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[edit] Grammar Contents

• Information

1. Adjectives
2. Adverbs
3. Grammatical Gender
4. Negation
5. Prepositions
6. Sentences
7. Tenses
8. Verbs

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[edit] Grammar Information

(edit template) (discussion) Grammar Adjectives • Adverbs • Gender • Negation • Prepositions • Pronouns • Sentences • Tenses • Verbs

TODO Pronouns page and the pronoun lessons expanded to include other pronouns, Sentences page expanded, Irregular Verb Conjugations page expanded, Tenses and lessons on tenses expanded and copied to each other

Wikipedia has related information at French grammar A printable version of French grammar is available. (edit it)	Un fleuve au pont de Sainte-Marguerite
Updating: If a section is added or the name of an existing section is changed, please update: The print version The grammar header The grammar footer. It is not necessary to update these versions if the sections within these main groups are altered.

[edit] Adjectives

Just like articles, French adjectives also have to match the nouns that they modify in gender and plurality.

[edit] Regular formation

[edit] Spelling

Most adjective changes occur in the following manner:

• Feminine: add an -e to the masculine form
  • un garçon intéressant --> une fille intéressante
  • un ami amusant --> une amie amusante
  • un camion lent --> une voiture lente
• Plural: add an -s to the singular form
  • un garçon intéressant --> des garçons intéressants
  • une fille intéressante --> des filles intéressantes

[edit] Pronunciation

Generally, the final consonant is pronounced only when it comes before an -e. Most adjectives, such as those above, are affected by this rule.

• Masculine Pronuciation: intéressan, amusan, len
• Feminine Pronunciation: intéressant, amusant, lent

[edit] Irregular formation

[edit] Irregular plural formation

[edit] Irregular feminine formation

[edit] Special rules

[edit] Adjectives that precede nouns

[edit] List

Adjectives that are used frequently before nouns. These are:

• beau (belle)
• joli(e)
• nouveau (nouvelle)
• vieux (vieille)
• jeune +
• bon(ne) +
• gentil (gentille)
• mauvais(e)
• vilain(e)
• grand(e) +
• petit(e)
• court(e) +
• long(ue)
• gros(se) +
• large
• haut(e)
• affreux (affreuse)
• dernier (dernière) +
• méchant(e) +
• meilleur(e)
• pauvre
• autre

+ sometimes placed after a noun, and may change in meaning

When these adjectives appear before an indefinite plural noun, they will change the article associated with it:

• des garçons courageux / de beaux garçons

[edit] Changes in meaning

When grand goes before a noun, it means great. However, when it goes after the noun, it means tall. Likewise, when pauvre goes before a noun, it means unfortunate. When it comes after the noun, it means financially poor. This rule works most of the time, but be careful, "pauvre" can mean "financially poor" even when used before the nouns.

[edit] Beau, nouveau, and vieux

These three adjectives behave differently when placed before a singular masculine noun starting with a vowel or silent h:

[edit] Possessive adjectives

In English, we say "her car" when the owner of the car is a woman and "his car" when the owner is a man. In French, they say "sa voiture" even if the owner is a male. It is not the owner who determines the gender of the possessive adjective but the object owned.

First person singular - mon, ma, mes
Second person singular (informal) - ton, ta, tes
Third person singular - son, sa, ses

First person plural - notre, notre, nos
Second person plural (and polite form) - votre, votre, vos
Third person plural - leur, leur, leurs

Note: Exception. When a feminine noun starts with a vowel or silent 'h', you should utilize "Mon" instead of "Ma". Example:

Mon ami = ok 
Ma amie = error! 
Mon amie = ok.

[edit] Demonsrative adjectives

There are four adjectives that demonstrate a specific object:

• Ce garçon (masculin)
• Cet ami (masculin before vowel or silent h)
• Cette fille (feminine)
• Ces enfants (plural)

[edit] Adverbs

French adverbs, like their English counterparts, are used to modify adjectives, other adverbs, and verbs or clauses. They do not display any inflection; that is, their form does not change to reflect their precise role, nor any characteristics of what they modify.

[edit] Formation

In French, as in English, most adverbs are derived from adjectives. In most cases, this is done by adding the suffix -ment ("-ly") to the adjective's feminine singular form. For example, the feminine singular form of lent ("slow") is lente, so the corresponding adverb is lentement ("slowly"); similarly, heureux → heureusement ("happy" → "happily").

