French/Lessons/Introductory/Review
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| () | French Language Course | (discussion) |
| Learning the French Language • Downloadable and Print Versions
Lessons • Grammar • Appendices • Texts • About • Q&A • Planning |
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[edit] G: The French alphabet
French Grammar • Review •  audio (info •101 kb • help) The French Alphabet  L'alphabet français |
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| Characters | Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | |||||||||||||
| Pronunciation | ah | bay | say | day | euh | eff | jhay | ash | ee | zhee | kah | el | em | |||||||||||||
| Characters | Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz | ||||||||||||||
| Pronunciation | enn | oh | pay | ku | air | ess | tay | ue | vay | dubl-vay | eeks | ee-grehk | zedh | |||||||||||||
In addition, French uses several accents which are worth understanding. These are: à, è, ù, (grave accents) and é (acute accent). A circumflex applies to all vowels: â, ê, î, ô, û. A tréma (French for dieresis) is also applied: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ. Two combined letters are used: æ and œ, and a cedilla is used on the c to make it sound like an English s: ç.
[edit] V: Basic phrases
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •353 kb • help) Basic Phrases Les expressions de base |
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|---|---|
| bonjour, salut | hello (formal), hi (informal) |
| Comment allez-vous ? (formal), Comment vas-tu ? (informal), Comment ça va ? / Ça va ? (informal) |
How are you? |
| ça va (très) bien | I'm doing (very) well (lit. It's going (very) well) |
| merci | thank you |
| et toi ? et vous ? | and you? (informal) and you? (formal) |
| pas mal | not bad |
| bien | well |
| pas si bien/pas très bien | not so well |
| comme ci, comme ça | so-so |
| Désolé(e) | I'm sorry. |
| quoi de neuf ? | what's up (about you)? (lit. what's new) |
| pas grand-chose | not much (lit. no big-thing) |
| au revoir | bye (lit. with reseeing, akin to German auf Wiedersehen) |
| à demain | see you tomorrow (lit. at tomorrow) |
| Au revoir, à demain. | Bye, see you tomorrow |
[edit] V: Numbers
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •337 kb • help) Numbers Les nombres |
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|---|---|---|
| un | 1 | une unité (a unity) |
| deux | 2 | |
| trois | 3 | |
| quatre | 4 | |
| cinq | 5 | |
| six | 6 | |
| sept | 7 | |
| huit | 8 | |
| neuf | 9 | |
| dix | 10 | une dizaine (one ten) |
| onze | 11 | |
| douze | 12 | une douzaine (one dozen) |
| treize | 13 | |
| quatorze | 14 | |
| quinze | 15 | |
| seize | 16 | |
| dix-sept | 17 | |
| dix-huit | 18 | |
| dix-neuf | 19 | |
| vingt | 20 | |
| vingt et un | 21 | |
| vingt [deux - neuf] | 22-29 | |
| trente | 30 | |
| trente et un | 31 | |
| trente [deux - neuf] | 32-39 | |
| quarante | 40 | |
| cinquante | 50 | |
| soixante | 60 | |
| soixante-dix | 70 | |
| soixante et onze | 71 | |
| soixante-[douze - dix-neuf] | 72-79 | |
| quatre-vingts | 80 | |
| quatre-vingt-un | 81 | |
| quatre-vingt-[deux - neuf] | 82-89 | |
| quatre-vingt-dix | 90 | |
| quatre-vingt-[onze - dix-neuf] | 91-99 | |
| cent | 100 | une centaine (one hundred) |
| [deux - neuf] cents | 200-900 | |
| deux cent un | 201 | |
| neuf cent un | 901 | |
| mille | 1.000 | un millier (one thousand) |
| (un) million | 1.000.000 | |
| (un) milliard | 1.000.000.000 | |
| (un) billion | 1.000.000.000.000 | |
Things of note about numbers:
- For 70-79, it builds upon "soixante" but past that it builds upon a combination of terms for 80-99
- Only the first (21,31,41,51,61 and 71, but not 81 nor 91) have "et un" without a hyphen; but past this it is simply both words consecutively (vingt-six, trente-trois, etc) with a hyphen in between.
- For 100-199, it looks much like this list already save that "cent" is added before the rest of the number; this continues up to 1000 and onward.
[edit] V: Asking for the day/date/time
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •612 kb • help) Asking For The Day, Date, Time Demander le jour, la date, le temps |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Asking for the day. | |||
| 1a | Quel jour c'est Aujourd'hui ? | What day is today ? | kell jzoor say ojzoordwee |
| 1b | c'est [jour]. | Today is [day]. | |
| 2a | Quel jour c'est demain ? | What day is tomorrow ? | kell jzoor say duhman |
| 2b | Demain c'est [jour]. | Tomorrow is [day]. | |
| Asking for the date. | |||
| 3a | Quelle est la date (aujourd'hui) ? |
What is the date (today) ? |
kell ay lah daht |
| 3b | C'est le [#] [month]. | It's [month] [#]. | |
| Asking for the time. | |||
| 4a | Quelle heure est-il ? | What hour/time is it ? | kell er ayteel |
| 4b | Il est quelle heure ? | eel ay kell er | |
| 5 | Il est [nombre] heure(s). | It is [number] hours. | eelay [nombre] er |
[edit] V: Time
In French, “il est” is used to express the time; though it would literally translate as “he is”, it is actually, in this case, equivalent to “it is” (unpersonal "il"). Unlike in English, it is always important to use “heures” (“hours”) when referring to the time. In English, it is OK to say, “It’s nine,” but this wouldn’t make sense in French. The French time system traditionally uses a 24 hour scale. Shorthand for writing times in French follows the format "17h30", which would represent 5:30PM in English.
