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[edit]

French

This is the print version of French You won't see this message or any elements not part of the book's content when you print or preview this page.

[edit] Main Contents

• Lessons
• Grammar
• Appendices
• Texts
• Q&A
• About the Book
• GFDL

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[edit] LESSONS

[edit] Contents

• Introductory Lessons
• Level One Lessons
• Level Two Lessons
• Level Three Lessons
• GNU Free Documentation License

[edit] Information

[edit] Lessons Information

A printable version of French lessons is available. (edit it)

Lesson Planning Concept Lessons Downloadable and Print Versions

• Updating:
  • If a lesson is added or the name of an existing lesson is changed, please update:
    • The print version
    • The level one main page, the level two main page, or the level three main page
    • The level one header, the level two header, or the level three header
    • The level one footer, the level two footer, or the level three footer
    • The complete lessons template
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  • It is not necessary to update these versions if the sections within these main lesson pages are altered.

(edit template) (discussion) Lessons Information • Introductory • Level One • Level Two • Level Three • Level Four • Q&A • Planning

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[edit] INTRODUCTORY

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[edit] Introductory Lessons Contents

• Lesson 0.01 - Introduction
• Lesson 0.02 - Learning French
• Lesson 0.03 - The Alphabet
• Lesson 0.04 - Accents
• Lesson 0.05 - Greetings
• Lesson 0.06 - Formal Speech
• Lesson 0.07 - How are you?
• Lesson 0.08 - Numbers
• Lesson 0.09 - The Date
• Lesson 0.10 - Telling Time
• Lesson 0 Review
• Lesson 0 Test

[edit] Information

[edit] Bonjour! - Introductory French

01	Leçon 01 : Introduction	History of the French Language Extent of the French Language
	Lesson 01 : Introduction
02	Leçon 02 : Apprendre le français	Reasons To Learn French, Book Organization Advice on Studying French
	Lesson 02 : Learning French
03	Leçon 03 : L'alphabet	Letters Punctuation
	Lesson 03 : The Alphabet
04	Leçon 04 : Les accents	Acute Accent, Grave Accent Tonic Accent, Stress
	Lesson 04 : Accent Marks
05	Leçon 05 : Les salutations	Greetings Good-byes, Names
	Lesson 05 : Greetings
06	Leçon 06 : Le discours formel	Vous vs. tu, Courtesy Titles, Asking For One's Name
	Lesson 06 : Formal Speech
07	Leçon 07 : Ça va?	Asking How One Is Doing
	Lesson 07 : How are you?
08	Leçon 08 : Les nombres	Cardinal Numbers Ordinal Numbers
	Lesson 08 : Numbers
09	Leçon 09 : Les dates	Numbers 01-31, Seasons Days of the week, Months of the Year
	Lesson 09 : Dates
10	Leçon 10 : L'heure	Numbers 30-60, Times of Day Asking for the time
	Lesson 10 : Telling Time
Rv	Revue	Introductory review Revue de l'introduction
	Review
Ex	L'examen	Chapter test Chapitre l'examen
	Test

[edit] Lesson 0.01 - Introduction

[edit] Introduction

French is a Romance language descended from Latin which developed as a result of Celtic and Frankish influences in Gaul (now France). Being a Romance language, it is closely related to Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian, as well as many other languages. There are over 87 million native French speakers and an additional 68 million non-native speakers in the world.

[edit] History

Further information: w:History of the French language

During the Roman occupation of Gaul, the Latin language was imposed on the natives. This Latin language eventually developed into what is known as Vulgar Latin, which was still very similar to Latin. Over the centuries, due to Celtic and Germanic influences (particularly the Franks), la langue d'oïl was developed. A dialect of la langue d'oïl known as le francien was the language of the court, and thus became the official language of what was to become the Kingdom of France, and later the Nation-State of France.

From medieval times until the 19th century, French was the dominant language of diplomacy, culture, administration, trade and royal courts across Europe. Due to these factors, French was the lingua franca of this time period.

French has influenced many languages world wide, including English. It is through French (or more precisely Norman, a dialect of la langue d'oïl) that English gets about one third of its vocabulary.

[edit] Extent of the Language

Main article: w:La Francophonie

Main article: w:French colonial empires

In modern times, French is still a significant diplomatic language: it is an official language of the United Nations, the Olympic Games, and the European Union. It is also the official language of 29 countries and is spoken in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Haiti, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, the Congo, Algeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Gabon, the Seychelles, Burundi, Chad, Rwanda, Djibouti, Cameroon, Mauritius, and Canada (mostly in the province of Québec, where it is the primary language, but it is also used in other parts of the country. All consumer product packages in Canada are required by law to have both English and French labels).

Allons-y! Bonne chance!

[edit] Lesson 0.02 - Learning French

[edit] Reasons to learn French

As mentioned earlier, French is a major diplomatic language. You are bound to find speakers almost anywhere in the world. In addition to these societal reasons, there are hundreds of famous French novels and nonfiction works in a wide variety of subjects. Because much can be lost in translation, the best way to read these works is in the original language.

[edit] Advice on studying French

Main article: How to learn a language

French tends to have a reputation among English speakers as hard to learn. While it is true that it poses certain difficulties to native English-speakers, it may be noted that English is also considered 'difficult' to learn, and yet we learned it without the benefit of already knowing a language. In fact, the French language can be learned in only 10 months, if only for the specific purpose of passing a standardized test, such as the Test d'Evaluation de Français. According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, in order to reach the level of 'Independent User' (after completing Level B2), you must complete 400 hours of effective learning (so if you study 4 hours a week, every single week of the year, you would need two years to achieve it). Any way you look at it, learning any new language requires a long-term commitment. Remember, that like any skill, it requires a certain amount of effort. And it is likely that if you do not practice your French regularly, you will begin to forget it. Try to make French practice a part of your routine; even if it's not daily, at least make it regular.

Also remember that you are learning a new skill. Try to master the simple stuff before moving on to the more complex concepts. We all have to add and subtract before we can do calculus. French is a complete language. While this course can teach you to read and write in French, these are only half of the skills that make up fluency. A written document cannot teach much about listening to and speaking French. You must train all of these skills, and they will reinforce one another. For listening and speaking, find a native speaker to help you.

The very best way to learn French is to visit France or another French-speaking country. This allows you to start with a clean slate, as babies do. However, since most of us are unwilling to take that step, the next best option is immersion. If you are serious about learning French, a period of immersion (during which you live in a Francophone culture) is a good idea once you have some basic familiarity with the language. If you can't travel to a French-speaking country, then try listening to French-language programs on the radio, TV, or the Internet. Rent or buy French-language movies (many American and U.K. movies have a French language option). Pay attention to pronunciation. Grab a French speaker you meet and talk to him or her in French. Listen, speak, and practice. Read French newspapers and magazines. Google's news page, which links to French-language news stories, is an excellent source that will enrich your vocabulary.

[edit] Book organization

This book is divided into one set of preliminary lessons, the page you are reading now, and four increasingly complex lesson levels. The introductory lessons will teach you pronunciation and phrases. In the first level, you will learn basic grammar, including pronouns, the present indicative, most common present tense, and several irregularly-conjugated verbs. In the second level, the passé composé, the most common past tense, is given, along with many other irregular verbs. In the third level, you will learn several more tenses and complex grammar rules. The fourth level (still in development), will be conducted in French and will focus on French literature and prose writing. For more on course structure, and information on how you can help improve this book, see the lessons planning page.

[edit] Lesson 0.03 - The Alphabet

A Wikibookian suggests that this book or chapter be merged with v:Learning the Basics of French/Lesson:Introducing Yourself/1. Please discuss whether or not this merger should happen on the discussion page.

[edit] Introduction

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •101 kb • help) The French Alphabet L'alphabet français
Characters	Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii
Pronunciation	ah	bay	say	day	euh	eff	jhay	ash	ee
Characters	Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Qq	Rr
Pronunciation	ghee	kah	el	emm	enn	oh	pay	ku	air
Characters	Ss	Tt	Uu	Vv	Ww	Xx	Yy	Zz
Pronunciation	ess	tay	oo	vay	dubla-vay	eeks	ee-grehk	zed

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: ë, ï, 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. More information on accents will be found in the next section.

[edit] Letters and examples

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •101 kb • help) The French Alphabet L'alphabet français
letter	pronunciation	name in French (in IPA transcription)
Aa	like a in father	/a/
Bb	like b in may"be	/be/
Cc	before e and i: like c in center before a, o, or u: like c in cat	/se/
Dd	like d in dog	/de/
Ee	approx. like u in burp**	/ə/
Ff	like f in fog	/ɛf/
Gg	before e and i: like s in measure before a, o, or u: like g in get	/ʒe/
Hh	aspirated h: see note below* non-aspirated h: not pronounced***	/aʃ/
Ii	like ea in team	/i/
Jj	like s in measure	/ʒi/
Kk	like k in kite	/ka/
Ll	like l in lemon	/ɛl/
Mm	like m in minute	/ɛm/
Nn	like n in note	/ɛn/
Oo	closed: approx. like u in nut open: like o in nose	/o/
Pp	like p in pen*	/pe/
Qq	like k in kite	/ky/ see 'u' for details
Rr	force air through the back of your throat near the position of gargling, but sounding soft	/ɛʀ/
Ss	like s in sister at beginning of word or with two s's or like z in amazing if only one s	/ɛs/
Tt	like t in top	/te/
Uu	Say the English letter e, but make your lips say "oo".	/y/
Vv	like v in violin	/ve/
Ww	Depending on the derivation of the word, like v as in violin, or w in water	/dubləve/
Xx	either /ks/ in socks, or /gz/ in exit	/iks/
Yy	like ea in leak	/igrək/
Zz	like z in zebra	/zɛd/

[edit] Final consonants

In French, certain consonants are silent when they are the final letter of a word. The letters p (as in 'coup'), s (as in 'héros'), t (as in 'chat'), d (as in 'marchand), and x (as in 'paresseux'), are generally not pronounced at the end of a word. They are pronounced if there is an e letter after ('coupe', 'chatte', 'marchande', etc.)

[edit] b and p

Unlike English, when you pronounce the letters 'b' and 'p' in French, little to no air should come out of your mouth. In terms of phonetics, the difference in the French 'b' and 'p' and their English counterparts is one of aspiration. (This is not the same as the similarly-named concept of 'h' aspiré discussed below). Fortunately, in English both aspirated and unaspirated variants (allophones) exist, but only in specific environments. If you're a native speaker, say the word 'pit' and then the word 'spit' out loud. Did you notice the extra puff of air in the first word that doesn't come with the second? The 'p' in 'pit' is aspirated [pʰ]; the 'p' in 'spit' is not (like the 'p' in any position in French).

[edit] Exercise

1. Get a loose piece of printer paper or notebook paper.
2. Hold the piece of paper about one inch (or a couple of centimeters) in front of your face.
3. Say the words baby, and puppy like you normally would in English. Notice how the paper moved when you said the 'b' and the 'p' respectively.
4. Now, without making the piece of paper move, say the words belle (the feminine form of beautiful in French, pronounced like the English 'bell.'), and papa (the French equivalent of "Dad").

• If the paper moved, your pronunciation is slightly off. Concentrate, and try it again.
• If the paper didn't move, congratulations! You pronounced the words correctly!

[edit] Aspirated vs. non-aspirated h

In French, the letter h can be aspirated (h aspiré), or not aspirated (h non aspiré), depending on which language the word was borrowed from. What do these terms mean?

• Ex.: the word héros, (hero) has an aspirated h, because when the definite article le is placed before it, the result is le héros, and both words must be pronounced separately. However, the feminine form of héros, héroïne is a non-aspirated h. Therefore, when you put the definite article in front of it, it becomes l'héroïne, and is pronounced as one word.

Remember that in French, an h is NEVER pronounced, whether it is aspirated or not aspirated!

The only way to tell if the h at the beginning of a word is aspirated is to look it up in the dictionary. Some dictionaries will place an asterisk (*) in front of the entry word in the French-English H section if the h is aspirated. Other dictionaries will include it in the pronunciation guide after the key word by placing a (') before the pronunciation. In short, the words must be memorized.

Here is a table of some basic h words that are aspirated and not aspirated:

aspirated	non-aspirated
héros, hero (le héros)	héroïne, heroine (l'héroïne)
haïr, to hate (je hais or j'haïs...)	habiter, to live (j'habite...)
huit, eight (le huit novembre)	harmonie, harmony (l'harmonie)

[edit] Exercise

1. Grab a French-English dictionary and find at least ten aspirated h words, and ten non-aspirated h words
2. On a piece of paper, write down the words you find in two columns
3. Look at it every day and memorize the columns

[edit] Punctuation

From Wiktionary:

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •608 kb • help) Punctuation La ponctuation
&	esperluette, et commercial		,	virgule		{   }	accolades		~	tilde
'	apostrophe		=	égal		%	pourcent		@	arobase, a commercial, arobe
*	astérisque		$	dollar		.	point
« »	guillemets		!	point d'exclamation		+	plus
\	barre oblique inverse		>	supérieur à		#	dièse
[   ]	crochets		<	inférieur à		?	point d'interrogation
:	deux points		-	moins, tiret, trait d'union		_	soulignement
;	point virgule		(   )	parenthèses		/	barre oblique

The punctuation symbols in French operates very similarly to English with the same meaning. The only punctuation symbol not present in French would be the quotation marks; these are replaced by the guillemets shown in the table above.

The two stroke punctuation marks (such as ;, :, ?, !) may require a non-breaking space before or after the mark in question. For purposes of this textbook, this style will be used to maintain consistency with other projects on WikiMedia - however, the location and context at which you will use French may have different spacing rules. The following resources are an example of available materials for further reading:

• Lexique des règles typographiques en usage à l'Imprimerie nationale, ISBN 9782743304829, Imprimerie nationale
• Wikipédia:Conventions typographiques
• French Style Guide, Nova Scotia Department of Education (for Canadian French)

[edit] Lesson 0.04 - Accents

[edit] Introduction

There are five different kinds of accent marks used in written French; However, they often do not imply stress; Stress in French, although comparatively weaker than other Romance languages, always falls on the last syllable. They are:

accent	letters used	examples
acute accent (accent aigu)	é only	éléphant: elephant
grave accent (accent grave)	è, à, ù	fièvre: fever, là: there où: where
circumflex (accent circonflexe)	â, ê, î, ô, û	gâteau: cake, être: to be, île: island, chômage: unemployment, dû: past participle of devoir
diaeresis (tréma)	ë, ï, ü, ÿ**	Noël: Christmas, maïs: corn, aigüe: acute(fem)*
cedilla (cédille)	ç only	français: French

• *Note: As of the spelling reform of 1990, the diaresis indicating gu is not a digraph on words finishing in guë is now placed on the u in standard (AKA "académie française" French) : aigüe and not aiguë, cigüe and not ciguë, ambigüe and not ambiguë (acute(fem), conium, ambiguous). Since this reform is relatively recent and mostly unknown to laypeople, the two spellings can be used interchangeably.
• **Note: The letter ÿ is only used in very rare words, mostly old town names like L'Haÿ-Les-Roses, a Paris surburb. This letter is pronounced like ï.

[edit] Acute accent - Accent aigu

The acute accent (French, accent aigu) is the most common accent used in written French. It is only used with the letter e and is always pronounced /e/.

One use of the accent aigu is to form the past participle of regular -er verbs.

infinitive	past participle
aimer, to love	aimé, loved
regarder, to watch	regardé, watched

Another thing to note is if you are unsure of how to translate certain words into English from French, and the word begins with é, replace that with the letter s and you will occasionally get the English word, or an approximation thereof:

• étable --> stable (for horses)
• école --> scole --> school
• il étudie --> il studie --> he studies
• And to combine what you already know about the accent aigu, here is one last example:
  • étranglé (from étrangler) --> stranglé --> strangled

NB: This will not work with every word that begins with é.