As in English, however, the adjective stem is sometimes modified to accommodate the suffix:

• If the adjective ends in an i, then -ment is added to the masculine singular (default) form, rather than to the feminine singular form:
  • vrai → vraiment ("real" → "really")
  • poli → poliment ("polite" → "politely")
• If the adjective ends in -ant or -ent, then the corresponding adverb ends in -amment or -emment, respectively:
  • constant → constamment ("constant" → "constantly")
  • récent → récemment ("recent" → "recently")
• Some adjectives make other changes:
  • précis → précisément ("precise" → "precisely")
  • gentil → gentiment ("nice" → "nicely")

Some adverbs are derived from adjectives in completely irregular fashions, not even using the suffix -ment:

• bon → bien ("good" → "well")
• mauvais → mal ("bad" → "badly")
• meilleur → mieux ("better"-adjective → "better"-adverb)
• pire → pire ("worse"-adjective → "worse"-adverb)

And, as in English, many common adverbs are not derived from adjectives at all:

• ainsi ("thus" or "thusly")

[edit] Placement

The placement of French adverbs is almost the same as the placement of English adverbs.

An adverb that modifies an adjective or adverb comes before that adjective or adverb:

• complètement vrai ("completely true")
• pas possible ("not possible")
• tellement discrètement ("so discreetly")

An adverb that modifies an Infinitive (verbal noun) generally comes after the infinitive:

• marcher lentement ("to walk slowly")

But negative adverbs, such as pas ("not"), plus ("not any more"), and jamais come before the infinitive:

• ne pas marcher ("not to walk")

An adverb that modifies a main verb or clause comes either after the verb, or before the clause:

• Lentement il commença à marcher or Il commença lentement à marcher ("Slowly, he began to walk" or "He began slowly to walk").

Note that, unlike in English, this is true even of negative adverbs:

• Jamais je n'ai fait cela or Je n'ai jamais fait cela ("Never have I done that" or "I've never done that")

[edit] List of common adverbs

• après

1. afterwards

   On va au cinéma après

   We'll go to the cinema afterwards

2. also a preposition

[edit] Grammatical Gender

Wikipedia has related information at French articles and determiners

[edit] Gender of nouns

In French, all nouns have a grammatical gender, that is, they are masculine or feminine for the purposes of grammar only.

Most nouns that express entities with gender (people and animals) use both a feminine form and a masculine form, for example, the two words for "actor" in French are acteur (m) and actrice (f).

The nouns that express entities without gender (e.g., objects and abstract concepts) have only one form. This form can be masculine or feminine. For example, la voiture (the car) can only be feminine; le stylo (the pen) can only be masculine.

There are some nouns that express entities with gender for which there is only one form, which is used regardless of the actual gender of the entity, for example, the word for person; personne; is always feminine, even if the person is male, and the word for teacher; professeur; is always masculine even if the teacher is female.

With all that being said, there are three nouns in French where gender is altered when put in the plural form:

amour (un bel amour => des belles amours orgue délice

Examples

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •113 kb • help) Gender of Nouns Genre des Noms
Masculine		Common Endings Used With Masculine Nouns:
le cheval	the horse	-age	le fromage the cheese
le chien	the dog	-r	le professeur the teacher
le livre	the book	-t	le chat the cat
le bruit	the noise	-isme	le capitalisme capitalism
Feminine		Common Endings Used With Feminine Nouns:
la colombe	the dove	-ie	la boulangerie the bakery
la chemise	the shirt	-ion	la nation the nation
la maison	the house	-ite/-ité	la fraternité brotherhood
la liberté	liberty	-nce	la balance the scales
		-nne -mme -lle	la fille the girl
			l’indienne the Indian

Unfortunately, there are many exceptions in French which can only be learned. There are even words that are spelled the same, but have a different meaning when masculine or feminine; for example, un livre (m) means a book, but une livre (f) means a pound! Some words that appear to be masculine (like la photo, which is actually short for la photographie) are in fact feminine, and vice versa. Then there are some that just don't make sense; la foi is feminine and means a belief, whereas le foie means liver. To help overcome this hurdle which many beginners find very difficult, be sure to learn the genders along with the words.

[edit] Definite and indefinite articles

[edit] The definite article

In English, the definite article is always “the”.

In French, the definite article is changed depending on the noun's:

1. Gender
2. Plurality
3. First letter of the word

There are three definite articles and an abbreviation. "Le" is used for masculine nouns, "La" is used for feminine nouns, "Les" is used for plural nouns (both masculine or feminine), and "L' " is used when the noun begins with a vowel or silent "h" (both masculine or feminine). It is similar to english, where "a" changes to "an" before a vowel.

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •78 kb • help) The Definite Article L'article défini
singular	feminine	la	la fille	the daughter
	masculine	le	le fils	the son
singular, starting with a vowel sound		l’	l’enfant	the child
plural		les	les filles	the daughters
			les fils	the sons
			les enfants	the children

Note: Unlike English, the definite article is used to talk about something in a general sense, a general statement or feeling about an idea or thing.

