French › Level one lessons › Weather · Le temps
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Grammar review · At · À
The preposition à (
/a/) means at or in:
- Nous sommes à la maison. (We are at home.)
- Il est à l'hôtel. (He is at the hotel.)
The contraction au ( /o/) is used in place of à le (singular):
- Je suis au bar. (I am at (in) the bar.)
Likewise, the contraction aux ( /o/) is used in place of à les (plural).
Dialogue · Is it going to rain?
Mireille: Il fait beau temps ! (It is fine weather !)
Monique: Il va pleuvoir aujourd'hui ? (Is it going to rain today?)
- Monique could also use the question form instead of the intonation given above: Est-ce qu'il va pleuvoir aujourd'hui ? (Pronounced eh-skeel)
Mireille: Non, il ne va pas pleuvoir, il fera soleil. (No, not raining, it will be sunny.)
Monique: Très bien ! Allons au parc ! (Very well! let's go to the park.)
Marcelle: Apporte un parapluie, au cas où il pleuvrait. (Bring an umbrella in case it rains.)
Interestingly, pleuvoir has only a third-person singular conjugation il pleut (present), il va pleuvoir or il pleuvra (future), conditionnal il pleuvrait.
Grammar · Negation · Négation
In order to say that one did not do something, the ne … pas construction must be used. The ne is placed before the verb, while the pas is placed after.
Formation and rules
Simple negation is done by wrapping ne … pas around the verb:
- Je ne porte pas mon manteau. (I am not wearing my coat.)
In a perfect tense, ne … pas surrounds the auxiliary verb, not the participle:
- Je n'ai pas porté mon manteau. (I did not wear my coat.)
When an infinitive and conjugated verb are together, ne … pas usually surrounds the conjugated verb:
- Je ne veux pas porter mes gants. (I do not want to wear my gloves.)
Ne pas can also precede the infinitive for a different meaning:
- Je veux ne pas porter mes gants. (I want not to wear my gloves.)
Ne precedes any pronoun relating to the verb it affects:
- Je ne les porte pas. (I am not wearing them.)
Examples
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| Il est avocat. Il n'est pas avocat. |
He is [a] lawyer. He is not [a] lawyer. |
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| Nous faisons nos devoirs. Nous ne faisons pas nos devoirs. |
We are doing our homework. We are not doing our homework. |
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| Je joue du piano. Je ne joue pas du piano. |
I play the piano. I do not play the piano. |
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| Vous vendez votre voiture. Vous ne vendez pas votre voiture. |
You sell your car. You do not sell your car. |
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Negation of indefinite articles
The indefinite articles un, une, and des change to de (or d’) when negating a sentence.
| J'ai un parapluie. Je n'ai pas de parapluie. |
I have an umbrella. I don't have an umbrella. |
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| J'ai des bottes en caoutchouc. Je n'ai pas de bottes en caoutchouc. |
I have some wellington boots. I don't have any wellington boots. |
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Examples
| Il est belge. Il n'est pas belge. |
He is Belgian. He is not Belgian. |
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| Nous lisons un livre. Nous ne lisons pas de livre. |
We read a book. We do not read a book. |
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| Je mange une cerise. Je ne mange pas de cerise. |
I eat a cherry. I do not eat a cherry. |
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Vocabulary · Common weather
| Quel temps fait-il ? | How's the weather? | ||||
| le soleil | /sɔ.lɛj/ (soh-lehyuh) |
sun | |||
| le ciel | /sjɛl/ (syuhehl) |
sky | |||
| Ébloui par le soleil | /e.blu.i də sɔ.lɛj/ (ay-bloo-ee duh soh-lehyuh) | Dazzled by the sun (example: coming into the sun from indoors) | |||
| Warm weather | |||||
| Il fait beau. | It's fine/nice. | ||||
| Il fait chaud. | It's warm/hot. | ||||
| Le ciel est dégagé. Le ciel se dégage. |
The sky is clear. The sky is clearing up. |
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| Le soleil brille | The sun is shining | ||||
| Cloudy weather | |||||
| le nuage Il y a des nuages |
/nɥaʒ/ (newahzh) |
cloud It's cloudy |
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| nuageux(-euse) | /nɥa.ʒø/ (newah-zhew)) | cloudy | |||
| l'éclaircie (f) | sunny spell (in clouds) | ||||
| Cold and windy weather | |||||
| Il fait froid | (eel feh fwah) | It is cool/cold | |||
| Il fait trop froid | (eel feh troh fwah) | It is too cold | |||
| le vent Il y a du vent Le vent souffle. |
, /vɑ̃/ (vah(n)) |
wind It's windy. The wind blows |
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| la rafale | /ʁafal/ | gust of wind | |||
Note that le temps means both the weather and the time.