[edit] Grave accent - Accent grave

[edit] à and ù

In the case of the letters à and ù, the grave accent (Fr. accent grave), is used to graphically distinguish one word from another.

without accent grave	with accent grave
a (3rd pers. sing of avoir, to have)	à (preposition, to, at, etc.)
la (definite article for feminine nouns)	là (there)
ou (conjunction, or)	où (where)

[edit] è

Unlike à and ù, è is not used to distinguish words from one another. The è is used for pronunciation. In careful speech, an unaccented e is pronounced like the article a in english (a schwa), and in rapid speech is sometimes not pronounced at all. The è is pronounced like the letter e in pet.

[edit] Cedilla - Cédille

The cedilla is used only with the letter "c", and is said to make the "c" soft, making it equivalent to the English and French S.

• le garçon --> (boy)

[edit] French Accents on computers

While French keyboards are available, some French students may need to enter accented characters on an English keyboard. There are two methods of doing so - some modern word processing software allow entering accents using a key combination, while other applications may require using an Alt code.

In supporing word processing software, you can initiate an accent by entering an appropriate key combination.

accent	key combination
acute accent (accent aigu)	CTRL-'
grave accent (accent grave)	CTRL-`
circumflex (accent circonflexe)	CTRL-SHIFT-6
diaeresis (tréma)	CTRL-;
cedilla (cédille)	CTRL-,

On applications that do not support the key combinations, the alternate method available to students is to hold down the ALT key, and enter the code number on the keypad. In some applications, you may also need to have the numlock turned on to avoid undesirable effects.

Character	code	Character	code
à	133	À	0192
â	131	Â	0194
ä	132	Ä	142
æ {ae}	145	Æ {ae}	146
œ {oe}	0156	Œ {oe}	0140
ç	135	Ç	128
é	130	É	144
ê	136	Ê	0202
è	138	È	0200
ë	137	Ë	0203
î	140	Î	0206
ï	139	Ï	0207
ô	147	Ô	0212
ù	151	Ù	0217
û	150	Û	0219
ü	129	Ü	154 or 0220
«	174	»	175

[edit] Lesson 0.05 - Greetings

A Wikibookian suggests that this book or chapter be merged with v:Learning the Basics of French/Lesson:Introducing Yourself/1. Please discuss whether or not this merger should happen on the discussion page.

[edit] D: Greetings

French Dialogue • Print version • audio (upload) Greetings Les salutations
Jacques et Marie
Jacques	Bonsoir, Marie.
Marie	Euh ? Tu t'appelles comment ?
Jacques	Moi[1], je m'appelle Jacques.
Marie	Ah, oui. Quoi de neuf, Jacques ?
Jacques	Pas grand-chose. Alors[2], au revoir, à demain, Marie.
Marie	À la prochaine, Jacques.
Olivier et Luc
Olivier	Salut.
Luc	Bonjour.
Olivier	Tu t'appelles comment ?
Luc	Luc. Et toi ?[3]
Olivier	Je suis Olivier.
Luc	Ah, oui. Alors, à bientôt, Olivier.
Olivier	Salut, Luc !

^ me

^ so, then

^ And you ? (informal)

[edit] V: Greetings

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •111 kb • help) Greetings Les salutations
Salut	Hi./Bye.	(informal)
Bonjour	Hello	(more formal than salut) (all day)
Bonsoir	Hello	(after 19h00)
Bonne soirée	Good evening
Bonne nuit	Good night	bun nwee
Quoi de neuf ?	What's up (about you)? (lit. what's new)
Pas grand-chose.	Not much. (lit. no big-thing)

[edit] Formal Lesson - Greetings

When talking to one's peers or to children, Salut is used as a greeting. Its English equivalents would be hi and hey. Bonjour, literally meaning good day, should be used for anyone else. Bonsoir is used to say Good evening. Bonne nuit is used to say Good night before going to bed.

[edit] V: Good-bye

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •202 kb • help) Good-bye Au revoir
Salut.	Hi./Bye.	(informal)
Au revoir.	Good-bye.	ohrvwahr (ev not pronounced)
À demain.	See you tomorrow.	ah duhman (Lit: To/Until Tomorrow)
Au revoir, à demain.	Bye, see you tomorrow.
À tout à l'heure.	See you (later today)!	ah tootah luhr
À la prochaine.	See you (tomorrow)!	ah lah proh shayn
À bientôt.	See you soon.	ah byantoe
Ciao	Bye.	chow (Italian)

[edit] Formal lesson - Good-byes

In addition to being used as an informal greeting, Salut also means bye. Again, it should only be used among friends. Another informal greeting is ciao, an Italian word commonly used in France. Au revoir is the only formal way to say Good-bye. If you will be meeting someone again soon, use À bientôt or À tout à l'heure. À demain is used if you will be seeing the person the following day.

[edit] V: Names

Tu t'appelles comment ? is used to informally ask someone for his or her name. It is normal to just reply by stating your name, however you may also respond Je m'appelle [name] (I am called...). In the next lesson, you will learn more formal ways of asking someone for their name.

Check for understanding One of your good friends is introducing you to his younger cousin who is visiting on a trip from France, and doesn't speak a word of English. You want to introduce yourself to him, tell him your name, and ask "What's up?"

[edit] Lesson 0.06 - Formal Speech

[edit] D: A formal conversation

French Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •65 kb • help) A Formal Conversation Une conversation formelle
Two people—Monsieur Bernard and Monsieur Lambert—are meeting for the first time:
Monsieur Bernard	Bonjour. Comment vous appelez-vous ?
Monsieur Lambert	Je m'appelle Jean-Paul Lambert. Et vous ?
Monsieur Bernard	Moi, je[4] suis Marc Bernard. Enchanté.
Monsieur Lambert	Enchanté[5].

^ I (I is not capitalized in French (unless, of course, beginning a sentence))
^ Nice to meet you (lit. enchanted)

[edit] G: Vous vs. tu

This is an important difference between French and English. English no longer distinguishes between the singular and the plural, formal version of "you", although "thou" used to be the informal singular version in the days of Shakespeare.

In French, it is important to know when to use "vous" and when to use "tu".

"Vous" is the plural form of "you". This is somewhat equivalent to "you all", "you guys", "all of you", except that it does not carry any familiarity when used with the plural. You'd use it to address your friends as well as when talking to the whole government at a press conference.

"Vous" is also used to refer to single individuals to show respect, to be polite or to be neutral. It is used when talking to someone who is important, someone who is older than you are, or someone with whom you are unfamiliar. This is known as Vouvoiement. Note the conversation between M. Bernard and M. Lambert above as an example of this use.

Conversely, "tu" is the singular and informal form of "vous" (you) in French. It is commonly used when referring to a friend or a family member, and is also used between children or when addressing a child. If it is used when speaking to a stranger, it signals disrespect. This is known as Tutoiement. As a rule of thumb, use "tu" only when you would call that person by his first name, otherwise use "vous". French people will make it known when they would like you to refer to them by "tu". The use of "vous" is less common in Quebequois than in French from France.

[edit] V: Courtesy

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •160 kb • help) Courtesy La politesse
Please	S'il te plaît.	(Lit: If it pleases you.)
	S'il vous plaît.	(formal).
Thanks (a lot)	Merci (beaucoup).
You're welcome.	De rien.	(Lit: It's nothing.)
	Pas de quoi.	(Lit: Not of what.) (No problem.)
	Je t'en prie.	I pray you (informal)
	Je vous en prie	(formal)

[edit] V: Titles

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •99 kb • help) Titles Les titres
	French	Abbr.	Pronunciation	English, Usage
Singular Plural	Monsieur Messieurs.	M.	muhsyeu mehsyeu	Mr., Sir. Gentlemen.
Singular Plural	Madame Mesdames	Mme	mahdamn maydahm	Mrs., Ma'am. Ladies
Singular Plural	Mademoiselle Mesdemoiselles	Mlle	mahdmwahzell mehdmwahzell	Miss, Young lady Young ladies

[edit] Formal lesson - Titles

The titles monsieur, madame, and mademoiselle are almost always used alone, without the last name of the person. When beginning to speak to a professor, employer, or generally someone older than you, it is polite to say monsieur, madame, or mademoiselle.

[edit] V: Asking for one's name

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •110 kb • help) Asking For One's Name Demander le nom de quelqu'un
Comment vous appelez-vous ? Quel est votre nom ?	How do you call yourself? (formal) What is your name?
Tu t'appelles comment ?	What is your name? (informal) (lit: How do you call yourself?)
Je m'appelle...	My name is... (lit. I call myself...)

[edit] Lesson 0.07 - How are you?

[edit] D: A simple conversation

Two good friends—Marie and Jean—are meeting:

• Marie: Salut Jean. Ça va ?
• Jean: Ça va bien, merci. Et toi, ça va ?
• Marie: Pas mal.
• Jean: Quoi de neuf ?
• Marie: Pas grand-chose.
• Marie: Au revoir Jean.
• Jean: Au revoir, à demain.

[edit] V: How are you?

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •105 kb • help) How are you? Ça va?
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)
Oui, ça va.	Yes, it goes.
Très bien, merci.	Very well, thanks.
Pas mal.	Not Bad
pas si bien/pas très bien	not so well
(très) mal	(very) bad
Comme ci, comme ça.	So-So.
Désolé(e).	Sorry.
Et toi ? Et vous ?	And you? (informal) And you? (formal)

Check for understanding Write down as many ways to respond to Ça va? as you can think of off the top off your head. Then go back to the vocabulary and learn other ways.

[edit] E: Basic phrases - Dialogue

French Exercise • Print version • audio (info •60 kb • help) Basic Phrases Expressions de base
Exercise Put the following conversation in order:
	First	Second	Third	Fourth
1. Michel	Je ne vais pas très bien.	Bonjour, Jacques	Au revoir	Comment ça va?
2. Jacques	Désolé.	Ça va très bien! Et vous? Allez-vous bien?	À demain.	Salut, Michel!
Solution:
	First	Second	Third	Fourth
1. Michel	Bonjour, Jacques.	Comment ça va?	Je ne vais pas très bien.	Au revoir.
2. Jacques	Salut, Michel!	Ça va très bien! Et vous? Allez-vous bien?	Désolé.	À demain.

[edit] Formal lesson - Asking how one is doing

Ça va? is used to ask someone how they are doing. The phrase literally means It goes?, referring to the body and life. A more formal way to say this is Comment allez-vous?. You can respond by using ça va as a statement; Ça va. roughly means I'm fine. The adverb bien is used to say well, and is often said both alone and as Ça va bien. Bien is preceded by certain adverbs to specify the degree to which you are well. Common phrases are assez bien, meaning rather well, très bien, meaning very well, and vraiment bien, meaning really well. The adverb mal is used to say badly. Pas is commonly added to mal to form Pas mal., meaning Not bad. Comme ci, comme ça., literally translating to Like this, like that., is used to say So, so. To be polite, add merci, meaning thank you to responses to questions.

Check for understanding Pretend to have (or actually have) a verbal conversation with various people that you know, such as siblings, friends, children, teachers, coworkers, or heads of state. Address them in different ways, depending on their relation to you. Ask them how they are doing, and finally say goodbye.

[edit] Lesson 0.08 - Numbers

[edit] V: Cardinal numbers

Main article: French/Appendices/Dates, time, and numbers#Les numéros

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •337 kb • help) Numbers Les nombres
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	une vingtaine (around twenty)
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

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 and 61, but not 71 nor 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.
• Many speakers of French outside of France refer to the numbers 70 to 99 in the same pattern as the other numbers. For instance, in Switzerland and Belgium, seventy is "septante," 71 is "septante et un," 72 "septante deux," and so on. Ninety is "nonante". In Switzerland, Eighty is "huitante" or "octante".

[edit] V: Mathematics

In french, the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are as follows: Calculez:
a) un plus (plus) un = (égal) deux (the final 's' must be prononced)
b) dix moins (moén) sept = trois
c) quatre fois (foá) trois = douze
d) vingt divisé par (divisê par) dix = deux

Note: You may sometimes use "un plus un font deux".

[edit] Exercises

• huit plus cinq égal : (treize)
  
• cinq et un égal : (six)
  
• neuf plus huit égal (dix-sept)
  
• trente-deux plus quarante-neuf égal (quatre-vingt-un)
  
• soixante plus vingt égal (quatre-vingts)
  
• cinquante-trois plus douze égal (soixante-cinq)
  
• dix-neuf plus cinquante égal (soixante-neuf)
  
• quarante-sept plus vingt-sept égal (soixante-quatorze)
  
• Soixante-trois plus trente-deux égal (quatre-vingt-quinze)
  
• soixante plus trente-deux égal (quatre-vingt-douze)

[edit] D: In school

Toto est un personnage imaginaire qui est un cancre à l'école. Il y a beaucoup d'histoires drôles sur Toto, un jour je vous en raconterai une!

Toto is an imaginary person that is a dunce at school. There are a lot of funny stories about Toto, one day I will tell you one of them!

- L'instituteur : Bonjour, les enfants! Aujourd'hui c'est mardi, nous allons réviser la table d'addition. Combien font huit plus six ?
- Toto : Treize, monsieur !
- L'instituteur : Non Toto tu t'es trompé! Huit plus six égal quatorze. Et combien font cinq plus neuf ?
- Clément : Quatorze !
- L'instituteur : Très bien Clément.

[edit] Lesson 0.09 - The Date

[edit] V: The days of the week.

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •127 kb • help) The Days of the Week. Les jours de la semaine.
#	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	Dies Domini

Notes:

• What day is it today? is equivalent to Quel jour sommes-nous aujourd'hui?, Quel jour est-on aujourd'hui? or On est quel jour aujourd'hui? (last one is less formal but more common)
• Quel jour sommes-nous aujourd'hui? can be answered with Aujourd'hui c'est..., C'est... or Nous sommes ... / On est...
• Nous sommes... is not used with hier, aujourd’hui, or demain. C'était (past) or C'est (present/future) must be used accordingly.
• The days of the week are not capitalized in French.

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •67 kb • help) Asking For The Day Demander le jour
1a	Aujourd'hui on est quel jour ?	Today is what day?	ojzoordwee on ay kell jzoor
1b	Aujourd'hui on est [jour].	Today is [day].
2a	Demain c'est quel jour ?	Tomorrow is what day?	Duhman on ay kell jzoor
2b	Demain c'est [jour].	Tomorrow is [day].

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •164 kb • help) Relative Days Les jours relatifs
avant-hier	the day before yesterday
hier	yesterday
aujourd'hui	today
ce soir	tonight
demain	tomorrow
après-demain	the day after tomorrow

[edit] V: The months of the year

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •163 kb • help) The Months of the Year Les mois de l'année
#	French	Pronounced	English
01	janvier	jzahnvyay	January
02	février	fayvryay	February
03	mars	mahrse	March
04	avril	ahvrill	April
05	mai	maye	May
06	juin	jzwan	June
07	juillet	jzuyay	July
08	août	oot/oo	August
09	septembre	septahmbruh	September
10	octobre	oktuhbr	October
11	novembre	novahmbr	November
12	décembre	daysahmbr	December

• The months of the year are not capitalized in French.
• For phrases relating to the months of the year, see the phrasebook

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •99 kb • help) Asking For The Date Demander la date
Quelle est la date (d'aujourd'hui) ?	What is the date (today)?	kell ay lah daht
C'est le [#] [month].	It's [month] [#].	say leuh...

[edit] V: Seasons

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •142 kb • help) Seasons Les Saisons
la saison	season
le printemps	Spring
l'été (m)	Summer
l'automne (m)	Autumn
l'hiver (m)	Winter

[edit] Lesson 0.10 - Telling Time

[edit] V: Asking for the time

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •164 kb • help) Asking For The Day, Date, Time Demander le jour/la date/le temps
Asking for the time.
4a	Quelle heure est-il ?	What hour/time is it?	kell er ayteel
4b	Quelle heure il est ?		kell er eel ay
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” (impersonal "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.