[edit] The indefinite article

In English, the indefinite articles are "a" and "an". "Some" is used as a plural article in English.

Again, indefinite articles in French take different forms depending on gender and plurality. The articles "Un" and "une" literally mean "one" in French.

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •55 kb • help) The Indefinite Article L'article indéfini
singular	feminine	une	une fille	a daughter
	masculine	un	un fils	a son
plural		des	des filles	some daughters
			des fils1	some sons

¹"des fils" does mean "some sons" but is a homograph: it can also mean "some threads"

Also note that des, like les is used in French before plural nouns when no article is used in English. Let's imagine you are looking at photographs in an album. In English, we would say "I am looking at photographs." In French, you cannot say, "Je regarde photographies," you must tell which photographs you are looking at using an article. If you were looking at a set of specific pictures, you would say "Je regarde les photographies." ("I am looking at the photographs.") If you were just flipping through the album, looking at nothing in particular, you would say, "Je regard des photographies." ("I am looking at some photographs.")

[edit] Subject pronouns

French has six different types of pronouns: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person plural.

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •61 kb • help) Subject Pronouns Les pronoms soumis
1st person	singular	je	I
	plural	nous	we
2nd person	singular	tu	you
	plural	vous	you
3rd person	singular	il, elle, on	he, she, one
	plural	ils, elles	they (masculine) they (feminine)

When referring to more than one person in the 2nd person, “vous” must be used. When referring to a single person, “vous” or “tu” may be used depending on the situation; see notes in lesson 1.

In addition to the nuances between vous and tu, as discussed in lesson 1, French pronouns carry meanings that do not exist in English pronouns. The French third person "on" has several meanings, but most closely matches the now archaic English "one". While in English, "One must be very careful in French grammar" sounds old-fashioned, the French equivalent "On doit faire très attention à la grammaire française" is quite acceptable. Also, while the third person plural "they" has no gender in English, the French equivalents "ils" and "elles" do. However, when pronounced, they normally sound the same as "il" and "elle", so distinguishing the difference requires understanding of the various conjugations of the verbs following the pronoun. Also, if a group of people consists of both males and females, the male form is used, even if there is only one male in a group of thousands of females.

In everyday language, “on” is used, instead of “nous”, to express “we”; the verb is always used in the 3rd person singular. For example, to say "We (are) meeting at 7 o'clock", you could say either “On se rencontre au cinéma à sept heures.” (colloquial) or “Nous nous rencontrons au cinéma à sept heures.” (formal). For more, see the Wikipedia entry.

[edit] Negation

[edit] ne..pas

• Simple negation is done by wrapping ne...pas around the verb.
  • Je ne vole pas. - I do not steal.
• In a perfect tense, ne...pas wraps around the auxillary verb, not the participle.
  • Je n'ai pas volé. - I haven't stolen.
• When an infinitive and conjugated verb are together, ne...pas usually wraps around the conjugated verb.
  • Je ne veux pas voler. - I do not want to steal.
• ne pas can also go directly in front of the infinitive for a different meaning.
  • Je veux ne pas voler. - I want not to steal.
• ne goes before any pronoun relating to the verb it affects.
  • Je ne l'ai pas volé. - I did not steal it.
  • Nous ne nous aimons pas. - We do not love each other.

[edit] Other negative expressions

• ne...personne wraps around the entire verb set.
  • Je ne l'ai donné à personne. - I did not give it to anyone.
  • Je ne veux le donner à personne. - I do not want to give it to anybody.
• ne...ni...ni requires two objects, either direct or indirect, and comes before them.
  • Je ne l'ai donné ni à mon frère, ni à ma sœur. - I gave it neither to my brother nor my sister.
  • Je ne peux voir ni mon frère ni ma sœur. - I am able to see neither my brother nor my sister.
• In ne...aucun(e), aucun(e) goes before an object.
  • Il n'a aucun ami. Aucun. - He has no friend. None.
  • Il n'a aucune feuille de papier. Aucune. - He has no sheet of paper. None.
• Il n'a qu'une feuille de papier. - He has only one piece of paper.
• Je ne peux guère voir mon frère et ma sœur - I can hardly see my brother and sister.

[edit] Spoken French

Now, the 'ne' sometimes disappears when one speaks. However, it is always used in written French and for formal conversations.

• Je ne l'ai donné à personne (I didn't give it to anyone)
• Je ne sais pas (I don't know)

[edit] Summary

To say not, never or other negative verbs you have to 'sandwich' the negative words around a verb.

Example:

• Il n'y a pas de cinéma. (meaning: "There is not a cinema")
• On ne peut jamais aller en boite. (meaning: "You can never go partying")
• Il n' y a rien à faire ici. (meaning: "There is nothing to do here")

If " ne " is before a vowel then it changes to " n' ".

