an article:
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.
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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.
au Prou
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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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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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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.
Le voyage jusqu' Marseille a dur longtemps mais ce n'tait pas dsagrable. Je suis rest dans le wagon-restaurant pendant une heure au moins. J'ai rencontr des gens de mon ge avec qui j'ai sympathis. Ils sont descendus avant moi. Aprs leur dpart, je suis retourn ma place. J'ai regard le paysage. Dans le train, ce n'est pas comme dans un avion ou bien sur un bateau, dans le train vous pouvez admirer le paysage, et la valle du Rhne est superbe.
The journey as far as Marseille lasted a long time but it wasn't unpleasant. I stayed in the restaurant car for at least an hour. I met people of my age with whom I got on. They got off before me. After their departure, I returned to my place. I looked at the countryside. In the train, it's not like in a plane or of course on a boat, in the train you can admire the countryside and the Rhne valley is superb.
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Quand la nuit est tombe, je me suis endormi. Je suis arriv Marseille le lendemain, en pleine forme, midi pile comme prvu. Ah! Marseille, quelle belle ville! Il y a la mer Mditerrane, le port, les bateaux. Il y a les restaurants, la bouillabaisse. Et l'accent de Marseille! C'est un accent plein de soleil. Le soir je me suis promen sur la Canebire, la grande avenue qui donne sur le vieux port.
When night fell, I fell asleep. I arrived at Marseille the next morning on top form at noon precisely, as planned. Oh! What a beautiful town Marseille is! There's the Mediterranean sea, the port, the boats. There are the restaurants, the fish soup. And the Marseille accent! It is an accent full of sunshine. In the evening, I went for a walk on the Canebire, the large avenue which looks over the old port.
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
Je me suis endormie aussitt couche. Tu t'es endormi(e) sans dire bonsoir. Il ne s'est pas endormi avant l'aube. Elle s'est endormie avec la lumire. Nous nous sommes endormis(es) comme des enfants. Vous ne vous tes pas endormi(s)(es) avec la lumire, j'espre? Ils se sont endormis dans le train. Elles se sont endormies sur le canap.
Vous remarquez qu'il faut accorder le participe pass avec le sujet (masculin ou fminin, singulier ou pluriel).
Notice that the past participle agrees with the subject (masculine or feminine, singular or plural).
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
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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.
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.
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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
d) Qui descend par les escaliers? Qui prfre descendre par l'ascenseur?
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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not unpleasant. The town that I prefer is Marseille, because of the climate, the sea and the accent. I went on holiday in Spain this year. I am really well rested.
Je n'ai pas pu prendre mon petit djeuner, mme pas un caf. Tant pis!
I couldn't have my breakfast, not even a coffee. Oh well!
La prononciation
Le son .
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Je suis alle beaucoup au cinma cette anne all alle aller allez! Et djeuner assez couter le caf le th l't je suis ne le nez un panier
Send a recording of this exercise to your tutor for advice and correction.
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le pronom en
le verbe peser
- Allez-y aujourd'hui, mesdames! C'est pour des prunes*. Ah la belle prune...! Alors, qu'est-ce qu'elle veut la petite dame?
Come on now, today, ladies! They're going for peanuts today. Lovely plums! So, what does the little lady want? * pour des prunes = c'est pour rien, c'est bon march
- 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?
- Laissez, laissez, c'est pas grave. C'est la saison, il faut en profiter. Et puis, elles sont vraiment pas chres et elles sont belles et bonnes. Je viens d'en goter une.
Leave them, leave them, it's not a problem. It is the season, one must take advantage of it. And then, they are really not expensive and they're beautiful and tasty. I've just tasted one.
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.
Quel plaisir de dguster a le matin au petit djeuner, sur du pain frais, avec un bon caf. L'anne prochaine, elle en fera davantage. Elle adore les confitures, mais elle doit faire attention sa ligne, elle pse dj soixante kilos, c'est beaucoup pour une petite femme comme elle.
What a pleasure it is to taste that in the morning at breakfast, on fresh bread with a good coffee. Next year she will make more of them. She adores jams, but she has to pay attention to her figure, she already weighs sixty kilos, that's a lot for a little woman like her.
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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.
Ici le en est li la construction du verbe profiter. En effet, on dit, profiter de quelque chose ou de quelqu'un:
The en here is linked to the construction of the verb profiter. Effectively, one says 'take advantage of something' or 'of someone':
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:
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Peser est un verbe du groupe 1. l'indicatif prsent, la conjugaison est un peu particulire cause de l'accent:
Peser is a verb of the first group. In the indicative present, the conjugation is a little special because of the accent: peser - to weigh le prsent de l'indicatif
Je pse les fruits. Tu pses 70 kilos! Il pse trop lourd. Elle pse le sucre. Nous pesons nos mots. Vous pesez combien? Ils psent leur dcision. Elles psent les ingrdients.
Vous remarquez qu'on met un accent quand la syllabe qui suit n'est pas sonorise:
You notice that you put in an accent when the syllable that follows is not pronounced:
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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sons le pour et le contre avant de prendre notre dcision. ses? ne son chien tous les matins avant d'aller
4) Combien tu p
- Est-ce que tu as de l'argent pour payer le taxi? - Est-ce que tu en as? 1) Elle a besoin de courage pour continuer ses tudes.
3) Pour aller Lille, il y a deux cents kilomtres, et pour aller Calais, il y a combien de kilomtres?