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •145 kb • help) Time Le temps
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 moins le quart	It is a quarter till 4.
Il est quatre heures quinze.	It is four fifteen.
Il est quatre heures et demie.	It is half past four.
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: Times of day

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •183 kb • help) Times of Day L'heure relatif
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 morning
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
la nuit	night
le coucher du soleil	sunset

[edit] D: The Principal

French Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •505 kb • help) The Principal Le directeur
Daniel	(frappe à la porte : toc toc toc) (knocks on the door: knock knock knock)
Le directeur	Entrez ! Enter!
Daniel	Bonjour, monsieur le directeur. Est-ce que vous allez bien ? Hello, Mr. Director. Are you well?
Le directeur	Je vais bien merci. Et vous, comment allez-vous ? I am well, thank you. And you, how are you?
Daniel	Je vais bien. Je veux vous demander s'il est possible d'organiser une fête pour mon anniversaire. Je l'organiserais le 3 mars vers 14 h. I'm well. I want to ask you if it is possible to organize a party for my birthday. I would organize it the third of March around 02:00 PM.
Le directeur	Et vous voulez l'organiser où ? And you want to organize it where?
Daniel	Dans la grande salle de réunion au deuxième étage. On en aurait besoin jusqu'à 16 h, le temps de tout nettoyer. In the large conference room on the second floor. We would need it until 04:00 PM, the time of cleaning everything.
Le directeur	Entendu! J' espère que je serais invité ? Agreed! I hope that I would be invited?
Daniel	Bien sûr ! Merci Beaucoup ! Of course! Thanks a lot!
Le directeur	Au revoir ! Good-bye!
Daniel	Au revoir et encore merci ! Good-bye and thanks again.

[edit] Lesson 0 - Review

[edit] G: The French alphabet

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •101 kb • help) The French Alphabet L'alphabet français
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	Qq	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 • Print version • audio (info •353 kb • help) Basic Phrases Les expressions de base
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 • Print version • audio (info •337 kb • help) Numbers Les nombres
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 • Print version • audio (info •612 kb • help) Asking For The Day, Date, Time Demander le jour, la date, le temps
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 • Print version • audio (info •145 kb • help) Time Le temps
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 • Print version • audio (info •420 kb • help) The Days of the Week. Les jours de la semaine.
#	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 • Print version • audio (info •561 kb • help) The Months of the Year Les mois de l'année
#	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 • Print version • audio (info •883 kb • help) Relative Date and Time Date et heure relatives
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
aujord'hui	today
ce soir	tonight
demain	tomorrow
après-demain	the day after tomorrow

[edit] V: Seasons

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •142 kb • help) Seasons Les Saisons
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 • Print version • audio (upload) A Coversation Between Friends Une conversation entre amis
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.

[edit] Lesson 0 - Test

The following test will confirm your progress in the French introduction. Try to answer the questions to the best of your ability without turning to the previous chapters or consulting the test answers.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Verb forms

Name the verb forms for the subject and infinitive specified. (1 point each)

[edit] Translating

[edit] English to French

Translate the following phrases and sentences into French. (2 points each)

1. What day is today?
2. How are you?
3. What is your name?

[edit] French to English

Translate this dialogue between Henri and Jacques into English. Each phrase is worth 1 points. (11 points total)

1. Bonjour! Quel est ton nom?
2. Je m'appelle Jacques. Comment vous-appelez vous?
3. Je m'appelle Henri. Comment ça va?
4. Pas mal. Et toi, comment ça va?
5. Trés bien, merci. À demain Jacques!
6. À demain Henri.

[edit] Reading comprehension

[edit] Fill in the blank

Fill in the blanks in these conversations. Note: Every blank is one word. (1 point each)

[edit] Vocabulary

[edit] Matching

Match the French words with their English definitions. (1 point each)

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[edit] LEVEL ONE

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[edit] Level One Lessons Contents

• Lesson 1.01 - Basic Grammar
• Lesson 1.02 - To Be
• Lesson 1.03 - Description
• Lesson 1.04 - Family
• Lesson 1.05 - Recreation
• Lesson 1.06 - The House
• Lesson 1.07 - Weather
• Lesson 1.08 - Travel
• Lesson 1.09 - Art
• Lesson 1.10 - Science

[edit] Information

If you haven't done so already, spend a few minutes to first read the course's introductory lessons. Once that's done, you're ready to begin your very first traditional French lesson! After you have completed this level, you can move on to the next level. Finally, go to the lessons planning page if you would like to help improve this course.

[edit] Allons! - Basic French

01	Leçon 01 : Grammaire de base	G: Gender, Articles, Subject Pronouns V: People
	Lesson 01 : Basic Grammar
02	Leçon 02 : Être	G: Conjugation, Être V:
	Lesson 02 : To be
03	Leçon 03 : La description	G: Conjugation, Être, Adjectives V: Colors, Numbers
	Lesson 03 : Description
04	Leçon 04 : La famille	G: Avoir, le, la, and les V: Family
	Lesson 04 : Family
05	Leçon 05 : Récréation	G: -er Verbs, lui and leur V: Games, Sports, Places, Playing
	Lesson 05 : Recreation
06	Leçon 06 : La maison	G: Faire, me, te, nous, and vous V: Household, Housework, Furniture
	Lesson 06 : The House
07	Leçon 07 : Le temps	G: Negation, Contractions, Aller V: Weather
	Lesson 07 : Weather
08	Leçon 08 : Les voyages	G: -ir Verbs, Possessive Adjectives V: Hotels, Directions
	Lesson 08 : Travel
09	Leçon 09 : L'art	G: -re Verbs, Beau, Nouveau, and Vieux V: Museums, Music, Plays
	Lesson 09 : Art
10	Leçon 10 : La science	G: Prendre V: Elements, Astronomy
	Lesson 10 : Science
Ex	L'examen	Chapter test Chapitre l'examen
	Test

[edit] Lesson 1.01 - Basic Grammar

[edit] G: Gender of nouns

In French, all nouns have a grammatical gender; that is, they are either masculin (m) or feminin (f).

Most nouns that express people or animals have both a masculine and a feminine form. For example, the two words for "the actor" in French are l'acteur (m) and l'actrice (f). The two words for "the cat" are le chat (m) and la chatte (f).

However, there are some nouns that talk about people or animals whose gender are fixed, regardless of the actual gender of the person or animal. For example, la personne (f) (the person) is always feminine, even when it's talking about your uncle! Le professeur (m) (the professor) is always masculine, even when it's talking about your female professor/teacher!

The nouns that express things without an obvious 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.

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, le livre (m) means the book, but la livre (f) means the pound! Some words that appear to be masculine (like le 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. When you think of a noun in French, think of the noun with its article (le or la). While this may seem difficult now, it is absolutely essential in la langue française (the French language), as you will see later on!

Here is a chart which depicts some tendencies of French nouns. Eventually, you will be able to guess the gender of a noun based on tricks like this:

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[6]	the horse	-age	le fromage the cheese
le chien	the dog	-r	le professeur[7] 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

^  Professeur can be shortened to prof (in a familiar context). While the long form, professeur, is always masculine, even when referring to female teachers, prof can be either masculine or feminine. (le prof - the (male) teacher) (la prof - the (female) teacher)

'^  In this book, the definite article will come before a noun in vocabulary charts. If the definite article is l due to elision, (m) will follow a noun to denote a masculine gender and (f) will follow a noun to denote a feminine gender.

[edit] G: Definite and indefinite articles

[edit] The definite article

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

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.

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[8]	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

[edit] Plurality, pronunciation, and exceptions

The plural of most nouns is formed by adding an -s. However, the -s ending is not pronounced. It is the article that tells the listener whether the noun is singular or plural.

^  Fils: Most singular nouns do not end in -s. The -s is added for the plural form of the noun. Fils is one exception. Whenever the singular form of a noun ends in -s, there is no change in the plural form.

le fils the son	les fils the sons	un fils a son	des fils (some) sons
le cours the course	les cours the courses	un cours a course	des cours (some) courses

Secondly, the final consonant is almost always not pronounced unless followed by an -e (or another vowel). Fils (pronounced feece) is also an exception to this rule.

[edit] Elision

Elision refers to the suppression of a final unstressed vowel immediately before another word beginning with a vowel. The definite articles le and la are shortened to l’ when they come before a noun that begins with a vowel or silent h. When pronounced, the vowel sound is dropped.

• (le) ami - l'ami - lahmee - the (male) friend
• (la) amie - l'amie - lahmee the (female) friend
• (le) élève - l'élève - lay lev - the student
• (la) heure - l'heure - leur - the hour/the time

Elision does not occur on an aspired h:

• (le) héros - le héros - a legendary hero

In addition to the definite article, elision will also occur with other words, such as que, je, le, ce, ne, and de. The details on these words will be covered in later sections of the book.

[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	oon	une fille	a daughter
	masculine	un	uh	un fils	a son
plural		des	day	des filles	some daughters
				des fils1	some sons

¹"des fils" does mean "some sons" but is an homograph: it can also mean "some threads" (when pronounced like "fill")

[edit] Liaison

Remember that the last consonant of a word is typically not pronounced unless followed by a vowel. When a word ending in a consonant is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound (or silent h), the consonant often becomes pronounced. This is a process called liaison. When a vowel goes directly after un, the normally unpronounced n sound becomes pronounced.

• (un) ami - un_nami (uhnahmee) - a (male) friend
• (un) élève - un_nélève (uhnay lev) - a student

Compare the pronunciation to words without liaison:

• un garçon (uh gehrsoh)

Une is unaffected by liaison.

Liaison also occurs with les and des.

• (les) amis - les_zamis (layzahmee) - (some) (male) friends
• (des) amis - des_zamis (dayzahmee) - (some) (male) friends
• (des) amies - des_zamies (dayzahmee) - (some) (female) friends

In this book, you will see liaison denoted with _n or _z between two words.

As with elision, an aspired h isn't liaised.

• (les) hangars - les hangars

[edit] "Some"

Note that des, like les, is used in French before plural nouns when no article is used in English. For example, you are looking at photographs in an album. The English statement "I am looking at photographs." cannot be translated to French as "Je regarde photographies" because an article is required to tell which photographs are being looked at. If it is a set of specific pictures, the French statement should be "Je regarde les photographies." ("I am looking at the photographs.") . On the other hand, if the person is just randomly browsing the album, the French translation is "Je regarde des photographies." ("I am looking at some photographs.")

[edit] V: People

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •679 kb • help) People Les personnes
la personne	person	pehr son
Gender and Age
l'homme (m)	man	ohm
la femme	woman	fehm
le garçon	boy	gehrsoh
la fille	girl	fee
la fillette	little girl	fee yet
Friends
l'ami (m) le copain	male friend	ahmee co pahn
l'amie (f) la copine	female friend	ahmee co peen

[edit] V: Expressions

[edit] Qu’est-ce que c’est?

To say What is it? or What is that? in French, Qu’est-ce que c’est? (pronounced kehss keuh say) is used.

• Qu’est-ce que c’est ? - What is it?

Literally, Qu’est-ce que c’est? translates to What is it that it is? You will be using Qu'est-ce que...? often to say What...? at the beginning of sentences.

To respond to this question, you say C’est un(e) [nom]., meaning It is a [noun].

• C'est un livre. - It's a book.
• C'est un chien. - It's a dog.

Remember that the indefinite article (un or une) must agree with the noun it modifies.

• C'est une chemise. - It's a shirt.

Check for understanding - Qu’est-ce que c’est? Respond according to the pictures. une pomme une poire un chaton (un chat) un chien

[edit] Il y a and voici/voilà

Il y a (pronounced eel ee ah) is used to say there is or there are. Il y a expresses the existence of the noun it introduces.

• Il y a une pomme. - There is an apple.

The phrase is used for both singular and plural nouns. Unlike in English (is => are), il y a does not change form.

• Il y a des pommes. - There are (some) apples.

The -s at the end of the most pluralised nouns tells you that the phrase is there are instead of there is. In spoken French, when both the singular and plural forms almost always sound the same, the article (and perhaps other adjectives modifying the noun) is used to distinguish between singular and plural versions.

You will soon learn that a is the present third person singular form of avoir, the verb meaing to have, and that y is a pronoun meaning there. The phrase il y a, then, literally translates to he has there. You will see this phrase used in all French tenses. It is important to remember that verb stays as a form of have and not be.

Like in English, il y a... is not often used to point out an object. To point out an object to the listener, use voici ("over here is/are" or "right here is/are") and voilà ("over there is/are").

[edit] Lesson 1.02 - To Be

[edit] D: Where are you from?

French Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •226 kb • help) Where are you from? Tu es d’où?
Quentin	Bonjour, Léon. Dis donc, tu es d’où?
Léon	Je suis de Paris, Quentin.
Quentin	Alors, tu es français?
Léon	Oui, exactement.
Quentin	Et Marie, elle est d’où?
Léon	Elle est de Marseille. Elle est française, aussi.
Quentin	Merci, Léon. Au revoir.

[edit] G: 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 the introductory lessons.

The pronoun it does not exist in French. Il replaces all masculine nouns, even those that are not human. The same is true with elle and feminine nouns.

In addition to the nuances between vous and tu, as discussed earlier, 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 with a majority of females — however, this sensibly yields to overwhelming majority: given a group of only one male to thousands of females, the female form would be used.

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) (there are two words "nous"). For more, see the Wikipedia entry.

[edit] G: Introduction to Verbs

A verb is a word that describes an action or mental or physical state.

[edit] Tenses and Moods

French verbs can be formed in four moods, each of which express a unique feeling. Each mood has a varying number of tenses, which indicate the time when an action takes place. The conjugations in the present tense of the indicative mood, the present indicative, is discussed in the next section. There is one conjugation for each of the six subject pronouns.

[edit] Infinitives

The infinitive form is the basic form of a verb. It does not refer to a particular tense, person or subject. In this book, the infinitive form of the verb is used to identify it. In English, the infinitive form is to ___. In French, the infinitive is one word. For example, parler translates to to speak, finir translates to to finish, and aller translates to to go.

[edit] Conjugation

French verbs conjugate, which means they take different shapes depending on the subject. English verbs only have one conjugation; that is the third person singular (I see, you see, he/she sees, we see, they see). The only exception is the verb "to be" (I am; (thou art); you are; he/she is; we are; they are;). Most French verbs will conjugate into many different forms. Most verbs are regular, which means that they conjugate in the same way. The most common verbs, however, are irregular.

[edit] G: Être - To Be

Être translates as to be in English. As in most languages, it is an irregular verb, and is not conjugated like any other verb.

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Print version • audio (info •103 kb • help) être to be
	Singular			Plural
first person	je suis	jeuh swee	I am	nous sommes	noo sum	we are
second person	tu es	too ay	you are	vous êtes	voozett	you are
third person	il est	eel ay	he is	ils sont	eelsohn	they are (masc. or mixed)
	elle est	ell ay	she is
	on est	ohn ay	one is	elles sont	ellsohn	they are (fem.)

[edit] Examples

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •87 kb • help) To Be Examples Exemples d'Être
Je suis avocat.	I am (a) lawyer.	jzeuh sweez ah voh cah
Tu es à la banque.	You are at the bank.	too ay ah lah bahnk
Il est beau.	He is handsome.	eel ay boh

Try to learn all these conjugations. They will become very useful in forming tenses.

[edit] Idioms

• Ça y est! - I've done it! Finished!
• J'y suis! - I get it!
• Vous y êtes? - Are you ready?

[edit] Expressing Agreement

Tu es d’accord ou pas?, Tu es d’accord? (lit: You are of agreement?), or simply D'accord? is used informally to ask whether someone agrees with you.

To respond positively, you say Oui, je suis d'accord. or simply D'accord. D'accord corresponds to the English okay.

[edit] G: Cities and Nationalities

To say what city you are from, you use the preposition de.