[edit] Prepositions

[edit] Common prepositions

[edit] Pronouns

Wikipedia has related information at French Pronouns

[edit] Subject pronouns

* Tu is informal and used only with well-known acquaintances. In case of unknown persons you have to use the polite form Vous. A good example, to explain that is the following: If two business acquaintances meet another, they say Vous. If they later fall in love, they say Tu. When unsure, it is better to say "vous." Also, grammatically, even the singular form of "vous" behaves as though it were a plural, so even if you are addressing only one person, you would still use verbal grammar consistent with addressing multiple people, similar to English (as in "you are", "you [all] are", "they are.") Nevertheless, the adjectives or past participles are declined according to the true number of the referring pronoun.

Examples, addressing one person:

• Tu chantes - you sing (informal)
• Vous chantez - you sing (polite) - (also, to address many persons)
• Tu es grand - You are tall (informal)
• Vous êtes grand - You are tall (polite, male)
• Vous êtes grande - You are tall (polite, female)

Examples, addressing many persons:

• Vous êtes grands - You are tall (informal or polite, male, many persons)
• Vous êtes grandes - You are tall (informal or polite, female, many persons)

** - Il denotes masculine nouns, elle denotes feminine nouns, and on is for indeterminate subjects (see below).

*** - Ils is used with all-male or mixed groups, elles is only used when all members of the group are female. Examples:

• Jack et Philipp parlent - Jack and Philipp speak
  Ils parlent - They speak (all-male group)
• Jack et Lucy parlent - Jack and Lucy speak
  Ils parlent - They speak (mixed group)
• Lucy et Dina parlent - Lucy and Dina speak
  Elles parlent - They speak (all female group)

[edit] The pronoun on

The subject pronoun on is analogous to the English personal pronoun one, except that it is not so formal, and is more common. It has a number of uses:

• It is used in the same ways as the English personal pronoun one:
  • It is used in expressing generalities: « C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeur. » ("It is by blacksmithing that one becomes a blacksmith.")
  • It is the implicit subject for an infinitive that has no other implicit subject: « penser qu'on a raison » ("to think that one is right," i.e. "to think oneself right").
• Because of French's limited passive voice, it is often used as an empty subject when the agent is unknown or unimportant: « On me l'a donné. » ("[On] gave it to me" or "I was given it" or "It was given to me.")
• It is used as a less formal substitute for the subject pronoun nous (we). In this case, note that even though on always takes a third-person singular verb, it takes plural adjectives (« On est américains », "We're American"). Also, note that the other forms of nous (direct object, indirect object, and disjunctive) are not replaced by forms of on unless on is the subject as well. (Hence, « Ils nous l'ont donné », "They gave it to us," but « On se l'est donné », "We gave it to ourselves.")
• It is not the number 1, and therefore is not used to mean "one of them." In French as in English, numbers can be used as pronouns — « Deux sont entrés et un est ressorti »,

"Two went in and one came back out" — but the number 1 is un(e), not on.

On does not have ordinary direct- and indirect-object pronouns, only the reflexive pronoun se. Similarly, its disjunctive-pronoun form, soi, is only used when on is the subject and soi refers to the same entity. The pronoun quelqu'un ("someone") can fill some of the roles of on, in the same way that one and someone are sometimes interchangeable in English.

[edit] me, te, nous, and vous

• Direct and indirect object pronouns

[edit] Meanings

• me - me, to me
• te - you, to you (singular, informal)
• lui - to him/her
• nous - us, to us
• vous - you, to you (plural, formal)
• leur - to them

[edit] Place in sentences

• These pronouns are placed before the verb that they modify
  • Je te vois. - I see you.
  • Je veux te voir. - I want to see you.
• If a perfect tense is used, these pronouns go before the auxillary verb.
  • Je t'ai vu. - I saw you.

[edit] Direct object replacement

• Il me voit. - He sees me.
• Il te voit. - He sees you.
• Il nous voit. - He sees us.
• Il vous voit. - He sees you.

[edit] Indirect Object Replacement

• Il m'appelle. - He calls to me.
• Il te le jette. - He throws it to you.
• Il nous le jette. - He throws it to us.
• Il vous le jette. - He throws it to you.

[edit] l', le, la, and les

l', le, la, and les are pronouns which are used as direct objects and hence are called direct object pronouns. A direct object is a noun that receives the action of a verb.

• Il jette la boule. - He throws the ball.

In the above sentence la boule is the direct object.

You have learned earlier that names and regular nouns can be replaced by the subject pronouns (je, tu...). Similarly, direct objects, such as "la boule", can be replaced by pronouns.