Grammar · To go · Aller
The verb aller is translated to to go. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -er verb).
Formation
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Present indicative verb
to go |
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| aller ( /a.le/ (ah-lay)) |
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| je | vais | /vɛ/ (vay) |
I | go | nous | allons | /a.lɔ̃/ (ah-loh(n)) |
we | go |
| tu | vas | /va/ (vah) |
you | go | vous | allez | /a.le/ (ah-lay) | you | go |
| il | va | /va/ (vah) |
he | goes | ils | vont | /vɔ̃/ (voh(n)) |
they | go |
| elle | va | she | goes | elles | vont | ||||
| on | va | one | goes | ||||||
Usage
There is no present progressive tense in French, so aller in the present indicative is used to express both I go and I am going:
- Où est-ce que tu vas? (Where are you going?)
Aller must be used with a place and cannot stand alone.
In addition to meaning at or in, the preposition à ( /a/) means to when used with aller:
- Je vais à Paris. (I am going to Paris.)
- Je vais au bureau. (I am going to the office.)
- Tu vas à l'école ? (You're going to school?)
Near future · Futur proche
An infinitive preceded by aller is used to say that something is going to happen in the near future:
- Il va pleuvoir demain. (It's going to rain tomorrow.)
- Il va faire froid. (It's going to be cold.)
- Je vais aller au magasin. (I will go to the store.)
Recall that the negative goes around the conjugated verb.
- Il ne va pas pleuvoir demain. (It's not going to rain tomorrow.)
Supplementary grammar · There · y
In place of a preposition and place, the pronoun y (/i/), meaning there, can be used; y comes before the verb:
- J'y vais. (I'm going there.)
- Nous allons au Mexique. Nous y allons. (We are going to Mexico. We are going there.)
Remember that aller must be used with a place (there or a name) when indicating that you are going somewhere, even if a place wouldn't normally be given in English.
The negative form of aller with the y pronoun has both the verb and pronoun enclosed between ne and pas:
- Il n'y va pas. (He's not going there.)
Supplementary vocabulary · Expressions
| Allons-y | (ahlon-zee) | Let's go | |||
| Ça va ? Comment allez-vous ? |
(sah vah) (koh-mah(n) tahlay-voo) |
How are you? | |||
| Allez ! | Come on! | encouragement | |||
| vas-y allez-y |
go ahead; go on | ||||
| On y va ! | Let's get going! | ||||
| On y va ? | Should we go? | ||||
Vocabulary · Rain and snow · La pluie et la neige
| Rainy weather | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| la brume | /bʀym/ |
fog, haze, mist | |||
| le brouillard | /bʀujaʀ/ |
fog | |||
| la bruine | /bʁɥin/ |
drizzle | |||
| une goutte de pluie | a drop of rain | ||||
| la pluie La pluie tombe. |
rain The rain falls. |
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| Il pleut. Il a plu. Il va pleuvoir. |
It's raining. It rained. It's going to rain. |
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| pluvieux(-euse) Le temps est pluvieux. |
rainy It's raining. |
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| l'averse (f) | /a.vɛʁs/ |
shower | |||
| Snowy weather | |||||
| la neige Il neige. |
/nɛʒ/ |
snow It's snowing. |
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| la grêle Il tombe de la grêle. |
/gʀɛl/, /ɡʁɛl/ |
hail It's hailing. |
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| Extreme weather | |||||
| un orage orageux(-euse) Il y a un orage! |
/ɔʁaʒ/ |
a storm stormy There's a storm! |
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| l'éclair (m) la foudre |
/e.klɛʁ/ /fudʁ/ |
flash (of lightning) lightning |
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| la tempête | |
storm, tempest | |||
| le tonnerre | |
thunder | |||
Dialogue
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Exercises
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French : Lessons · Vocabulary · Grammar · Appendices · Texts