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •145 kb • help) Time Le temps |
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|---|---|
| Quelle heure est-il ? | What time is it? |
| Il est une heure. | It is one o’clock. |
| Il est trois heures. | It is three o’clock. |
| Il est dix heures. | It is ten o’clock. |
| Il est midi. | It is noon. |
| Il est minuit. | It is midnight. |
| Il est quatre heures cinq. | It is five past four. |
| Il est quatre heures et quart. | It is a quarter past four. |
| Il est quatre heures quinze. | It is four fifteen. |
| Il est quatre heures et demie. | It is half past four. |
| Il est dix-neuf heures moins le quart. | It is a quarter to seven, or six forty-five. |
| Il est quatre heures trente. | It is four thirty. |
| Il est cinq heures moins vingt. | It is twenty to five. |
| Il est quatre heures quarante. | It is four forty. |
[edit] V: The days of the week.
Les jours de la semaine [lay jzoor duh lah suhmen]
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •420 kb • help) The Days of the Week. Les jours de la semaine. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | French | Pronunciation | English | Origin |
| 1 | lundi | luhndee | Monday | Moon |
| 2 | mardi | mahrdee | Tuesday | Mars |
| 3 | mercredi | maircruhdee | Wednesday | Mercury |
| 4 | jeudi | juhdee | Thursday | Jupiter |
| 5 | vendredi | vahndruhdee | Friday | Venus |
| 6 | samedi | sahmdee | Saturday | Saturn |
| 7 | dimanche | deemahnsh | Sunday | Sun |
- The days of the week are not capitalized in French.
- For phrases relating to the day of the week, see the phrasebook.
Notes:
- What day is it today? is equivalent to Quel jour sommes-nous ?.
- Quel jour sommes-nous ? can be answered with Nous sommes..., C'est... or On est... (last two are less formal).
- Nous sommes... is not used with hier, aujourd’hui, or demain. C'était (past) or C'est (present/future) must be used accordingly.
[edit] V: The months of the year
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •561 kb • help) The Months of the Year Les mois de l'année |
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|---|---|---|---|
| # | French | Pron. | English |
| 01 | janvier | jzahnveeyay | January |
| 02 | février | fayvreeyay | February |
| 03 | mars | mahrse | March |
| 04 | avril | ahvrill | April |
| 05 | mai | maye | May |
| 06 | juin | jzwan | June |
| 07 | juillet | jzooeeyay | July |
| 08 | août | oot/oo | August |
| 09 | septembre | septahmbruh | September |
| 10 | octobre | oktuhbruh | October |
| 11 | novembre | novahmbruh | November |
| 12 | decembre | daysahmbruh | December |
[edit] V: Relative date and time
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •883 kb • help) Relative Date and Time Date et heure relatives |
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|---|---|
| Times of Day | |
| le lever du jour | daybreak lit:the rise of the day |
| le lever du soleil | sunrise lit: the rise of the sun |
| le soleil levant | rising sun. |
| le matin | morning |
| ...du matin | A.M., lit: of the mornng |
| hier matin | yesterday morning |
| le midi | noon, midday |
| l'après-midi (m) | afternoon |
| le soir | evening, in the evening |
| ...du soir | P.M. lit: of the evening |
| le coucher du soleil | sunset |
| la nuit | night |
| Relative Days | |
| avant-hier | the day before yesterday |
| hier | yesterday |
| aujourd'hui | today |
| ce soir | tonight |
| demain | tomorrow |
| après-demain | the day after tomorrow |
[edit] V: Seasons
| French Vocabulary • Review • audio (info •142 kb • help) Seasons Les Saisons |
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|---|---|
| la saison | season |
| le printemps | Spring |
| l'été (m) | Summer |
| l'automne (m) | Autumn |
| l'hiver (m) | Winter |
[edit] D: A conversation between friends
| French Dialogue • Review • audio (upload) A Coversation Between Friends Une conversation entre amis |
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|---|---|
| Daniel | Bonjour Hervé. Comment vas-tu ? Hello, Hervé. How are you? [lit: How go you?] |
| Hervé | Je vais bien, merci. Et toi ça va ? I'm good,1 thank you. And you, it goes (fine)? |
| Daniel | Ça va bien. Est-ce que2 tu viens à mon anniversaire ? J'organise une petite fête. It goes well. You're coming to my party? I'm organizing a little party. |
| Hervé | C'est quand ? When is it? [lit: It is when?] |
| Daniel | Le 3 mars à 20h. March 3rd at 08:00 PM. |
| Hervé | Le 3 mars, entendu. Tu fais ça chez toi3 ? March 3rd, agreed. You're having it at your place? |
| Daniel | Oui c'est chez moi. J'ai invité une vingtaine d'amis. On va danser toute la nuit. Yes, it's at my place. I have invited (a set of) twenty friends. We4 are going to dance all night. |
| Hervé | C'est très gentil de m'inviter, merci. A bientôt. It's very nice to invite me, thank you. So long. |
| Daniel | A demain, bonne journée. Until tomorrow, good day. |
1 Bien is an adverb meaning well. Its adjective equivalent is bon(ne), which means good. Since je vais, meaning I go, uses an action verb, the adverb bien is used. In English, I'm good, which uses the linking verb am, is followed by an adjective rather than an adverb.
2 Est-ce que... literally means Is is that... and is often used to start questions. This is used in a similar manner to do in English. Instead of You want it?, one can say Do you want it? Est-ce que... has no real meaning, other than signifying that a question follows.
3 chez... is a preposition meaning at the house of.... Chez moi is used to say at my place. Chez [name] is used to say at [name's] place.
4 on can mean we or one.