• le - replaces a masculine singular direct object
• la - replaces a feminine singular direct object
• l' - replaces le and la if they come before a vowel
• les - replaces plural direct objects, both masculine and feminine

The direct object pronouns come before the verb they are linked to.

• Il la jette. - He throws it.
• Il les jettes. - He throws them.

[edit] lui and leur

Indirect objects are prepositional phrases with the object of the preposition. An indirect object is a noun that receives the action of a verb.

• Il jette la boule à Jacques. - He throws the ball to Jack.
• Il jette la boule à Marie. - He throws the ball to Mary.
• Il jette la boule à Jacques et Marie. - He throws the ball to Jack and Mary.

Lui and leur are indirect object pronouns. They replace nouns referring to people and mean to him/her and to them respectively.

• lui - replaces a singular masculine or feminine indirect object referring to a human
• leur - replaces a plural masculine or feminine indirect object referring to a human

An example follows:

• Il lui jette la boule. - He throws the ball to him.
• Il lui jette la boule. - He throws the ball to her.
• Il leur jette la boule. - He throws the ball to them.

Whether lui means to him or to her is given by context.

In English, "He throws him the ball" is also said, and means the same thing.

When used with the direct object pronouns le, la, and les, lui and leur come after those pronouns.

• Il la lui jette. - He throws it to him.

Note that while le, la, and les are used to replace people or inanimate objects, lui and leur are not used to replace innanimate objects and things.

Also note that unlike le and la, which are shortened to l' when followed by a vowel, lui is never shortened

[edit] y

[edit] Indirect object pronoun - to it, to them

The French pronoun y is used to replace an object of a prepositional phrase introduced by a.

• Je réponds aux questions. - J' y réponds.
• I respond to the questions. - I respond to them.

Note that lui and leur, and not y, are used when the object refers to a person or persons.

[edit] Replacement of places - there

The French pronoun y replaces a prepositional phrase referring to a place that begins with any preposition except de (for which en is used).

• Les hommes vont en France. - Les hommes y vont.
• The men go to France - The men go there.

Note that en, and not y is used when the object is of the preposition de.

[edit] Idioms

• Ça y est! - It's done!
• J'y suis! - I get it!

[edit] en

[edit] Replacement of a partitive construction

• The pronoun en replaces a noun with a partitive article (l'article partitif: du, de la, de, des) at the front. In this case En goes always with the singular, even if there are many items adressed.

• • Je veux du pain. => J'en veux. - I want some bread. => I want some.

[edit] Replacement of quantified nouns

If the quantity of the object is specified, "en" is used for the replacement of the noun.

Example: Il a acheté deux pommes. => Il en a acheté deux.

Note that no agreement is needed between the past participle (le participe passé) and the object (complément d'objet direct).

[edit] Replacement of phrases with de

• The pronoun en replaces prepositional phrases beginning with de if the object of the preposition is referring to a thing or place.
  • Je viens de Paris. - I come from Paris.
  • J' en viens. - I come from it.
• Note that stress pronouns, and not en are used if the object refers to a person or persons.

[edit] Pronoun order

[edit] Order chart

If a sentence uses no infinitive, the pronouns are embedded as follows:

If a sentence uses an infinitive, the pronouns are embedded as follows:

[edit] Order rules

• When a sentence uses the indirect object pronouns me, te, nous, and vous with the direct object pronouns le, la, and les, me, te, nous, and vous go first.
  • Il me le donne. - He gave it to me.
• When a sentence uses the indirect object pronouns lui and leur with the direct object pronouns le, la, and l', le, la, and les go first.
  • Il le lui donne. - He gave it to him/her.
• When y is used in the same sentence as other pronouns, y goes after all of them with the exception of en.
  • Il m'emmène à Paris. - He takes me to Paris.
  • Il m'y emmène. - He takes me there.
• Y in conjunction with en is only used in a few cases.
  • Il y en a. - There exist several ones.
  • Est-ce qu'il y a des pommes? (Oui,) il y en a. (No,) il n'y en a (pas/plus). - Are there any apples (left)? Yes, there are. No, there aren't.
• When there are two pronouns in a sentence, en always go last.

[edit] L'impératif

When expressing positive commands, there are several rules one must remember when using object pronouns. Theses are:

• The pronouns are attached to the verb with a hyphen.
  • Retrouve-la. - Find it.
• Me and Te become moi and toi.
  • Donnez-moi les vidéos. - Give me the videos.
• Le, la, and les precede all other object pronouns.
  • Donnez-le-moi. - Give it to me.
• For the second person singular form, an "s" is added if the object (in the pronoun form) begins with a vowel or "y".
  • Va au tableau. - Go to the blackboard. BUT Vas-y. - Go (there).
  • Vas-y. - Come on.