• Il est de Paris.

When stating your nationality or job, it is not necessary to include the article. This is an exception to the normal rule.

• Je suis Australien(ne). - I am [an] Australian.

There is both a masculine and feminine form of saying your nationality - for males and females respectively.

• Il est Australien. - He is [an] Australian.
• Elle est Australienne. - She is [an] Australian.

In the next lesson, you will learn how to say the nationality of more than one person.

Check for understanding Please use the the nationalities list to find out what your nationality is in French. Then say what city you are from and what nationality you are. Then say what nationality some of your friends are, and what city they are from. For example, Marie est italienne. Elle est de Rome.

[edit] Lesson 1.03 - Description

[edit] G: Adjectives - Les adjectifs

Main article: French/Grammar/Adjectives

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

[edit] Regular Formation

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

With plural adjectives, the -s ending is not pronounced, so the adjective will sound exactly the same as the singular form.

[edit] Exceptions and Irregularities

Adjectives that end in e in the masculine form do not change in gender. When an adjective, such as gros, ends in -s, it does not change in the masculine plural form. Sometimes the final consonant is doubled in the feminine form. See French/Grammar/Adjectives for more.

[edit] V: Describing People

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •1636 kb • help) Describing People Décrire des personnes
Masculine Singular	Feminine Singular	Masculine Plural	Feminine Plural
size and weight
Il est petit.	Elle est petite.	Ils sont petits.	Elles sont petites.
Il est moyen.	Elle est moyenne.	Ils sont moyens.	Elles sont moyennes.
Il est grand.	Elle est grande.	Ils sont grands.	Elles sont grandes.
Il est gros.	Elle est grosse.	Ils sont gros.	Elles sont grosses.
hair color
Il est blond.	Elle est blonde.	Ils sont blonds.	Elles sont blondes.
Il est brun.	Elle est brune.	Ils sont bruns.	Elles sont brunes.
attitude and personality
Il est intelligent.	Elle est intelligente.	Ils sont intelligents.	Elles sont intelligentes.
Il est intéressant.	Elle est intéressante.	Ils sont intéressants.	Elles sont intéressantes.
Il est amusant.	Elle est amusante.	Ils sont amusants.	Elles sont amusantes.

[edit] V: Common Adjectives

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •1018 kb • help) Common Adjectives Les adjectifs communs
Attitude and Personality		Size and Weight
sympa(thique)(s)	nice	gros(se)(ses)	fat
amusant(e)(s)	funny	petit(e)(s)	small
intelligent(e)(s)	intelligent	moyen(ne)(s)	average
intéressant(e)(s)	interesting	grand(e)(s)	tall,big
patient(e)(s)	patient
sociable(s)	sociable	Actions
timide(s)	timid	bon(ne)(s)	good
dynamique(s)	outgoing	mauvais(e)(s)	bad
gentil(le)(s)	nice, gentle	Difficulty
strict(e)(s)	strict	facile(s)	easy
fort(e)(s)	strong	difficile(s)	difficult

[edit] V: Colors

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •160 kb • help) Colors Les couleurs
Masculine	Feminine	English
blanc	blanche	white
gris	grise	gray
noir	noire	black
rouge	rouge	red
orange	orange	orange
jaune	jaune	yellow
vert	verte	green
bleu	bleue	blue
violet	violette	violet
marron	marron	brown (everything but hair)
brun	brune	brown (hair - dark haired)
rose	rose	pink
safran	safranne	saffron

[edit] G: Adverbs Expressing Degree

• assez - rather, enough
  • Il est assez intelligent. - He is rather intelligent.
• très - very
  • Il est très_zintelligent.^[9] - He is very intelligent.
• vraiment - truly, really
  • Il est vraiment intelligent. - He is really intelligent.

^ In this book, liaison is shown that the sound is connected using _z or some letter. See also French/Lessons/Basic_grammar#Liaison.

[edit] Lesson 1.04 - Family

[edit] G: The verb avoir

"Avoir" can be translated as "to have".

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (100 kb • help) avoir to have
	Singular			Plural
first person	j'ai	jay	I have	nouszavons	noozahvohn	we have
second person	tu as	too ah	you have	vouszavez	voozahvay	you have
third person	il a	eel ah	he has	ilszont	eelzohnt	they have (masc. or mixed)
	elle a	ell ah	she has
	onna	ohnah	one has	elleszont	ellzohnt	they have (fem.)

[edit] Examples

J'ai deux stylos.	I have two pens.
Tu as trois frères.	You have three brothers.
Il a une idée.	He has an idea.

[edit] Expressing Age

Avoir is used to express age.

• Tu as quel âge? - How old are you? [lit: You have what age?]
• J'ai trente ans. - I'm thirty (years old). [lit: I have thirty years]

[edit] There is/are - Il y a

The expression il y a means there is or there are.

• Il y a un livre. - There is a book.
• Il y a des livres. - There are books.

[edit] V: The Family

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •1245 kb • help) The Family La Famille
Immediate Family		Extended Family
ma famille	my family	ma famille éloignée	my extended family
les parents	parents	les grand-parents	grandparents
la mère	mother	la grand-mère	grandmother
le père	father	le grand-père	grandfather
la femme	wife	les petits-enfants	grandchildren
le mari	husband	le petit-fils	grandson
la soeur	sister	la petite-fille	granddaughter
le frère	brother	l'oncle, tonton	uncle
l'enfant	child (m or f)	la tante, tati	aunt
les enfants	children	le neveu	nephew
la fille	daughter	la nièce	niece
le fils	son	le/la cousin(e)	cousin (m or f)
Step Family
la belle-mère	stepmother	la demi-soeur	half sister
le beau-père	stepfather	le demi-frère	half brother

To speak about more complex family relations, such as "my grandmother's cousin", you must use the de mon/ma/mes form - "le cousin de ma grandmère".

[edit] G: Direct Object Pronouns le, la, and les

le, la, and les are called direct object pronouns, because they are pronouns that are, you guessed it, used as direct objects. A direct object is a noun that is acted upon by a verb.

• Il lance la balle. - He throws the ball.

In the above sentence la balle is the direct object.

You have learned earlier that names and regular nouns can be replaced by the subject or nominative pronouns "I, you, he..." (je, tu, il...). Similary, direct objects, such as "la balle", can be replaced by pronouns. These are a different set of pronouns (accusative). As in English, you would say "She gave him," and not "Her gave he." He/she are subjects used in the nominative case, while him/her are direct objects used in the accusative case.

• 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 lance. - He throws it.
• Il les lance. - He throws them.

Le, la, and les can replace either people or inanimate objects.

[edit] Lesson 1.05 - Recreation

A Wikibookian suggests that this book or chapter be merged with v:Learning the Basics of French/Lesson:Au restaurant!. Please discuss whether or not this merger should happen on the discussion page.

[edit] G: Regular -er Verbs

[edit] Formation

Most French verbs fall into the category of -er verbs. To conjugate, drop the -er to find the "stem" or "root". Add endings to the root based on the subject and tense.

jouer - to play

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •184 kb • help) -er Verb Formation Formation de verbes en -er
pronoun	ending	verb
je	-e	joue
tu	-es	joues
il/elle	-e	joue
nous	-ons	jouons
vous	-ez	jouez
ils/elles	-ent	jouent

[edit] Elision and Liaison

In all conjugations, je changes to j ' when followed by a vowel or silent h. Example: J'attends, J'habite.... If a phrase is negative, ne changes to n'.

In all plural forms, the s at the end of each subject pronoun, normally unpronounced, becomes a z sound and the n of on becomes pronounced when followed by a vowel.

[edit] Common -er Verbs

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Formation of Common -er Verbs Formation des verbes communs en -er
Infinitive	Stem	Present Indicative Conjugation
		First Person	Second Person	Third Person
parler	parl	Je parle	Tu parles	Il parle	Singular
to speak		Nous parlons	Vous parlez	Ils parlent	Plural
habiter	habit	J'habite	Tu habites	Il habite	Singular
to live		Nous habitons	Vous habitez	Ils habitent	Plural
écouter	écout	J'écoute	Tu écoutes	Il écoute	Singular
to listen		Nous écoutons	Vous écoutez	Ils écoutent	Plural

[edit] S'amuser

Main article: French/Grammar/Verbs/Pronominal

The verb s'amuser means to have fun in English. It is a type of pronominal verb (a verb that includes a pronoun as part of it) called a reflexive verb, which means that the action of the verb is reflected back onto the subject. Literally translated, the verb means To amuse oneself.

[edit] Formation

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Formation of Common -er Verbs Formation des verbes communs en -er
Infinitive	Stem	Present Indicative Conjugation
		First Person	Second Person	Third Person
s'amuser	amus	Je m'amuse	Tu t'amuses	Il s'amuse	Singular
to have fun		Nous nous amusons	Vous vous amusez	Ils s'amusent	Plural

[edit] Conjugated Verb + Infinitive

Like in English, some verbs can be followed by infinitives. The most common -er verbs used in this manner are aimer and détester.

• J'aime parler. - I like to talk.
• Nous détestons travailler. - We hate working.

When negating a sentence, remember that the negative goes around the conjugated verb.

• Je n'aime pas parler. - I don't like to speak.

[edit] D: Recreation

Here is a short dialog about people planning/doing leisure activities. Besides the new vocabulary you should also have a look at how the verbs are conjugated depending on the subject of the sentence.

• Jean-Paul : Qu'est-ce que vous faites ?
• Marc et Paul : Nous jouons au tennis.
• Marie : Je finis mes devoirs.
• Michel : J'attends mon ami.
• Pierre : Je vais au parc.
• Christophe : Je viens du stade.

[edit] V: Recreation

Qu'est-ce que vous faites?	What are you doing?
jouer	to play
finir[10]	to finish
attendre[11]	to wait (for)
aimer	to like
détester	to hate
rigoler	to joke around[12]
(mon) ami(e)[13]	(my) friend

^  Finir and attendre are not -er verbs. You will learn their conjugation in a later lesson.

^  Tu rigoles! means You’re joking! or You don’t mean it!

^  Mon is often substituted for ma when the following word begins with a vowel. Thus, mon amie is used instead of ma amie, while ma bonne amie would be okay.

[edit] V: Places

la bibliothèque	library1
le parc	park
la piscine	swimming pool
la plage	beach
le restaurant	restaurant
salle de concert	concert hall
le stade	stadium
le théâtre	theater

¹Caution: a librairie is a bookshop.

[edit] G: Indirect Object Pronouns lui and leur

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

• Il jette la balle à Jacques. - He throws the ball to Jack.
• Il jette la balle à Marie. - He throws the ball to Mary.
• Il jette la balle 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 balle. - He throws the ball to him.
• Il lui jette la balle. - He throws the ball to her.
• Il leur jette la balle. - 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] V: Jouer

The verb jouer is a regular -er verb meaning to play. It can be used to refer to both sports and instruments.

When referring to sports, use jouer à, but when referring to instruments, use jouer de...

As always, jouer must be conjugated rather than left in the infinitive.

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Play Jouer
jouer à...		jouer de...
au baseball	baseball	de la clarinette	clarinet
au basket	basketball	du piano	piano
au football	soccer; football	de la guitare	guitar
au football américain	American football	du violon	violin
au golf	golf	de la batterie	drums (singular in French)
au tennis	tennis
au volley	volleyball
aux cartes	cards
aux dames	checkers/ draughts
aux échecs	chess

[edit] Lesson 1.06 - The House

[edit] V: The House

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) The House La maison
General		Actions
la rue[14]	street	arriver (à la maison)	to arrive (home)
la (belle) vue	(beautiful) sight, view	rentrer (à la maison)	to go back home
(tout) près (de) (pas) (tout) loin (de)	(very) close (to) (not) (very) far (from)	quitter (la maison)[15] quitter (une salle)	to leave (home) to leave (a room)
chez [person]	at the house of [person] at [person]'s house	donner sur la rue donner sur la cour	to overlook the street to overlook the courtyard
Houses		habiter	to live (somewhere)
la maison la maisonnette le pavillon	house, home small house individual house	habiter en ville habiter en banlieue	to live downtown to live in the suburb
l'immeuble (m)	(apartment) building	Floors
l'appartement (m)	flat/apartment	l'étage (m)	level
le studio	studio	le rez-de-chaussée	lobby, ground floor
H.L.M. (Habitations à Loyer Modéré)	low income housing	le premier étage le deuxième étage le troisième étage	second floor third floor fourth floor
Cities and Neigbhorhoods
le quartier	neighborhood	le centre ville	downtown
l'arrondissement (m)	district	la ville	city
la banlieue	the suburb	le village	town
Rooms		Parts of a Room
la pièce la chambre	room	le plafond	ceiling
la salle de séjour	family room	le sol	ground
la cave	basement	la fenêtre	window
le grenier	attic	le mur	wall
la cuisine	kitchen	le toit	roof
la salle à manger	dining room	Entering and Exiting
la salle de bains	bathroom	l'escalier (m)	stairs
la chambre à coucher	bedroom	monter à pied	to walk up stairs
le garage	Garage	l'ascenseur (m)	elevator/lift
les toilettes (f) (no singular)	water-closet, restroom (only toliet, no bath)	monter en ascenseur prendre l'ascenseur	to go up by elevator to take the elevator
le bureau	office	monter à pied	to go up by foot
Outside a House		la porte	door
la voiture	car	l'entrée (f)	entry(way)
la terrasse	patio	Furniture
le balcon	balcony	le rideau	curtain
le jardin	garden	la chaise	chair
la fleur	flower	la table	table
l'arbre (m)	tree	l'armoire (f)	cupboard
la cour	courtyard	le lit	bed
le (la) voisin(e)	neighbor	le tapis	carpet
		le fauteuil	armchair

^  To express to live on ____ street, you say habiter rue ____

• J'habite Rue Lecourbe. - I live on Lecourbe Street.
• Il habite Rue de Rennes. - He lives on Rennes Street.

^  Quitter must be followed by a direct object, usually a room or building.. Partir is used in other phrases. You will learn how to conjugate these verbs in a future lesson.

[edit] G: Faire

The verb faire is translated to to do or to make. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -re verb).

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (432 kb • help) faire to do, to make
	Singular			Plural
first person	je fais	jeuh fay	I do	nous faisons	noo fezohn	we do
second person	tu fais	too fay	you do	vous faites	voo feht	you do
third person	il fait	eel fay	he does	ils font	eel fohnt	they do (masc. or mixed)
	elle fait	ell fay	she does
	on fait	oh fay	one does	elles font	ell fohnt	they do (fem.)

[edit] Uses For Faire

• sports (in French you do sports rather than play them)
• weather
• tasks
• le faire causatif
  • faire (conjugated) + infinitive - to have something done for oneself
  • Je fais réparer le fourneau. - I make/have the stove repaired.

[edit] Related Words

• défaire - to demolish
• malfaire - to do badly
• refaire - to remake

[edit] Expressions with Faire

• faire attention - to pay attention
• faire connaissance - to get acquainted
• faire la morale - to scold
• faire la queue - to wait in line
• s'en faire - to worry

[edit] V: Housework

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •524 kb • help) Housework Le ménage
faire la cuisine	to do the cooking
faire la lessive/le linge	to do the laundry
faire le jardin	to do the gardening
faire le lit	to make the bed
faire le ménage	to do the housework
faire la vaisselle	to do the dishes
faire les carreaux	to do the windows
faire les courses	to do the shopping/errands
faire le repassage	to do the ironing

[edit] G: me, te, nous, and vous

• Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

[edit] Meanings

• me - me, to me
• te - you, to you (singular, informal)
• nous - us, to us
• vous - you, to you (plural, formal)

[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 me l'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] Exercises

Try to describe your house or bedrooom using the vocabulary. Don't forget prepositions.

You may also wish to talk about what housework you do.