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Une traduction
a) Traduire en anglais
Translate into English
Le mardi est mon jour de repos. J'en profite pour aller au cinma. J'adore les films, tous les films. J'en ai vu beaucoup. Quels sont mes acteurs prfrs? C'est difficile dire, il y en a plusieurs. Je ne frquente pas beaucoup les muses. Du sport? J'en fais un peu de temps en temps, mais pas toutes les semaines. C'est seulement pour rester en forme et perdre du poids parce que je pse trop lourd.
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. intressant que les
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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. intressant que les autres
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c'est cool!
Le plus beau pays du monde? Attends, laisse-moi rflchir. Pour moi, le plus beau pays du monde, je crois que c'est la terre o je suis n. Voil, c'est a. L o je suis n, c'est le pays le plus beau.
The most beautiful country in the world? Wait, let me reflect. For me, the most beautiful country in the world, I think it's the land where I was born. There we are, that's it. Where I was born, that is the most beautiful country.
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Qui a? Moi, srement pas, je te parle de moi. C'est affectif. Je conois compltement que quelqu'un d'autre donne une autre rponse. Mais pour moi, c'est la France, c'est tout.
Who? Me, surely not, I am talking about myself. It is emotional. I acknowledge completely that someone else gives another reply. But for me, it's France, that's all.
La France, a c'est la meilleure! Qu'est-ce que tu penses du Sahara, de l'Afrique, je sais pas, moi, il y a des endroits formidables un peu partout, non?
France, that's the best one I've heard! What do you think of the Sahara, of Africa, I don't know, there are wonderful places a little bit everywhere, aren't there?
Tu vois bien, tu es d'accord avec moi finalement. Objectivement, il y a beaucoup de trs beaux pays. Donc, la rponse est forcment subjective. La beaut d'un pays, c'est quelque chose qui est personnel chacun.
You see, you agree with me finally. Objectively there are lots of very beautiful countries. So the reply has to be subjective. The beauty of a country, it's something which is personal to each individual.
C'est comme les saisons, hein? Si je te demande quelle est la saison la plus belle, tu vas me dire que c'est l'hiver parce que tu adores le ski. Mais moi qui dteste la neige et le froid, je vais te dire que c'est l't. C'est beau l't: les oiseaux, les fleurs, la nature.
It's like the seasons, isn't it? If I ask you which is the most beautiful season, you will tell me it is the winter because you adore skiing. But me who hates the snow and the cold, I am going to tell you it's the summer. It is beautiful the summer: the birds, flowers, nature.
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?
Devine? Je reste en France, pardi! La pche la ligne, la sieste, le pastis l'ombre et la ptanque. Bref, les vacances les plus cool de ma vie...
Guess? I am staying in France, by jove! Fishing, siestas, a pastis in the shade and petanque. In short, the coolest holidays of my life...
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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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Une exception est le superlatif de bon. Le superlatif dans le sens de la supriorit est le meilleur:
An exception is the superlative of 'good'. The superlative in the sense of superiority is 'the best':
a, c'est la meilleure!
That's the best one I've heard!
est une expression trs employe pour marquer un grand tonnement. La signification est:
is an expression used very often to signal astonishment. The meaning is:
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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 histoire trs drle la plus drle histoire ou l'histoire la plus drle 1) un repas fantastique
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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)
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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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Un jour, il pleut beaucoup. Quand il pleut, c'est le bon moment pour ramasser les escargots sur le bord des routes. En effet, les escargots sortent quand il pleut.
One day, it rains a lot. When it rains, it's a good time to collect snails on the roadsides. Because snails go out when it rains.
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.
Ren part, avec un seau, pour ramasser des escargots. Comme il a beaucoup plu, il y a beaucoup d'escargots. Il remplit son seau trs trs vite et il rentre chez lui.
Ren leaves, with a bucket, to collect snails. As it has rained a lot, there are a lot of snails. He fills his bucket very very quickly and he sets off home.
Quand il passe devant le bistro du coin, ses copains l'appellent: H, Ren, viens boire avec nous, allez, viens!. Ren regarde sa montre. Il est seulement quatre heures de l'aprs-midi. Il dcide de boire un verre seulement et de rentrer chez lui.
When he passes in front of the bistro round the corner, his friends call him: 'Hey, Ren, come and drink with us, come on!' Ren looks at his watch. It's only four o'clock in the afternoon. He decides to drink one glass only and to go back home.
Mais ses copains lui offrent un verre, et un autre verre, et un autre verre encore. Bref, quand Ren sort du bistro, il fait nuit. Notre ami est terrifi. Il pense: Qu'est-ce que je vais dire ma femme? Il faut que je trouve une excuse, vite, vite! Mais il ne trouve pas d'excuse.
But his friends offer him a drink and another drink and another drink as well. In short, when Ren leaves the bistro, it's night time. Our friend is terrified. He thinks: 'What shall I say to my wife? I must find an excuse, quickly, quickly!' But he doesn't find an excuse.
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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Soudain Ren a une ide de gnie: au moment o sa femme ouvre la porte, avec le rouleau ptisserie dans la main, Ren regarde les escargots autour de lui et il dit trs lentement:
Suddenly Ren, has an idea of genius: at the moment when his wife opens the door, with the rolling pin in her hand, Ren looks at the snails around him and says very slowly:
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
Vous pouvez former d'autres expressions comme l'amricaine, l'anglaise, la japonaise, etc.
You can form other expressions such as 'American-style', 'English-style', 'Japanese-style', etc.
premier (masculin)
first
premire (fminin)
first
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neuf
neuvime
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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 quatre cinq six sept huit neuf dix onze 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.
C'est tout pour ce niveau. Si vous voulez passer au prochain maintenant, cliquez ici.
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