[edit] Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns replace possessive article + noun sets.

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Possessive Pronouns Les pronoms possesifs
mon copain my friend	ton copain your friend	son copain his/her friend	notre copain our friend	votre copain your friend	leur copain their friend
le mien mine	le tien yours	le sien his/hers	le nôtre ours	le vôtre yours	le leur theirs
mes copains my friends	tes copains your friends	ses copains his/her friends	nos copains our friends	vos copains your friends	leurs copains their friends
les miens mine	les tiens yours	les siens his/hers	les nôtres ours	les vôtres yours	les leurs theirs
ma copine my friend	ta copine your friend	sa copine his/her friend	notre copine our friend	votre copine your friend	leurs copine their friend
la mienne mine	la tienne yours	la sienne his/hers	la nôtre ours	la vôtre yours	la leur theirs
mes copines my friends	tes copines your friends	ses copines his/her friends	nos copines our friends	vos copines your friends	leurs copines their friends
les miennes mine	les tiennes yours	les siennes his/hers	les nôtres ours	les vôtres yours	les leurs theirs

• Vous avez votre voiture? - You have your car?
• Oui, nous avons la nôtre. - Yes, we have ours.

À + a stress pronoun is used when the noun replaced is also the subject of the sentence. This usually occurs in sentences with être.

• Elle est ta voiture? - Is that your car?
• Oui, elle est à moi. - Yes, it is mine.

[edit] Sentences

[edit] Subject - Verb - Direct object - Indirect object

[edit] If...

Si...

With present tense (le présent):

(1) Si + (le présent), (le futur simple)
Example: If you finish your homework, I'll give you some candies.
Si tu finis tes devoirs, je te donnerai des bonbons.

(2) Si + (le présent), (l'impératif)
Example: If you are cold, close the window.
Si tu as froid, ferme la fenêtre.

With imperfect (l'imparfait) past tense (to express hypothetical situations):

(3) Si + (l'imparfait), (le conditionnel)
Example: If I had a million dollars, I would buy a house.
Si j'avais un million de dollars, j'achèterais une maison.

With "plus-que-parfait" (also to express hypothetical situations):

(4) Si + (le plus-que-parfait), (le conditionnel passé)
Example: If I had known (or "had I known") computers were so useful, I would have taken a computer course.
Si j'avais su que les ordinateurs étaient si utiles, j'aurais suivi un cours de l'informatique.

[edit] Interrogation

[edit] Formation

[edit] Intonation

As in English, raising the tone at the end of a sentence can turn it into a question.

Example:

Il aime les bonbons. He likes sweets.
Il aime les bonbons? Does he like sweets?

[edit] Est-ce que...

"Est-ce que" literally means "Is it that", understood as "Is it true that", and can be used to form questions. To form a question with "Est-ce que...", attach "Est-ce que..." at the beginning of the sentence. Sometimes "que" has to be modified to "qu'" for elision.

Example: Il aime ce film. => Est-ce qu'il aime ce film ?
(He likes this film. => Does he like this film?)

[edit] Inversion

This is considered to be the most formal way to ask a question out of the three.
(The indicative form of the following sentences will be placed in parentheses for comparison.)

To ask a question by inversion, simple invert the verb and the subject (the pronoun) and insert a hyphen (un trait d'union) in between.
Example: Do you like apples? (You like apples.)
Aimes-tu les pommes ? (Tu aimes les pommes.)

In the case where the verb ends in a vowel while the subject starts with one, a "t" needs to be inserted to avoid elision.
Example: Did she make the decision already? (She made the decision already.)
A-t-elle déjà pris la décision ? (Elle a déjà pris la décision.)

(Notice that for compound tense [les temps composés], only the avoir or être part is interchanged with the subject.)

For third person plural (verbs ending in "ent"), there is no need to insert the "t".
Example: Are they buying a house? (They are buying a house.)
Achètent-ils une maison ? (Ils achètent une maison.)

If the subject is a noun instead of a pronoun, invert the verb and the pronoun that represents the subject.
Example: Did Marie choose this shirt? (Marie chose this shirt.)
'Marie a-t-elle choisi cette chemise ? (Marie a choisi cette chemise.)

For negative such as "ne...pas", the verb should be inserted in between:
Example: Didn't you eat the whole pizza? (You didn't eat the whole pizza.)
N'as-tu pas mangé la pizza entière ? (Tu n'as pas mangé la pizza entière.)

If there is a direct or indirect object (complément d'objet [in]direct), it goes before the verb.
Example: Have you been there? (You have been there.)
Y es-tu allé(e) ? (Tu y es allé(e).)