[edit] Chez moi

J'habite une villa à Mornant, à coté de^[16] Lyon en France. Ma maison a deux chambres : la première pour moi et ma femme avec un grand lit. La deuxième est plus petite : c'est la chambre de mon fils. Nous avons aussi un bureau avec trois ordinateurs^[17] : un par personne ! La salle de séjour est très grande et à coté, il y a un petit salon. Nous aimons regarder^[18] la télévision allongés dans le fauteuil. La cuisine est toute petite et nous y^[19] mangeons^[20] le soir. Il y a une petite table et quatre chaises. La maison est de plein pied et ne comporte pas d'étage. Le jardin est assez grand et nous y faisons pousser des fleurs.

^  à coté de - at the side of, next to	^  l'ordinateur (m) - computer	^  aimer regarder - to like to watch
^  y (ee) - there	^  manger - to eat

[edit] Lesson 1.07 - Weather

[edit] G: Standard Negation

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.

[edit] Formation and Rules

• 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 have not 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 le vole pas. - I am not stealing it.

[edit] Examples

French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •262 kb • help) Negation Formation Examples Exemples de formation de négation
Il est avocat. Il n'est pas avocat.	He is [a] lawyer. He is not [a] lawyer.
Nous faisons nos devoirs. Nous ne faisons pas nos devoirs.	We are doing our homework. We are not doing our homework.
Je joue du piano. Je ne joue pas du piano.	I play the piano. I do not play the piano.
Vous vendez votre voiture. Vous ne vendez pas votre voiture.	You sell your car. You do not sell your car.

[edit] Negation of Indefinite Articles

The indefinite articles un, une, and des change to de (or d’) when negating a sentence.

• J'ai un livre. - I have a book.
• Je n'ai pas de livre. - I don't have any book.
• J'ai des livres. - I have some books.
• Je n'ai pas de livres. - I don't have any books.

[edit] Examples

Il est belge.. Il n'est pas belge.	He is Belgian. He is not Belgian.
Nous lisons un livre. Nous ne lisons pas de livre.	We read a book. We do not read a book.
Je mange une cerise. Je ne mange pas de cerise.	I eat a cherry. I do not eat a cherry.

[edit] G: Contractions

Contractions have been discussed previously in the form of elision. They are a combination of two or more consecutive words that have been integrated into the language, for example, aujourd'hui.

A common contraction occurrs with the words à (at) and de (from), when combined with the definite pronouns le and les. The definate pronoun la remains in full form.

• à + le = au
• à + les = aux
• de + le = du
• de + les = des

The contractions do not occurr with the la, or with any contracted pronoun:

• à + la = à la
• à + l' = à l'
• de + la = de la
• de + l' = d'

[edit] V: Weather - Le temps

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Weather Le temps[21]
General		Cloudy Weather
le soleil	sun	le nuage Il y a des nuages.	cloud It's cloudy. lit: There are some clouds.
le ciel	sky	nuageux(-euse)	cloudy
		couvert(e)(s)	overcast, lit: covered
Warm Weather		l'éclaircie (f)	clearing, break (in clouds)
Il fait beau	It's nice.	Cold and Windy Weather
Il fait chaud.	It's warm.	Il fait froid.	It's cold.
Le ciel est dégagé. Le ciel se dégage.	The sky is clear. lit: The sky is freed. The sky is clearing up.	le vent Il fait du vent. Le vent souffle.	wind It's windy. The wind blows.
Le soleil brille.	The sun is shining.	la rafale	gust of wind
Rainy Weather		Snowy Weather
la brume	fog, haze, mist	l'hiver (m)	winter
le brouillard	fog	la neige Il neige.	snow It's snowing.
la bruine	drizzle	la grêle Il tombe de la grêle.	hail It's hailing. lit: It falls of the hail.
une goutte de pluie	a drop of rain	Extreme weather
la pluie La pluie tombe.	rain The rain falls.	un orage orageux(-euse) Il y a un orage!	a storm stormy There's a storm!
Il pleut. il a plu. Il va pleuvoir.	It's raining. It rained. It's going to rain.	l'éclair (m) la foudre	flash (of lightning) lightning
pluvieux(-euse) Le temps est pluvieux.	rainy It's raining. lit: The weather is rainy.	la tempête	storm, tempest
de gros nuages noirs.	large black clouds	agité(e)(s)	stormy, agitated
l'averse (f)	downpour	le tonnerre	thunder

^  Le temps means both the weather and the time.

[edit] G: Aller

The verb aller is translated to to go. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -er verb).

[edit] Formation

In the present indicative, aller is conjugated as follows:

French Verb • Print version • audio (info •327 kb • help) aller to go
	Singular			Plural
first person	je vais	jeuh vay	I go	nouszallons	nouzah lohn	we go
second person	tu vas	too vah	you go	vouszallez	vouzah lay	you go
third person	il va	eel vah	he goes	ils vont	eel vohn	they go (masc. or mized)
	elle va	ell vah	she goes
	on va	ohn vah	one goes	elles vont	ell vohn	they go (fem.)

[edit] 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.

Aller must be used with a place and cannot stand alone.

The preposition à, meaning in, at, or to, is used, followed by the place.

• Tu vas a l'école? - You're going to school.

Remember that à le contracts to au and à les contracts to aux.

• Je vais au stade. - I'm going to the stadium.

Instead of a preposition and place, you can use the pronoun y, meaning there. Y comes before the verb. 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.

• J'y vais. - I'm going there.
• Tu y vas. - You're going there.
• Nous y allons. - We're going there.

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.

[edit] Futur Proche

The structure aller + infinitive 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.

Remember that the negative goes around the conjugated verb.

• Il ne va pas pleuvoir demain. - It's not going to rain tomorrow.

[edit] Idioms

• Allons-y - ahlonzee - Let's go! (impératif)
• Ça va? - How are you? (lit: It goes?)
• On y va! - Let's get going!
• On y va? - Should we go?

[edit] Liaison

Usually, whenever a vowel sound comes after ...ons or ...ez, the usually unpronounced s and z change to a sharp z sound and link to the next syllable. (This process is called liaison.) However, since allons and allez begins with vowels, nous allons is pronounced nyoozahloh and vous allez is pronounced voozahlay. In order to have a pleasing and clean sound, two liaisons should not go consecutively. There is therefore no liaison in allons à when it comes right after nous and allez à when it comes after vous.

• In the phrase Vous allez à l'école?, vous allez à is pronounced vouzahlay ah.
• In the phrase vous et Marie allez à l'école?", allez à is pronounced ahlayzah.

[edit] Lesson 1.08 - Travel

[edit] G: Regular -ir Verbs

The second category of regular French verbs is -ir verbs. To conjugate, drop the -ir to find the "stem" or "root". Add endings to the root based on the subject and tense.

finir - to finish

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) -ir Verb Formation Formation des verbes en -ir
pronoun	ending	verb
je	-is	finis
tu	-is	finis
il/elle	-it	finit
nous	-issons	finissons
vous	-issez	finissez
ils/elles	-issent	finissent

[edit] G: Possessive Adjectives

[edit] Formation

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Possessive Adjectives Les adjectifs possessifs
	First Person		Second Person		Third Person
Singular	mon, ma, mes	my	ton, ta, tes	your	son, sa, ses	his, her
Plural	notre, notre, nos	our	votre, votre, vos	your	leur, leur, leurs	their

[edit] Usage

As you can probably tell from their name, possessive adjective are used to express possession of an object.

• C'est mon livre. - It's my book.

In English the possessive adjective agrees with the subject (his sister, her brother). But in French, possessive adjectives act like all other adjectives: they must agree with the noun they modify.

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Possesive Adjective Usage Utilisation des adjectifs possessifs
Masculine Noun le livre		Feminine Noun la voiture
le livre de Marc the book of Marc	son livre his book	la voiture de Marc the car of Marc	sa voiture his car
les livres de Marc the books of Marc	ses livres his books	les voitures de Marc the cars of Marc	ses voitures his cars
le livre de Marie the book of Marie	son livre her book	la voiture de Marie the car of Marie	sa voiture her car
les livres de Marie the books of Marie	ses livres her books	les voitures de Marie the cars of Marie	ses voitures her cars

Whether the third person singular possessive adjectives son, sa and ses are his or her is indicated by context.

• Elle lit son livre. - She reads her book.

[edit] Liaison and Adjective Changes

Liaison occurs when mon, ton, and son are followed by a vowel.

• Il est mon_nami. - He is my friend.
• Il est ton_nami. - He is your friend.
• Il est son_nami. - He is his/her friend.

Liaison also occurs with all plural forms, since they all end in s.

• Ils sont mes_zamis. - They are my friends.
• Ils sont nos_zamis. - They are our friends.

Mon, ton, and son are used before a feminine singular noun that starts with a vowel or silent h. Elision (to m', t', or s') does not occur.

• Elle est mon_namie. - She is my friend.

[edit] V: Travel

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Travel Voyage
General		Vehicles
l'aéroport (m)	Airport	l'auto (f)	car
le billet	ticket (for train, airplane)	l'avion (m)	Airplane
la poste	post office	l'autobus (m)	bus
la station	station	le bateau	Boat
le métro	subway, underground	le train	train
les bagages	baggage	le taxi	taxi
le ticket	ticket (for bus, métro)	la voiture	car
la valise	suitcase

[edit] Lesson 1.09 - Art

[edit] G: Regular -re Verbs

The third category of regular verbs is made up of -re' verbs. To conjugate, drop the -re to find the "stem" or "root". Add endings to the root based on the subject and tense, as demonstrated below for the present tense.

[edit] Formation

attendre – to wait

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) -re Verb Formation Formation des verbes en -re
pronoun	ending	verb
je (j')	-s	attends
tu	-s	attends
il/elle	-	attend
nous	-ons	attendons
vous	-ez	attendez
ils/elles	-ent	attendent

[edit] Vendre

The verb vendre is a regular -re verb:

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) vendre to sell
	Singular			Plural
first person	je vends	jeuh vahn	I sell	nous vendons	noo vahn dohn	we sell
second person	tu vends	too vahn	you sell	vous vendez	voo vahn day'	you sell
third person	il vend	eel vahn	he sells	ils vendent	eel vahnde	they sell (masc. or mixed)
	elle vend	ell vahn	she sells
	on vend	oh vahn	one sells	elles vendent	ell vahnde	they sell (fem.)

[edit] Common -re Verbs

Compared to -er verbs, -re verbs are not very common. You will however see the following verbs fairly often:

• prendre - to get, to take
  • Irregular conjugation: je prends, tu prends, il/elle/on prend, nous prenons, vous prenez, ils/elles prennent
• mettre - to put, to place
  • Irregular conjugation: je mets, tu mets, il/elle/on met, nous mettons, vous mettez, ils/elles mettent
• connaître - to know (Note: "savoir" may also mean to know)
  • Irregular conjugation: je connais, tu connais, il/elle/on connaît, nous connaissons, vous connaissez, ils/elles connaissent

[edit] V: Music

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •287 kb • help) Music La musique
écouter de la musique	to listen to music
des paroles	lyrics (la parole = word)
Composing
le musicien	musician
le compositeur	composer
l’auteur (des paroles)	(lyrics) writer
Instruments
l'instrument (m)	instrument
la clarinette	clarinet
le violon	violin
la harpe	harp
la guitare	guitar
le piano	piano

[edit] V: French Museums

This section is a stub. You can help Wikibooks by expanding it.

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Museums Les musées
la portraitiste	portraitist

The Louvre

[edit] G: Beau, Nouveau, and Vieux

[edit] Formation

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) The Adjectives Beautiful, New, and Old Beau, Nouveau, and Vieux
		Masc. Consonant	Masc. Vowel	Fem. Sing. (all)
Beau	Singular	un beau garçon	un bel individu	une belle fillette
	Plural	de beaux garçons	de beauxzindividus	de belles fillettes
Nouveau	Singular	un nouveau camion	un nouvel ordre	une nouvelle idée
	Plural	de nouveaux camions	de nouveauxzordres	de nouvelles idées
Vieux	Singular	un vieux camion	un vieil ordre	une vieille idée
	Plural	de vieux camions	de vieuxzordres	de vieilles idées

[edit] Sentences Placement

As you have already learned, most adjectives come after the noun they modify in French.

• un homme intelligent - an intelligent man
• des hommes intelligents - intelligent men

However, some common French adjectives, including beau, nouveau, and vieux come before the noun.

• une jolie voiture - a pretty car

Des is replaced with de when an adjective comes before the noun.

• de jolies voitures - pretty cars

Note that in informal speech, des is very often used in place of de.

[edit] V: Plays

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Plays Les pièces
At the Theater		Play Genres
le théâtre	theater	le ballet	ballet
la pièce (de théâtre)	(theatrical) play lit: (theatrical) piece	la comédie	comedy
l'acte (f) la scène l'entracte (m)	act scene intermission	la comédie musicale	musical comedy
chanter le (la) chanteur (-euse)	to sing singer	le drame	drama
danser le (la) danseur (-euse)	to dance dancer	la tragédie	tragedy

[edit] V: French Artists and Entertainers

• Charles Aznavour
• Gilbert Becaud
• Jacques Brel
• Robert Charlebois
• Joe Dassin
• Raymond Devos
• Celine Dion
• Garou
• Juliette Greco
• Edith Piaf

[edit] Lesson 1.10 - Science

[edit] G: Prendre

Prendre is an irregular -re verb, and is conjugated differently.

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) prendre to take
	Singular			Plural
first person	je prends	jeuh prahn	I take	nous prenons	noo prenn ohn	we take
second person	tu prends	too prahn	you take	vous prenez	voo prennay	you take
third person	il prend	eel prahnn	he takes	ils prennent	eel prehn	they take (masc. or mixed)
	elle prend	ell prahnn	she takes
	on prend	oh prahnn	one takes	elles prennent	ell prehn	they take (fem.)

[edit] Related Words

• prendre - to take
• apprendre - to learn
• comprendre - to comprehend/understand
• se méprendre - to be mistaken
• surprendre - to surprise

[edit] Idioms and Related Expressions

• prendre - to take, to have something to eat
• prendre conscience (de) - to become aware (of)
• prendre la correspondance - to change trains
• prendre une décision - to make a decision
• prendre des kilos - to gain weight
• prendre part (à) - to take part (in)
• prendre la parole - to start talking
• prendre le pas sur - to surpass
• prendre le petit déjeuner - to eat breakfast
• prendre rendez-vous - to make an appointment
• prendre le métro - to get the subway
• prendre un café - to have a coffee

[edit] V: The Sciences - Les Sciences

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) The Sciences and Scientists Les sciences et les savants
General		Biology - La biologie
le savant scientist	une personne qui expérimente a person who experiments	la bio(logie) biology	l’étude des organismes vivants the study of living organisms
observer analyser	to observe to analyse	la botanique botany	l’étude des plantes the study of plants
Physics - La physique		l’anatomie (f) anatomy	l’étude du corps humain the study of the human body
la physique physics	l’étude de la matière et de l’énergie the study of matter and energy	la zoologie zoology	l’étude des animaux the study of animals
le physicien	physicist	le biologiste	biologist
Chemistry - La chimie		la cellule	a cell
la chimie chemistry	l’étude des éléments the study of elements	des microbes des bactéries des virus	germs bacteria virus
le chimiste	chemist	le microscope	microscope

[edit] V: Elements - Les éléments

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Elements Les éléments
l'argent (m)	silver	Also: money
l'azote (m)	nitrogen
le chrome	chromium	/krom/
le cuivre	copper	Also a conjugation of cuivrer
le fer	iron
l'hydrogène (m)	hydrogen	Also a conjugation of hydrogéner.
le manganèse	manganese
l'or (m)	gold	Also a conjunction meaning yet, however.
l'oxygène (m)	oxygen
le soufre	sulphur	/sufr/ (audio)
le xénon	xenon
le zinc	zinc	/zɛ̃ɡ/, /zE~g/ Also: (informal) counter Also: (in a bar, café, etc), bar

For a complete listing of the elements, see Tableau périodique des éléments.

