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Grammar review · At · À

The preposition à /a/ means at or in:

Nous sommes à la maison.^{We are at home.}

Il est à l'hôtel.^{He is at the hotel.}

The contraction au /o/ is used in place of à le (singular):

Je suis au bar.^{I am at (in) the bar.}

Likewise, the contraction aux /o/ is used in place of à les (plural).

Dialogue · Is it going to rain?

Mireille: Il fait beau temps !^{It is fine weather !}
Monique: Il va pleuvoir aujourd'hui ?^{Is it going to rain today?}

Monique could also use the question form instead of the intonation given above:

• Est-ce qu'il va pleuvoir aujourd'hui ? (Pronounced eh-skeel)

or

• Va-t-il pleuvoir aujourd'hui ?

Mireille: Non, il ne va pas pleuvoir, il fera soleil.^{No, not raining, it will be sunny.}
Monique: Très bien ! Allons au parc !^{Very well! let's go to the park.}
Marcelle: Apporte un parapluie, au cas où il pleuvrait.^{Bring an umbrella in case it rains.}

Similar to English, pleuvoir is an impersonal verb: it has only a third-person singular conjugation:

• il pleut (present)
• il va pleuvoir or il pleuvra (future)
• il pleuvrait (conditional).

Grammar · Negation · Négation

In order to say that one did not do something, the ne … pas construction must be used. The ne is placed before the verb, while the pas is placed after.

Formation and rules

Simple negation is done by wrapping ne … pas around the verb:

Je ne porte pas mon manteau.^{I am not wearing my coat.}

In a past tense, ne … pas surrounds the auxiliary verb, not the participle:

Je n'ai pas porté mon manteau.^{I did not wear my coat.}

When an infinitive and conjugated verb are together, ne … pas usually surrounds the conjugated verb:

Je ne veux pas porter mes gants.^{I do not want to wear my gloves.}

Ne pas can also precede the infinitive for a different meaning:

Je veux ne pas porter mes gants.^{I want not to wear my gloves.}

Ne precedes any pronoun relating to the verb it affects:

Je ne les porte pas.^{I am not wearing them.}

In spoken French, the ne can be omitted, leaving simply pas after the verb in context:

Je sais pas qui vous êtes.^{I do not know who you are.}

Examples

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.

Negation of indefinite articles

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

(upload audio)
J'ai un parapluie. Je n'ai pas de parapluie.		I have an umbrella. I don't have an umbrella.
J'ai des bottes en caoutchouc. Je n'ai pas de bottes en caoutchouc.		I have some wellington boots. I don't have any wellington boots.

Examples

(upload audio)
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.

Vocabulary · Common weather

(upload audio)
Quel temps fait-il ?		How's the weather?
le soleil	/lə sɔ.lɛj/	sun
le ciel	/lə sjɛl/	sky
Ébloui par le soleil	/e.blu.i paʁ lə sɔ.lɛj/	Dazzled by the sun (example: coming into the sun from indoors)
Warm weather
Il fait beau.		It's fine/nice.
Il fait chaud.		It's warm/hot.
Le ciel est dégagé. Le ciel se dégage.		The sky is clear. The sky is clearing up.
Le soleil brille		The sun is shining
Cloudy weather
le nuage Il y a des nuages	/nɥaʒ/	cloud It's cloudy
nuageux(-euse)	/nɥa.ʒø/	cloudy
l'éclaircie (f)		sunny spell (in clouds)
Cold and windy weather
Il fait froid	(eel feh fwah)	It is cool/cold
Il fait trop froid	(eel feh troh fwah)	It is too cold
le vent Il y a du vent Le vent souffle.	[[:Media:Fr-vent.ogg|]]	wind It's windy. The wind blows
la rafale	/ʁafal/	gust of wind

Note that le temps means both the weather and the time.

Grammar · To go · Aller

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

Formation

aller  /a.le/ (ah-lay)	to read
je vais  /vɛ/ (vay)	I go
tu vas  /va/ (vah)	you go
il va  /va/ (vah)	he goes
nous allons /a.lɔ̃/ (ah-loh(n))	we go
vous allez /a.le/ (ah-lay)	you go
ils vont  /vɔ̃/ (voh(n))	they go
allé /a.le/	gone

Usage

There is no present progressive tense in French, so aller in the present indicative is used to express both I go and I am going:

Où est-ce que tu vas?^{Where are you going?}

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

In addition to meaning at or in, the preposition à /a/ means to when used with aller :

Je vais à Paris.^{I am going to Paris.}

Je vais au bureau.^{I am going to the office.}

Tu vas à l'école ?^{You're going to school?}

Near future · Futur proche

An infinitive preceded by aller is used to say that something is going to happen in the near future:

Il va pleuvoir demain.^{It's going to rain tomorrow.}

Il va faire froid.^{It's going to be cold.}

Je vais aller au magasin.^{I will go to the store.}

Recall that the negative goes around the conjugated verb.

Il ne va pas pleuvoir demain.^{It's not going to rain tomorrow.}

Supplementary grammar · There · y

In place of a preposition and place, the pronoun y /i/, meaning there, can be used; y comes before the verb:

J'y vais.^{I'm going there.}

Nous allons au Mexique. Nous y allons.^{We are going to Mexico. We are going there.}

Remember that aller must be used with a place (there or a name) when indicating that you are going somewhere, even if a place wouldn't normally be given in English.

The negative form of aller with the y pronoun has both the verb and pronoun enclosed between ne and pas:

Il n'y va pas.^{He's not going there.}

Supplementary vocabulary · Expressions

(upload audio)
Allons-y	(ahlon-zee)	Let's go
Ça va ? Comment allez-vous ?	(sah vah) (koh-mah(n) tahlay-voo)	How are you?
Allez !		Come on!	encouragement
vas-y allez-y		go ahead; go on
On y va !		Let's get going!
On y va ?		Should we go?

Vocabulary · Rain and snow · La pluie et la neige

(upload audio)
Rainy weather
la brume	/bʀym/	fog, haze, mist
le brouillard	/bʀujaʀ/	fog
la bruine	/bʁɥin/	drizzle
une goutte de pluie		a drop of rain
la pluie La pluie tombe.		rain The rain falls.
Il pleut. Il a plu. Il va pleuvoir.		It's raining. It rained. It's going to rain.
pluvieux(-euse) Le temps est pluvieux.		rainy It's raining.
l'averse (f)	/a.vɛʁs/	shower
Snowy weather
la neige Il neige.	/nɛʒ/	snow It's snowing.
la grêle Il tombe de la grêle.	/gʀɛl/	hail It's hailing.
Extreme weather
un orage orageux(-euse) Il y a un orage!	/ɔʁaʒ/	a storm stormy There's a storm!
l'éclair (m) la foudre	/e.klɛʁ/ /fudʁ/	flash (of lightning) lightning
la tempête	Fr-tempête.ogg	storm, tempest
le tonnerre	Fr-tonnerre.ogg	thunder

Exercises

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