[edit] Question words

• Où ? - Where?
• Quand ? - When?
• Pourquoi ? - Why?
• Comment ? - How?
• Quel/Quels/Quelle/Quelles ? - Which?
• Qui ? - Who?
• Combien ? - How much?
• Quoi ? - What?

[edit] Commands

Main article: French/Grammar/Tenses/Imperative

[edit] Tenses

[edit] Verb tenses sorted by mood

[edit] Non-finite forms

• Le participe présent (The Present Participle)
• Le participe passé (The Past Participle)
• Le Verbe Auxiliaire (The Auxiliary Verb)
• L'infinitif (The Infinitive)
• L'infinitif passé (The Past Infinitive)

[edit] L'indicatif (The indicative mood)

[edit] Simple tenses

• Le présent de l'indicatif (The present indicative)
• L'imparfait de l'indicatif (The imperfect)
• Le passé simple (The past historic)
• Le futur (The future)

[edit] Perfect tenses

• Le passé composé (The present perfect)
• Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The pluperfect of the indicative)
• Le passé antérieur (The past anterior)
• Le futur antérieur (The future anterior)

[edit] Other tenses

• Le passé récent (The recent past)
• Le futur proche (The near future)

[edit] Le subjonctif (The subjunctive mood)

• Le subjonctif (The subjunctive)
• L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
• Le subjonctif passé (The past subjunctive)
• Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The pluperfect subjunctive)

[edit] L'impératif (The imperative mood)

• L'impératif (The imperative)
• L'impératif passé (The past imperative)

[edit] Le conditionnel (The conditional mood)

• Le conditionnel (The conditional)
• Le conditionnel passé (The past conditional)
• Le deuxième forme du conditionnel passé (The second form of the past conditional)

[edit] Verb tenses sorted by type

[edit] Simple tenses

• Le présent de l'indicatif (The present indicative)
• L'imparfait de l'indicatif (The imperfect)
• Le passé simple (The past historic)
• Le futur (The future)
• Le conditionnel (The conditional)
• Le présent du subjonctif (The present subjunctive)
• L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)

[edit] Perfect tenses

• Le passé composé (The present perfect)
• Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The pluperfect of the indicative)
• Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The pluperfect of the subjunctive)
• Le passé antérieur (The past anterior)
• Le futur antérieur (The future anterior)
• Le conditionnel passé (The conditional past)
• Le passé du subjonctif (The subjunctive past)

[edit] Perfect tense components

• Le participe présent (The present participle)
• Le participe passé (The past participle)
• Le verbe auxiliaire (The auxiliary verb)

[edit] Other tenses

• Le passé récent (The near past)
• Le futur proche (The near future)
• L'Impératif (The imperative)
• L'impératif passé (The past imperative)

[edit] Verb tenses sorted by time

[edit] Past

• L'imparfait de l'indicatif (The imperfect)
• Le passé simple (The past historic)
• L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
• Le passé composé (The present perfect)
• Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The pluperfect of the indicative)
• Le passé antérieur (The past anterior)
• Le passé récent (The near past)
• L'imparfait du subjonctif (The imperfect subjunctive)
• Le subjonctif passé (The past subjunctive)
• Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The pluperfect subjunctive)
• L'impératif passé (The past imperative)
• Le conditionnel passé (The past conditional)
• Le deuxième forme du conditionnel passé (The second form of the past conditional)

[edit] Present

[edit] Future

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Verbs Contents

1. Verbs Information
2. Irregular Verb Conjugations
3. Verb Negation
4. Pronominal Verbs
5. Verb Tenses

[edit] Verbs Information

Wikipedia has related information at French verbs

• Irregular verb conjugations
• Verb negations
• Pronominal verbs
• Verb tenses

[edit] General notes

• The masculine form and feminine form of the third person are conjugated in exactly the same manner. Instead of mentioning both, only the masculine form will be used for the sake of brevity. One may assume that il includes elle and ils includes elles unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
• In tables showing the endings or conjugations of verbs, an accent mark is shown without a letter below it indicates that the accent mark is placed above the last letter of the stem.
• Derivatives of a verb are conjugated in the same manner as that verb. For instance, devenir and revenir follow the same patterns as venir. In this appendix, when the conjugation of the root verb is given, it is assumed that the reader will know that derivative verbs are similarly conjugated.
• The verb tenses here are organized by mood. The general uses of a particular mood will be covered in the page linked to by the section heading.
• Literary tenses, which are only used in formal writing, are in italics.

[edit] Irregular Verb Conjugations

You spend a lot of time in French learning the grammatical rules - there are some words which break these rules, and they are listed below, with what they do.

Also see wiktionary:Category:French verbs and wiktionary:fr:Catégorie:Verbes français.

[edit] aller-to go

¹ The verb aller uses the auxiliary verb être in the passé composé.