[edit] V: Astronomy

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Astronomy L'astronomie
The Planets
Mercure	Mercury
Vénus	Venus
La (planete) terre	Earth
Mars	Mars
Jupiter	Jupiter
Saturne	Saturn
Uranus	Uranus
Neptune	Neptune
Pluton	Pluto
Other Obejcts
Le soleil	sun
La lune	moon

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[edit] LEVEL TWO

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[edit] Level Two Lessons Contents

• Lesson 2.01 - School
• Lesson 2.02 - Culture
• Lesson 2.03 - Shopping
• Lesson 2.04 - Going Out
• Lesson 2.05 - Transportation
• Lesson 2.06 - Everyday Life
• Lesson 2.07 - Rural Life
• Lesson 2.08 - Food and Drink
• Lesson 2.09 - Dining
• Lesson 2.10 - Communication

[edit] Information

Now that you know how to compose French sentences in the present indicative, you can continue on to Wikibook's second French course. Inside, you will learn the passé composé, the most common French past tense, and review the grammar you have already learned. The grammar now becomes a lot more advanced, and each lesson now gives much more information. After you have completed this level, you can move on to the next level. Also remember to go to the lessons planning page if you would like to help improve this course.

[edit] Toujours Là? - Slightly More Advanced French

01	Leçon 01 : L'école	G: Passé Composé of Regular Verbs, Lire, Écrire V: School, School Subjects
	Lesson 01 : School
02	Leçon 02 : La culture	G: Regular Verbs Review, Croire & Voir V: Life, Religions, Holidays, Celebrations (Birthdays, Christmas, Bastille Day)
	Lesson 02 : Culture
03	Leçon 03 : Faire des courses	G: exer Verbs (Acheter), -yer Verbs (Payer), Object Pronoun Review, Irregular Past Participles (so far) V: Shopping, Clothing, Shoes
	Lesson 03 : Shopping
04	Leçon 04 : Sortir	G: Sortir & Partir, -enir Verbs (Venir), -éxer Verbs V: Leisure Activities, Directions, How to Get to Places, Places to go, Movies
	Lesson 04 : Going Out
05	Leçon 05 : Le transport	G: -uire Verbs (Conduire), -rir Verbs (Ouvrir), Y, Passé Composé with Être V: Local Travelling, Methods of transportation
	Lesson 05 : Transportation
06	Leçon 06 : Le quotidien	G: Devoir, Falloir, Reflexive Verbs V: Employment, Waking up, Preparing for work, Driving to Work, Sleep
	Lesson 06 : Everyday Life
07	Leçon 07 : La vie rurale	G: Suivre, Vivre, Naître, Passé Composé with Reflexive Verbs V: Pets, Farm Animals
	Lesson 07 : Rural Life
08	Leçon 08 : La nourriture	G: Manger, Boire, Partitive Article, En, Mettre V: Meat, Dairy Products, Drinks, Desserts
	Lesson 08 : Food and Drink
09	Leçon 09 : Dîner	G: -cer Verbs, Servir, Vouloir & Pouvoir V: Meals, Silverware, Dining at a Restaurant
	Lesson 09 : Dining
10	Leçon 10 : La communication	G: Dire, -aître Verbs, Connaître & Savoir, Envoyer, Recevoir V: Mail, Calling Others, Computers
	Lesson 10 : Communication

• Level Two Test and the Answers

[edit] Lesson 2.01 - School

[edit] G: Introduction to Perfect Tenses

The next section is optional. You will eventually learn everything that is covered in it, but if you would like a preview, read it, and if not, continue on to the school section.

[edit] G: Introduction to Moods and Tenses

Like the above section, this is also optional. You will eventually learn everything in here.

[edit] V: School

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) School L'école
General		Classes / Grades[22]
le professeur[23]	teacher	12th Grade	Classe Terminale
la bourse	scholarship	11th Grade	1ère (la première classe)
le diplôme (professionnel)	diploma	10th Grade	2ème (la deuxième classe)
le bac(calauréat)	high school exit exam	9th Grade	3ème (la troisième classe)
la bibliothèque	library	8th Grade	4ème (la quatrième classe)
les notes	grades (as on a test)	7th Grade	5ème (la cinquième classe)
les cours	classes or courses	6th Grade	6ème (la sixième classe)
la classe	grade (e.g. 6th Grade)	5th Grade	CM2 (CM = cours moyen)
en cours de [...]	in [...] class	4th Grade	CM1
Pendant les cours - During Classes		3rd Grade	CE2 (CE=cours élémentaire)
le tableau	chalkboard	2nd Grade	CE1
la craie	chalk	1st Grade	CP1 (CP = cours préparatoire)
le pupitre	desk	Verbs
l'examen (m)	test	passer un examen	to take a test
les devoirs	homework	étudier	to study
la classe	class	écrire[24]	to write
la cantine déjeuner	cafeteria to (eat) lunch	lever (la main)[25]	to raise (your hand)
la récré(ation) la cour	recess courtyard	poser (une question)	to ask (a question)
Schools and Students		parler	to speak
l'école (f)	school	écouter	to listen (to)[26]
l'étudiant l'étudiante	student (m) student (f)	entendre	to hear (of)[27]
le collège (classes 6-4)	jr. high school (grades 6-9)	regarder	to watch
le collégien	jr. high school student	déjeuner	to (have) lunch
le lycée (classes 3-terminale)	high school (grades 10-12)
le lycéen	high school student	Describing Teachers and Students
l'université (f) la fac(ulté)	university	intelligent(e)	intelligent
		nul(le)	not good, not bright
l'enseignement supérieur	higher education graduate school	strict(e)	strict
Des fournitures scolaires - School Supllies
la craie chalk cray le tableau the board tahbloh le stylo(-bille) pen steeloh (bee) le crayon pencil krayoh la calculatrice calculator le livre le bouquin book leevr le cahier notebook kie ay		le papier la feuille de papier paper sheet of paper pahpeeyay le bloc-notes (small) notepad block nut le classeur three-ring binder le sac à dos backpack sack ah doe la gomme eraser gum la règle ruler rehgluh le feutre marker feuhtr

^  The word professeur is considered masculine at all times, even if the teacher is female. The only case when "professeur" can be preceded by feminine determinant is either when contracting it in colloquial language "la prof", or when adding a few words before : "madame/mademoiselle la/le professeur".

^  The way that grades are numbered in France is opposite the way they are in the US. Whereas American grade numbers go up as you approach your senior year, they descend in France.

^  Écrire is an irregular verb. You will learn to conjugate it in the next section.

^  In French, you do not "own" body parts. While in English, you would say my hand or your hand, the definite article is almost always used in French.

• la main - my hand
• la jambe - my leg
• le bras - my arm

For example, you would say Je me suis cassé la main (I have broken my hand) and never Je me suis cassé ma main. But you must say "Ma main est cassée" (My hand is broken) and not "La main est cassée" (lit. The hand is broken) if you speak about your own hand.

^  To and of are built into the verbs écouter and entendre respectively. It is not necessary to add a preposition to the verb. Other verbs, such as répondre {à), meaning to respond (to), are almost always followed by a preposition.

[edit] G: Écrire & Lire

Écrire is an irregular french verb, meaning to write. It varies from other '-re' verbs in the plural conjugation, by adding a 'v'.

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) écrire to write
past participle: écrit
	Singular			Plural
first person	j' écris	jay cree	I write	nous écrivons	noozay creevohn	we write
second person	tu écris	tue aycree	you write	vous écrivez	voozay creevay	you write
third person	il écrit	eel aycree	he writes	ils écrivent	eel zaycreeve	they write (masc. or mixed)
	elle écrit	ell aycree	she writes
	on écrit	ohn aycree	one writes	elles écrivent	ell zaycreeve	they write (fem.)

Lire is an irregular french verb, meaning to read. It's plural conjugation adds an additional 's'.

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) lire to read
past participle: lu
	Singular			Plural
first person	je lis	jeuh lee	I read	nous lisons	noo leezonn	we read
second person	tu lis	tue lee	you read	vous lisez	voo leezay	you read
third person	il lit	eel lee	he reads	ils lisent	eel leez	they read (masc. or mixed)
	elle lit	ell lee	she reads
	on lit	ohn lee	one reads	elles lisent	ell leez	they read (fem.)

[edit] V: School Subjects

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) School Subjects Les matières d'enseignement
les langues	languages	les mathématiques les maths	mathematics
l'anglais	English	l'algèbre (f)	algebra
le français	French	le calcul	calculus
l'espagnol	Spanish	la géométrie	geometry
l'allemand	German	les sciences sociales	social sciences
le russe	Russian	l'économie	economics
l'italien	Italian	la géo(graphie)	geography
		l'histoire (f)	history
les sciences naturelles	natural sciences	d'autres matières	other subjects
la biologie la bio	biology	le dessin	drawing
la chimie	chemistry	l'informatique (f)	computer science
la technologie	engineering	la littérature	literature
la physique	physics	la musique	music

[edit] G: Passé Composé with Regular Verbs

Main article: French/Grammar/Tenses/Present perfect

The passé composé is a perfect tense, and is therefore composed of an auxiliary verb and a past participle. With most verbs, that auxiliary verb is avoir.

[edit] Meaning

In English, verbs conjugated in the passé composé literally mean have/has ____ed. While there is a simple past tense in French, it is almost only used in formal writing, so verbs conjugated in the passé composé can also be used to mean the English simple tense.

• For example, the passé composé form of parler (to speak), [avoir] parlé, literally mean has/have spoken, but also means spoke.

[edit] Basic Formation

To conjugate a verb in the passé composé, the helping verb, usually avoir, is conjugated in the present indicative and the past participle is then added.

[edit] Auxiliary Verb - Avoir

Conjugate avoir in the present indicative.

j'ai	I have	nous avons	we have
tu as	you have	vous avez	you have
il a	he has	ils ont	they have

[edit] Past Participle

• -er verbs - replace -er with é
• -ir verbs - replace -ir with i
• -re verbs - replace -re with u
• irregular verbs - varies, must be memorized.

Formation of the Past Participle
Verb Group	Infinitive	Stem	Past Participle
-er verbs	jouer	jou	joué
-ir verbs	finir	fin	fini
-re verbs	répondre	répond	répondu

[edit] Avoir + Past Participle

J'ai joué.	I have played	Nous avons joué.	We have played.
Tu as joué.	You have played.	Vous avez joué.	You have played.
Il a joué.	He has played.	Ils ont joué.	They have played.

[edit] Lesson 2.02 - Culture

This lesson is on the culture of France. The culture of France is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the influence of recent immigration. Also, try and reflect on how your culture is similar and different to French culture.

Wikipedia has related information at Culture of France

[edit] G: General Verbs Review

Most verbs in French are regular -er verbs. Others are regular -ir or -re verbs or are simply irregular.

[edit] Formation

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Regular Verbs Les verbes réguliers
	-er Verbs		-ir Verbs		-re Verbs
Stem:	parl...		fin...		vend...
Subject	Ending	Example	Ending	Verb	Ending	Example
Je	-e	parle	-is	finis	-s	vends
Tu	-es	parles	-is	finis	-s	vends
Il	-e	parle	-it	finit	-	vend
Nous	-ons	parlons	-issons	finissons	-ons	vendons
Vous	-ez	parlez	-issez	finissez	-ez	vendez
Ils	-e	parlent	-issent	finissent	-ent	vendent

[edit] Irregular Verbs Ending in -er

• aller

[edit] Common -ir Verbs

• Finir

[edit] Irregular Verbs Ending in -ir

acquérir | avoir | s'asseoir | devoir | dormir | falloir | ouvrir | partir | pleuvoir | pouvoir | recevoir | savoir | servir | venir | voir | vouloir

[edit] Common -re Verbs

• attendre - to wait (for)
• répondre - to answer

[edit] Irregular Verbs Ending in -re

boire | conduire | connaître | croire | dire | écrire | être | faire | lire | mettre | prendre | rire | suivre | vivre

[edit] G: Croire & Voir

Croire is an irregularly conjugated -re verb.

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) croire to believe (past participle - cru)
	Singular			Plural
first person	je crois	jeuh crah	I believe	nous croyons	noo croy oh	we believe
second person	tu crois	too crah	you believe	vous croyez	voo croy ay	you believe
third person	il croit	eel crah	he believes	ils croient	eel crah	they believe (masc. or mixed)
	elle croit	ell crah	she believes
	on croit	oh crah	one believes	elles croient	ell crah	they believe (fem.)

Voir is an irregularly conjugated -re verb.

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) voir to see (past participle - vu)
	Singular			Plural
first person	je vois	jeuh vwah	I see	nous voyons	noo vwahyoh	we see
second person	tu vois	too vwah	you see	vous voyez	voo vwah ay	you see
third person	il voit	eel vwah	he sees	ils voient	eel vwah	they see (masc. or mixed)
	elle voit	ell vwah	she sees
	on voit	oh vwah	one sees	elles voient	ell vwah	they see (fem.)

[edit] V: Religion

la religion	religion
le Christianisme	Christianity
l'Islam	Islam
le Judaïsme	Judaism
le Chrétien/la Chrétienne	Christian
le Musulman/la Musulmane	Muslim
le Juif/la Juive	Jew
l'athée (m.)	atheist
Le Père noël	Santa Claus
le 14 juillet	Bastille Day

[edit] V: Birthday

Birthdays
l'anniversaire (m)	birthday
Tu as quel âge?	How old are you?
J'ai ____ ans.	I am ____ years old. [lit: I have ___ years.]
le gâteau	cake
le cadeau	gift
la bougie	candle
la fête	party
inviter	to invite
donner une fête	to throw a party

[edit] V: Marriage

Marriage
Le mari	Husband
La femme	Wife

[edit] V: Holidays

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Holidays Les jours fériés
New Year's Day	le Nouvel An	1 janvier
Labor Day	La Fête du Travail
Memorial Day ; Armistice Day	jour de l'Armistice
Independance Day	la Fête Nationale	4 juillet
Christmas Eve	le Réveillon	24 décembre
Christmas ; Yule	Noël	25 décembre

[edit] V: Bastille Day and Parades

[edit] V: Islamic Holidays

[edit] Lesson 2.03 - Shopping

[edit] V: Shopping

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Shopping Les achats
To Go Shopping		Buying Goods
faire des courses faire du shopping	to go shopping	le(la) vendeur(euse) le(la) cassier(-ière)	salesperson cashier
faire le marché	to go grocery shopping	(plus/moins) cher(ère)	(more/less) expensive
faire du lèche-vitrine	to go window shopping	la vitrine	display window
porter	to wear, to carry	en solde	on sale
demander	to ask (for)	le prix	price
demander le prix - to ask for the price
payer payer à la caisse	to pay to pay at the counter	la caisse	cash register checkout counter
vendre	to sell	coûter	to cost
acheter	to buy	C’est combien? Ça coûte combien?	How much is it? [lit: It's how much?] [lit:It costs how much?]
		Combien coûte [nom]?	How much does [noun] cost? [lit: How much costs [noun]?]
General Goods Stores		Foods Stores
le magasin	shop; store	le supermarché	supermarket
le centre commercial	mall; shopping centre	l'hypermarché (m)	hypermarket; big supermarket
le grand magasin	department store	la boucherie	butcher shop 1
le rayon	department	la boulangerie	bakery 2
la boutique	small store	le dépôt de pain	a place that sells bread 2
la pharmacie	pharmacy; chemist	la charcuterie	delicatessen 3
le marché	outdoor market	la crémerie	dairy store
		la pâtisserie	pastry shop; pâtisserie
		la poissonnerie	seafood store; fishmonger
		l'épicerie (f)	grocery 4

1. French butchers do not sell pork, pork products, nor horsemeat. For these products, go to a charcuterie. However, a lot of boucheries are also charcuteries, and are called boucherie-charcuterie
2. In France, bakeries only sell fresh bread; e.g. the bread is baked on site. Places where they sell bread that is not fresh are called dépôt de pain.
3. 'Charcuteries' sell things besides pork products, including pâté, salami, cold meats, salads, quiches and pizzas.
4. An alternative to an 'épicerie' is an alimentation générale (a general foodstore).

[edit] G: Object Pronouns Review

[edit] Direct Objects

While the subject of a sentence initiates an action (the verb), the direct object is the one that is affected by the action. A direct object pronoun is used to refer to the direct object of a previous sentence:

Pierre voit le cambrioleur.	Pierre sees the burglar.
Pierre le voit.	Pierre sees him.

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:

French	me, m'	te, t'	le, l'	la, l'	nous	vous	les
English	me1	you1	him, it	her, it	us1	you1	them

Notes:

• ¹ me, te, nous, and vous are also used as indirect objects to mean to me, to you, to us, and to you respectively.
• The pronoun form with an apostrophe is used before a vowel.
• The direct object pronoun for nous and vous is the same as the subject.
• When the direct object comes before a verb in a perfect tense, a tense that uses a past participle, the direct object must agree in gender and plurality with the past participle. For example, in the phrase Je les ai eus, or I had them, the past participle would be spelled eus if the direct object, les, was referring to a masculine object, and eues if les is referring to a feminine object.

[edit] Indirect Objects

An indirect object is an object that would be asked for with To whom...? or From whom...?. It is called indirect because it occurs usually together with a direct object which is affected directly by the action:

Il donne du pain à Pierre.	He gives some bread to Pierre.
Il lui donne du pain.	He gives bread to him.

The following table shows the various types of indirect object pronouns:

French	me, m'	te, t'	lui	nous	vous	leur
English	to me1	to you1	to him, to her	to us1	to you1	to them

Notes:

• ¹ me, te, nous, and vous are also used as direct objects to mean me, you, us, and you respectively.
• The pronoun form with an apostrophe is used before a vowel.
• The indirect object pronoun for nous and vous is the same as the subject.
• The indirect object pronouns do not agree with the past participle like the direct object pronouns do. When me, te, nous, and vous are used in a perfect tense, the writer must decide whether they are used as direct or indirect object pronouns. This is done by looking at the verb and seeing what type of action is being performed.

The bread is given by the man (direct). Pierre gets the given bread (indirect).

[edit] G: -exer Verbs

-exer are regular -er verbs, but also are stem changing. The stem change applies to all forms except nous and vous. The stem change involves adding a grave accent ( ` ) over the e in the stem.

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) acheter to buy (past participle - acheté)
	Singular			Plural
first person	j'achète	jzah shet	I buy	nouszachetons	noozashtoh	we buy
second person	tu achètes	too ahshet	you buy	vouszachetez	voozahshtay	you buy
third person	il achète	eel ahshet	he buys	ilszachètent	eelzahshet	they buy (masc. or mixed)
	elle achète	ell ahshet	she buys
	onnachète	ohnahshet	one buys	elleszachètent	ellzahshet	they buy (fem.)

[edit] Other -exer Verbs

• peser - to weigh
• mener - to carry out
• emmener - to take along
• amener - to bring
• surmener - to overwork
• lever - to raise
• soulever - to raise

[edit] V: Clothing

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Clothing Habillement
les vêtements habillés - dress clothes		les vêtements sport - casual clothes		les chaussures - shoes
la chemise	button down shirt	la casquette	cap	les chaussures	shoes
la cravate	tie	le tee-shirt	t-shirt	la paire de chaussures	pair of shoes
le pantalon	pants	le polo	polo shirt	les baskets	basketball shoes trainers
le complet le costume	suit	le pull(over)	a sweater	les tennis	tennis shoes
le manteau	coat	le sweat-shirt	sweatshirt	les sandales	sandals
le tailleur	women's suit	le blouson la veste	jacket
la robe	dress	le jean	jeans
le chemisier	blouse	les chaussettes / les bas	socks
la jupe	skirt

[edit] G: -yer verbs

-yer verbs are irregular -er verbs. When y is part of the last syllable, it changes to i in order to keep the ay sound. In the present indicative of -yer verbs, this affects all forms except nous and vous.

[edit] Payer

The verb payer translates to to pay.

[edit] Formation

In the present indicative, payer (and all other -yer verbs) is conjuagted as follows:

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) payer to pay (past participle - payé)
	Singular			Plural
first person	je paie	jeuh pay	I pay	nous payons	noo pay oh	we pay
second person	tu paies	too pay	you pay	vous payez	voo pay yay	you pay
third person	il paie	eel pay	he pays	ils paient ou payent	eel	they pay (masc. or mixed)
	elle paie	ell pay	she pays
	on paie	oh pay	one pays	elles paient ou payent	ell	they pay (fem.)

[edit] Other -yer Verbs

• appuyer - to support
• employer - to employ
• essayer - to try
• essuyer - to wipe
• nettoyer - to clean
• tutoyer - to address as tu, to call someone informally

[edit] G: Irregular Past Participles

Many of the verbs you have learned so far have irregular past participles.

• avoir - eu
• croire - cru
• être - été
• faire - fait
• voir - vu

[edit] V: Practise Conversations

Let's practise some of these words and verbs in some everyday shopping talk:

1. À la boulangerie (At the bakery)

Bernard (le boulanger) : Bonjour madame

Camille (la cliente) : Bonjour monsieur

Bernard : Que voulez-vous ?

Camille : Je voudrais acheter une baguette, s'il vous plaît

Bernard : Ce sera tout ?

Camille : Non, je voudrais deux croissants aussi

Bernard : Très bien - ça fait deux euros, s'il vous plaît

Camille : Merci beaucoup

Useful vocabulary:

"Que voulez-vous ?" or "Que désirez-vous ?" - What would you like?

"Je voudrais..." - I would like...

"Ce sera tout ?" - Is that all?

"Ça fait deux euros" - That will be two euros

acheter (to buy).

2. Au marché (At the market)

Marie (la marchande) : Bonjour monsieur

Clément (le client) : Bonjour madame

Clément : Qu'est-ce que vous avez à vendre ?

Marie : J'ai un grand choix de fruits et légumes

Clément : Très bien. Est-ce que vous avez des cerises ?

Marie : Oui... elles coûtent deux euros le kilo

Clément : Bon, je voudrais trois kilos, s'il vous plaît

Marie : Très bien, monsieur. Alors, pour trois kilos il faut payer six euros, s'il vous plaît.

Useful vocabulary:

"Qu'est-ce que vous avez... ?" - What do you have?

"Un grand choix" - A large range

"Des cerises" - Some cherries

"Elles coûtent deux euros le kilo" - They (feminine) cost two euros per kilo

"Il faut" - One must/You need to

vendre (to sell) and payer (to pay).

[edit] Lesson 2.04 - Going Out

[edit] G: À and De

The preposition à can indicate a destination, a location, a characteristic, measurement, a point in time, purpose, and several other things which will be covered later.

When le follows à, the à and le combine into au. Similarly, à and les combine into aux.

The preposition de can indicate an origin, contents, possession, cause, manner, and several other things which will be covered later.

When le follows de, the de and le combine into du. Similarly, de and les combine into des.

[edit] V: Leisure Activites

Les loisirs refers to leisure activities.

le cinéma	cinema
la musique	music
le baladeur	walkman
une sortie	going out
un spectacle	a show
le théâtre	the theater
le repos	rest
le vacancier	a vacationer
la danse	dance
allumer/éteindre	to turn on/turn off
la télévision	television
le(la) téléspectateur(trice)	television viewer
le sport	sport

[edit] G: Partir & Sortir

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) partir to leave (past participle - parti(e)(s))
	Singular			Plural
first person	je pars	jeuh pahr	I leave	nous partons	noo partoh	we leave
second person	tu pars	too pahr	you leave	vous partez	voo pahrtay	you leave
third person	il part	eel pahr	he leaves	ils partent	eel part	they leave (masc. or mixed)
	elle part	ell pahr	she leaves
	on part	oh pahr	one leaves	elles partent	ell part	they leave (fem.)

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) sortir to go out, to take out (past participle - sorti(e)(s))
	Singular			Plural
first person	je sors	jeuh sore	I go out	nous sortons	noo sortoh	we go out
second person	tu sors	too sore	you go out	vous sortez	voo sortay	you go out
third person	il sort	eel sore	he goes out	ils sortent	eel sort	they go out (masc. or mixed)
	elle sort	ell sore	she goes out
	on sort	oh sore	one goes out	elles sortent	ell sort	they go out (fem.)

Some other verbs use sortir and partir as stems.

• repartir - to set out again
• répartir - to distribute

[edit] V: Movies

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Movies Les films
General
le film (domestique) (en vidéo) le film (étranger) (en DVD)	(domestic) movie (on video) (foreign) movie (on DVD)	V.O. (Version originale) les sous-titres	unaltered sub-titles
l'acteur (m) l'actrice (f)	actor actress	la vidéo le DVD	video DVD
louer	to rent
The Movie Theater		Film Genres
le cinéma	the (movie) theater	le dessin animé	cartoon
la salle du cinéma	theater showing room lit: room of the the theater	le documentaire	documentary
la séance	showing	le film d’amour	love story
le guichet	ticket window	le film d’aventures	adventure movie
la place le fauteuil	seat/place to sit chair1	le film d’horreur	horror film
coûter	to cost	le film policier	police film
jouer	to play	le film de science-fiction	sci-fi film

• ¹Un fauteuil is the physical chair that one sits on. One would normally use "une place" whenever "a seat" is used in English.
  • Prenez place ! - Take a seat! (very common expression. No article before place, you should not say Prenez la place)

Les films sont fascinants! Allez-vous au cinéma? Pourquoi? Vous aimez les films? Pour demander quels films jouent au cinéma, on dit Qu’est-ce qui joue au cinéma? . On achète les places au guichet, où l'employé(e) les vend. On entre dans la salle du cinéma pour regarder un film. Quel est votre genre de film préféré? Louez-vous des vidéos? des DVDs?.

[edit] G: -enir verbs

• -enir verbs are irregularly conjugated (they do not count as regular -ir verbs).

[edit] Venir

• The most common -enir verb is venir.
• The verb venir is translated to to come.
• When it means to come from, venir is used with the preposition de.
  • Nous venons du stade.
• You can also use venir with a verb to state that you have recently accomplished an action. **Je viens de finir mes devoirs (I've just finished my homework).

[edit] Formation

In the present indicative, venir (and all other -enir verbs) are conjuagted as follows:

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) venir to come (past participle - venu(e)(s))
	Singular			Plural
first person	je viens	jeuh vee ehn	I come	nous venons	noo venn oh	we come
second person	tu viens	too vee ehn	you come	vous venez	voo vennay	you come
third person	il vient	eel vee ehn	he comes	ils viennent	eel vee ehn	they come (masc. or mixed)
	elle vient	ell vee ehn	she comes
	on vient	oh vee ehn	one comes	elles viennent	ell vee ehn	they come (fem.)

[edit] Other -enir Verbs

• revenir - to come back, to return
• devenir - to become

• appartenir - to belong
• contenir - to contain
• détenir - to keep, to detain
• retenir - to retain
• se souvenir - to remember
• soutenir - to support
• tenir - to hold

[edit] -éxer Verbs

-éxer verbs are regular -er verbs, but are also stem changing.

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) suggérer to suggest (past participle - suggéré)
	Singular			Plural
first person	je suggère	jeuh soo zjair	I suggest	nous suggérons	noo soo zjairoh	we suggest
second person	tu suggères	too soo zjair	you suggest	vous suggérez	voo soo zjairay	you suggest
third person	il suggère	eel soo zjair	he suggests	ils suggèrent	eel soo zjair	they suggest (masc. or mixed)
	elle suggère	ell soo zjair	she suggests
	on suggère	oh soo zjair	one suggests	elles suggèrent	ell soo zjair	they suggest (fem.)

[edit] Other -éxer Verbs

• accélérer - to accelerate
• célébrer - to celebrate
• espérer - to hope
• oblitérer - to obliterate
• préférer - to prefer
• sécher - to dry

[edit] Directions

Sometimes when you go out, you may get lost, or come across someone who is lost. This should help you ask for and give directions.

• Pardonnez-moi/Excusez-moi, mademoiselle/madame/monsieur. - Excuse me, Miss/Mrs/Mr.
• Je suis perdu. - I am lost.
• Je cherche... - I'm looking for...
  • La poste - the post office
  • La gare - the train station
  • Le supermarché - the supermarket
  • Le stade - the football stadium
  • Le camping - the camping grounds
  • La plage - the beach
  • Le parc - the park

• Vous prenez... - You take...
  • la première rue - the first street
  • à gauche - to the left
  • à droite - to the right
  • tout droit - straight ahead

• Merci beaucoup! - Thanks so much!
• De rien. - It was nothing/No worries.

[edit] Lesson 2.05 - Transportation

[edit] G: -uire Verbs

-uire verbs are conjugated irregularly.

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) conduire to drive (past participle - conduit)
	Singular			Plural
first person	je conduis	jeuh cohndwee	I drive	nous conduisons	noo cohndweezoh	we drive
second person	tu conduis	too cohndwee	you drive	vous conduisez	voo cohndweezay	you drive
third person	il conduit	eel cohndwee	he drives	ils conduisent	eel cohndweez	they drive (masc. or mixed)
	elle conduit	ell cohndwee	she drives
	on conduit	oh cohndwee	one drives	elles conduisent	ell cohndweez	they drive (fem.)

[edit] Other -uire Verbs

• produire - to produce
• traduire - to translate
• reduire - to reduce

[edit] V: Driving

ouvrir	to open
fermer	to close

[edit] G: -rir Verbs

These verbs are conjugated irregularly, and normally follow the -er conjugation scheme. A common -rir verb is ouvrir.

[edit] Formation

• j'ouvre
• tu ouvres
• il ouvre
• nous ouvrons
• vous ouvrez
• ils ouvrent
• past participle: ouvert

[edit] Other Standard -rir verbs

In past participle form, -ir is replaced with -ert for these verbs.

• couvrir - to cover
• découvrir - to discover
• offrir - to offer
• souffrir - to suffer

[edit] -rir Verb Exceptions

[edit] Courir - To Run

• je cours
• tu cours
• il court
• nous courons
• vous courez
• ils courent
• past participle: couru

[edit] Mourir - To Die

• je meurs
• tu meurs
• il meurt
• nous mourons
• vous mourez
• ils meurent
• past participle: mort(e)(s)¹

¹Mourir is the only -ir verb that takes être as its helping verb in perfect tenses (and therefore agrees with the subject as a past participle in a perfect tense).

[edit] Acquérir - To Acquire

• j'acquiers
• tu acquiers
• il acquiert
• nous acquérons
• vous acquérez
• ils acquièrent
• past participle: acquis

[edit] V: Traffic Signs and Laws

[edit] G: Passé Composé with Être

Most verbs form the passé composé with avoir, however there are a small number of verbs that are always conjugated with être. In a general case, these verbs indicate a change in state or position.

[edit] List of Verbs

French Grammar • Print version • audio (upload) Perfect Past with Être Passé composé avec être
Verb	Example
aller	Je suis allé au cinéma.	I went to the cinema.
venir	Je suis venu en France.	I came to France.
arriver	Le train est arrivé.	The train has arrived.
partir	Elle est partie travailler.	She left to go to work.
rester	Je suis resté à la maison.	I stayed home.
retourner	Il est retourné au restaurant.	He returned to the restaurant.
tomber	Je suis tombé dans la piscine.	I fell into the pool.
naître	Je suis né en octobre.	I was born in october.
mourir	Il est mort en 1917.	He died in 1917.
passer	Il est passé devant la maison.	It happened in front of the house.
monter	Je suis monté au sommet.	I climbed to the top.
descendre	Il est descendu du train.	He got out of the train.
sortir	Je suis sorti avec mes amies.	I went out with my friends.
entrer	Je suis entré dans ma chambre.	I entered my room.
rentrer	Il est rentré tôt de l'école.	He came back early from school.