[edit] acquérir-to acquire

[edit] avoir-to have

[edit] s'asseoir - to sit

[edit] être-to be

[edit] faire-to do

[edit] falloir-to have to

[edit] savoir-to know how

[edit] venir-to come

The verb tenir and verbs ending in -tenir and -venir also follow this pattern.

¹ The verbs venir, devenir, and revenir use the auxiliary verb être in the passé composé.

[edit] vouloir-to want

¹ The imperative forms veux, voulons, and voulez are rare.
² The imperative form veuillez is used to make very polite requests. It is most often used on signs and in impersonal writing. (e.g. "Veuillez suivre les instructions ci-dessous.")

[edit] devoir-to have to, to be obligated

[edit] pouvoir-to be able to

[edit] Pronominal Verbs

Pronominal verbs are verbs that, put simply, include pronouns. These pronouns are me, te, se, nous, and vous and are used as either direct objects or indirect objects, depending on the verb that they modify. When proniminal verbs are conjugated in perfect tenses, être is used as the auxiliary verb. There are three types of pronominal verbs: reflexive verbs, reciprocal verbs, and naturally pronominal verbs.

[edit] Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs reflect the action on the subject.

• Je me lave. - I wash myself.
• Nous nous lavons. - We wash ourselves.
• Ils se lavent. - They wash themselves.

Reflexive verbs can also be used as infinitives.

• Je vais me laver. - I'm going to wash myself.

Either the conjugated verb or the infinitive can be negated each with slightly different meanings.

• Je ne vais pas me laver. - I'm not going to wash myself.

In perfect tenses, the past participles agree with the direct object pronoun, but not the indirect object pronoun, in gender and plurality. Therefore it would only agree when the reflexive pronoun is the direct object. Also remember that the past participle does not agree with the direct object if it goes after the verb.

• Elle s'est lavée. - She washed herself.
• Nous nous sommes lavé(e)s. - We wash ourselves.
• Elle s'est lavé les mains. - She washed her hands.
• Nous nous sommes lavé les mains. - We washed our hands.

[edit] Reciprocal Verbs

With reciprocal verbs, people perform actions to each other.

• Nous nous aimons. - We like each other.
• Like reflexive verbs, the past participle of reciprocal verbs agrees in number and gender with the direct object if it goes before the verb. It therefore agrees with all reciprocal pronouns that function as direct objects.
• Nous nous sommes aimé(e)s. - We liked each other.

The reciprocal pronoun can also function as an indirect object without a direct object pronoun.

• Nous nous sommes parlé. - We spoke to each other.
• Elles se sont téléphoné. - They called to one another.
• Vous vous êtes écrit souvent? - You wrote to each other often?

[edit] Naturally Pronominal Verbs

Some verbs are pronominal without performing a reflexive or reciprocal action. Tu te souviens? - You remember?

• In perfect tenses, these verbs agree with the direct object if it goes before the verb. Otherwise, the past participle agrees with the subject.
• Elle s'est souvenue. - She remembered.

Some verbs have different meanings as pronominal verbs.

• rendre - to return, to give back
• se rendre (à) - to go (to)

[edit] Reflexive Verbs Details

Reflexive Verbs in French are actions that one does to oneself.

They can be recognised because their infinitive form has the pronoun se in front of it or s' before a vowel.

When conjugating a reflexive verb you must use the correct reflexive pronoun.

The following tables show which reflexive pronoun to use with each form of the verb:

 Subject

 Reflexive Pronoun

 je

 me

 tu

 te

 il

 se

 nous

 nous

 vous

 vous

 ils

 se

Here is an example conjugation of a reflexive verb:

Se coucher - to go to bed

Present

Je me couche

Tu te couches

Il se couche

Elle se couche

Nous nous couchons

Vous vous couchez

Ils se couchent

Elles se couchent

NB The futur simple, passé simple, imperfect, conditional and subjuntive are all conjugated with the reflexive pronoun in this position.

Passé Composé

Je me suis couché

Tu t'es couché(e)

Il s'est couché

Elle s'est couchée

Nous nous sommes couché(e)s

Vous vous êtes couché(e)(s)

Ils se sont couchés

Elles se sont couchées

NB All reflexive verbs take être in the passé composé and therefore have an e added to the past participle for females and an s for plural.

Futur Proche

Je vais me coucher

Tu vas te coucher

Il va se coucher

Elle va se coucher

Nous allons nous coucher

Vous allez vous coucher

Ils vont se coucher

Elles vont se coucher

NB When a reflexive verb is put as an infinitive behind any other verb (e.g. vouloir, pouvoir, aller...) it still takes the appropriate reflexive pronoun.

[edit] GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.2, November 2002

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