The verbs that take être can be easily remebered by the acronym MRS. DR VANDERTRAMP:
M	R	S		D	R
monté	resté	sorti		devenu	revenu
V	A	N	D	E	R	T	R	A	M	P
venu	arrivé	né	descendu	entré	rentré	tombé	retourné	allé	mort	parti

Moreover, all the pronominal verbs (with se), like se cacher (to hide oneself) or se demander (to wonder), are ALWAYS conjugated with être.

[edit] Direct Objects

One must know that these verbs take their conjugated avoir when they are immediately followed by a direct object

• For Example:
  • Je suis descendu with the direct object "mes bagages"
    • becomes:
  • J'ai descendu mes bagages.

• Another example:
  • Je suis monté with the direct object "mes bagages"
    • becomes:
  • J'ai monté mes bagages.

• Yet another example but with ils instead of Je:
  • Ils sont sortis with direct object "leur passeport"
    • becomes:
  • Ils ont sorti leur passeport.

[edit] Subject-Past Participle Agreement

When conjugating with être, the past participles of the above verbs must agree with the the subject of a sentence in gender and plurality. Note that there is no agreement if these verbs are conjugated with avoir.

• If the subject is masculine singular, there is no change in the past participle.
• If the subject is feminine singular, an -e is added to the past participle.
• If the subject is masculine plural, an -s is added to the past participle.
• If the subject is feminine plural, an -es is added to the past participle.

J suis allé(e).	Nous sommes allé(e)s.
Tu es allé(e).	Vous êtes allé(e)(s).
Il est allé.	Ils sont allés.
Elle est allée.	Elles sont allées.

[edit] V: Trains and Stations

Taking the Train

[edit] G: The Pronoun 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 à.

• Je réponds aux (à les) 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 preposition of the object is de.

[edit] Idioms

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

[edit] V: Taking a Taxi

Taking a Taxi

[edit] Lesson 2.06 - Everyday Life

[edit] G: Dormir

Dormir, to sleep, is an irregular French verb.

French Verb • Present Indicative • audio (upload) dormir to sleep (past participle - dormi)
	Singular			Plural
first person	je dors	jeuh door	I sleep	nous dormons	noo doormoh	we sleep
second person	tu dors	too door	you sleep	vous dormez	voo doormay	you sleep
third person	il dort	eel door	he sleeps	ils dorment	eel dorm	they sleep (masc. or mixed)
	elle dort	ell door	she sleeps
	on dort	oh door	one sleeps	elles dorment	ell dorm	they sleep (fem.)

[edit] V: Waking up and Getting Yourself Ready

• se lever: to get up
• se laver: to wash (oneself)
• se raser : to shave
• se doucher: to shower
• se baigner: to bathe (oneself)
• se brosser les cheveux/les dents: to brush one's hair/teeth
• se peigner les cheveux: to comb one's hair
• s'habiller: to dress (oneself)

If the subject is performing the action on him or herself, the verbs are reflexive. However, if the subject were to act on someone else, the verb is no longer reflexive; instead the reflexive pronoun becomes a direct object.

• Je m'habille: I get (myself) dressed.
• Je t'habille: I get you dressed.

In the passé composé, the participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.

• Pierre s'est habillé.
• Alice s'est habillée.
• Georges et Martin se sont habillés.
• Lisette et Rose se sont habillées.
• Marc et Claire se sont habillés.
• Je m'appelle Lucie, et je me suis levée à six heures.
• Jean et Paul, vous vous êtes levés assez tard.

[edit] G: 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. 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.
• Je ne vais pas me laver. - I'm not going to wash myself.

[edit] Reciprocal Verbs

With reciprocal verbs, people perform actions to each other.

• Nous nous aimons. - We like each other.

[edit] Naturally Pronominal Verbs

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

[edit] V: Going to Work

[edit] V: At Work

travailler: to work

travailler pour: to work for (somebody)

[edit] G: Devoir

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) devoir to have to, to owe
past participle: dû
	Singular			Plural
first person	je dois	jeuh dwah	I have to	nous devons	noo dehvohn	we have to
second person	tu dois	too dwah	you have to	vous devez	voo dehvay	you have to
third person	il doit	eel dwah	he has to	ils doivent	eel dwahve	they have to (masc. or mixed)
	elle doit	ell dwah	she has to
	on doit	ohn dwah	one has to	elles doivent	ell dwahve	they have to (fem.)

[edit] G: Falloir

• falloir - to be necessary
• il faut - it is necessary
• il a fallu - it was necessary (passé composé)
• il fallait - it was necessary (imparfait)
• il faudra - it will be necessary
• il faudrait - it would be necessary

The verb falloir differs from similar verbs such as avoir besoin de [faire quelque chose] (to need [to do something]) and devoir (must, duty, owe). Falloir is always used with the impersonal il only in the 3rd person singular, whereas devoir can be used with all subject pronouns in all tenses.

Falloir expresses general necessities, such as "To live, one must eat" or "To speak French well, one must conjugate verbs correctly."

Devoir expresses more personally what someone must do; "I want to pass my French test, so I must study verb conjugations."

Avoir besoin de [faire quelque chose] expresses need; "I need to study for my test, it's tomorrow" - "J'ai besoin d'etudier pour mon examen, il est demain."

[edit] Lesson 2.07 - Rural Life

[edit] G: Suivre

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) suivre to follow
past participle: suivi
	Singular			Plural
first person	je suis	jeuh swee	I follow	nous suivons	noo sweevohn	we follow
second person	tu suis	too swee	you follow	vous suivez	voo sweevay	you follow
third person	il suit	eel swee	he follows	ils suivent	eel sweeve	they follow (masc. or mized)
	elle suit	ell swee	she follows
	on suit	ohn swee	one follows	elles suivent	ell sweeve	they follow (fem.)

[edit] G: Vivre

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) vivre to live
past participle: vécu [vaycoo]
	Singular			Plural
first person	je vis	jeuh vee	I live	nous vivons	noo veevohn	we live
second person	tu vis	too vee	you live	vous vivez	voo veevay	you live
third person	il vit	eel vee	he lives	ils vivent	eel veeve	they live (masc. or mized)
	elle vit	ell vee	she lives
	on vit	ohn vee	one lives	elles vivent	ell veeve	they live (fem.)

[edit] G: Naître

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) naître to be born
past participle: né(e)(s)1
	Singular			Plural
first person	je nais	jeuh nay	I am born	nous naissons	noo nehssohn	we are born
second person	tu nais	too nay	you are born	vous naissez	voo nehssay	you are born
third person	il naît	eel nay	he is born	ils naissent	eel nesse	they are born (masc. or mized)
	elle naît	ell nay	she is born
	on naît	ohn nay	one is born	elles naissent	ell nesse	they are born (fem.)

¹ Naître is the only -aître verb that takes être as its helping verb (and therefore agrees with the subject as a past participle in perfect tenses).

[edit] G: Reflexive Verbs with Perfect Tenses

When proniminal verbs are conjugated in perfect tenses, être is used as the auxiliary verb.

[edit] Reflexive Verbs

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 washed ourselves.
• Elle s'est lavé les mains. - She washed her hands.
• Nous nous sommes lavé les mains. - We washed our hands.

[edit] Reciprocal Verbs

• 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 one another.
• Vous vous êtes écrit souvent? - You wrote to each other often?

[edit] Naturally Pronominal Verbs

• 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.
• Le chien se couche. - The dog lies down.

Note that assis(e)(es), the past participle of s'asseoir (to sit), does not change in the masculine plural form.

[edit] Lesson 2.08 - Food and Drink

[edit] G: -ger Verbs

-ger verbs are regular -er verbs that are also stem changing. The most common -ger verb is manger. For manger and all other regular -ger verbs, the stem change is adding an e after the g. This only applies in the nous form. In this case, the change is made to preserve the soft g pronunciation rather than the hard g that would be present if the e were not included.

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) manger to eat
past participle - mangé
	Singular			Plural
first person	je mange	jeuh mahnge	I eat	nous mangeons	noo vmahnge ohn	we eat
second person	tu manges	too mahnge	you eat	vous mangez	voo mahngay	we eat
third person	il mange	eel mahnge	he eats	ils mangent	eel mahnge	they eat (masc. or mized)
	elle mange	ell mahnge	she eats
	on mange	ohn mahnge	one eats	elles mangent	ell mahnge	they eat (fem.)

[edit] Other -ger Verbs

• changer - to change
• exiger - to require
• nager - to swim
• soulager - to relieve
• voyager - to travel

[edit] V: Food

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Food La nourriture
les fruits - fruits		les légumes - vegetables
la banane	banana	la carotte	carrot
la cerise	cherry	les épinards (m pl)	spinach
le citron	lemon	l'oignon (m)	onion
la fraise	strawberry	les petits pois (m pl)	peas
l'orange (f)	orange	la pomme de terre	potato
la pomme	apple	la tomate	tomato
le raisin	grape	les asperges (f pl)	asparagus
le pamplemousse	grapefruit	les haricots (m pl)	beans
la viande - meat		les fruits de mer (m pl) - shellfish, seafood
l'agneau (m)	lamb	La coquille Saint-Jacques (f)	scallop
la dinde	turkey	le crabe	crab
le jambon	ham
le porc	pork	le poisson - fish
le poulet	chicken	les anchois (m pl)	anchovies
le boeuf	beef	le saumon	salmon
la saucisse	sausage	l'anguille (f)	eel
les produits laitiers - dairy products		Other Foods
le beurre	butter	le croissant	crescent roll
le fromage	cheese	les frites (f pl)	"French fries"
le lait	milk	la crêpe	crepe
le yaourt/le yoghurt	yogurt	la mayonnaise	mayonnaise
le dessert - dessert		la moutarde	mustard
le bonbon	candy	le pain	bread
le chocolat	chocolate	le beurre	butter
le gâteau	cake	la tartine de pain beurré	slice of buttered bread
la glace	ice cream	le poivre	pepper
la mousse	mousse	le riz	rice
la tarte (aux pommes)	(apple) pie	le sel	salt
la glace (au chocolat)	(chocolate) ice cream	le sucre	sugar
la glace (à la vanille)	(vanilla) ice cream	la confiture	jam

[edit] G: Boire

The verb boire is translated to to drink. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -re verb) as follows:

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) boire to drink
past participle - bu
	Singular			Plural
first person	je bois	jeuh bwah	I drink	nous buvons	noo boovohn	we drink
second person	tu bois	too bwah	you drink	vous buvez	voo boovay	you drink
third person	il boit	eel bwah	he drinks	ils boivent	eel bwahve	they drink (masc. or mized)
	elle boit	ell bwah	she drinks
	on boit	ohn bwah	one drinks	elles boivent	ell bwahve	they drink (fem.)

[edit] V: Drinks

les boissons - drinks

la bière	beer
le café	coffee
le chocolat chaud	hot chocolate
le coca	soda
la limonade	lemon soda
le citron pressé	lemonade
l'eau (f)	water
le jus	juice
le jus d'orange	orange juice
le jus de pomme	apple juice
le jus de raisin	grape juice
le jus de tomate	tomato juice
le thé	tea
le vin	wine

[edit] G: Partitive Article

The partitive article de indicates, among other things, the word some. As learned earlier, de and le contract (combine) into du, as de and les contract into des. Also, instead of du or de la, de l' is used in front of vowels.

When speaking about food, the partitive article is used at some times while the definite article (le, la, les) is used at other times, and the indefinite article (un, une) in yet another set of situations. In general "de" refers to a part of food (a piece of pie) whereas the definite article (le) refers to a food in general (I like pie (in general)). The indefinite article refers to an entire unit of a food (I would like a (whole) pie).

When speaking about preferences, use the definite article:

J'aime la glace.	I like ice cream.
Nous préférons le steak.	We prefer steak.
Vous aimez les frites	You like French fries.

When speaking about eating or drinking an item, there are specific situations for the use of each article.

Def. art.	specific/whole items
J'ai mangé la tarte.	I ate the (whole) pie.
Ind. art.	known quantity
J'ai mangé une tarte.	I ate a pie.
Part. art.	unknown quantity
J'ai mangé de la tarte.	I ate some pie.

In the negative construction, certain rules apply. As one has learned in a previous lesson, un or une changes to de (meaning, in this context, any) in a negative construction. Similarly, du, de la, or des change to de in negative constructions.

Nous avons mangé une tarte.	We ate a pie.
Nous n'avons pas mangé de tarte.	We did not eat a pie/ We did not eat any pie.
Nous avons mangé de la tarte.	We ate some pie.
Nous n'avons pas mangé de tarte.	We did not eat some pie/ We did not eat any pie.

Note : Now you should understand better how that "Quoi de neuf?"(what's new?) encountered in the very first lesson was constructed... "Quoi de plus beau?!" (what is there prettier?)

[edit] G: En

To say 'some of it' without specifying the exact object, the pronoun 'en' can be used. Additionally, 'en' can mean 'of it' when 'it' is not specified. For instance, instead of saying J'ai besoin d'argent, if the idea of money has already been raised, it can be stated as 'J'en ai besoin'. This is because en replaces du, de la or des when there the noun is not specifically mentioned in that sentence.

Like with 'me', 'te' and other pronouns, en (meaning 'some') comes before the verb.

Tu joues du piano? Non, je n'en joue pas	Do you play piano? No, I don't play it.
Vous prenez du poisson? Oui, j'en prends.	Are you having fish? Yes, I'm having some.
Vous avez commandé de l'eau? Oui, nous en avons commandé.	Did you order some water? Yes, we ordered some.

For more detailed information, see French Pronouns

[edit] G: Mettre

[edit] Formation

French Verb • Print version • audio (upload) mettre to put
past participle - mis
	Singular			Plural
first person	je mets	jeuh may	I put	nous mettons	noo mettohn	we put
second person	tu mets	too may	you put	vous mettez	voo mettay	you put
third person	il met	eel may	he puts	ils mettent	eel met	they put (masc. or mized)
	elle met	ell may	she puts
	on met	ohn may	one puts	elles mettent	ell met	they put (fem.)

[edit] Related Words

• mettre - to put on, to turn on, to place
• permettre - to allow
• remettre - to put back
• remettre en place - to set back into place
• soumettre - to submit
• se remettre - to recover from an illness
• se remettre en route - to get back on the road

[edit] Idioms and Related Expressions

• mettre au jour - to bring to light
• mettre de l'argent de coté - to put money aside
• mettre fin à - to put an end to
• mettre la main à la pâte - to pitch in
• mettre le contact - to start the car
• mettre le couvert - to set the table
• se mettre à table - to sit down to eat
• se mettre d'accord - to agree
• se mettre en forme - to get in shape

[edit] Lesson 2.09 - Dining

[edit] V: General Dining

French Vocabulary • Print version • audio (upload) Dining Diner
Places		Actions and Feelings
la cuisine	kitchen	avoir faim	to be hungry
la salle à manger	dining room	avoir soif	to be thirsty
le restaurant	restaurant	manger	to eat
Meals		boire	to drink
le repas	the meal	prendre	to take
le petit-déjeuner	breakfast	vouloir	to want
le déjeuner	lunch	mettre le couvert	to set the table
le dîner	dinner	préparer un repas	to prepare a meal
le goûter	snack
Food Stores		Quantity
la boucherie	butcher shop 1	le gramme	gram
la boulangerie	bakery 2	le kilo(gramme)	kilogran
le dépôt de pain	a place that sells bread 2	le litre	liter
la charcuterie	delicatessen 3	la bouteille	bottle 5
l'épicerie (f)	grocery 4	la boîte	can
la crémerie	dairy store	la livre	pack, pound 6
la poissonnerie	seafood store	le paquet	packet
le marché	outdoor market