Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to greetings. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Use the next table to review the vocabulary words related to subjects of study. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 1 : Je me présente

Part A

Complete the following sentences:

Part B

Introduce yourself to two of your classmates using the sentences above and listen as two of your classmates introduce themselves to you. Complete the following sentences according to the information they tell you.

Part C

Introduce one of your classmates to the class.

Modèle: Je vous présente Robert. Il est de Cambridge. Il est étudiant en commerce.

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY.

Discuss whether the person speaking in each of the following situations would use tu or vous.

• A client in a bakery, speaking to the baker.
• A doctor speaking to a patient.
• An elementary school student speaking to three of her friends.
• A college student speaking to a professor.
• A telemarketer speaking to the person they call.
• A politician making a public speech.
• A mother speaking to her daughter.
• A father speaking to his two sons.
• A college student speaking to another college student in class.
• A professor speaking to her entire class.

Exercice 3: Bonjour!

Part A

Observe the image and read the accompanying dialogue. Determine if it is a formal or informal exchange.

Figure 1.1. Two men wave as they pass by each other.

Part B

Replace the names in the previous dialogue with your own name and that of a classmate. Practice it and present it to the class!

Part C

Write a brief dialogue for each of the situations below. Don’t forget to decide whether the situation requires a formal or informal form of address.

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Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to numbers. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 4: Numbers

Part A

What is the number that corresponds to each of the words below?

• trois
• huit
• un
• sept
• neuf

Part B

What is the word that corresponds to the each of the numbers below?

• 2
• 5
• 4
• 10
• 0

Part C

Turn to your neighbour and ask him/her for her telephone number. Don’t forget to include the area code!

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY.

Chapter Summary

2.1 In the Classroom
2.2 Nouns and Articles
2.3 Subject Pronouns
2.4 The Verb Être
2.5 Les Nombres 11-59

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to items found in the classroom. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

This section includes content derived from Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.

What is a Noun?

A noun is a person, place, or thing. Like English, nouns in French may be singular or plural. However, unlike English, French nouns can be either masculine or feminine . The easiest way of determining the gender of the noun is to learn the noun along with its corresponding definite article.

Definite Articles

A definite article is specific, it defines the number and gender of the noun it corresponds to. In English, the only definite article is the, whereas in French there are four of them: la, le, l’ and les.

Please note, le or la change to l’ before a noun beginning in a vowel or an h (the h is silent in French).

Important Notes

• In French, je (I) is not capitalized, except at the beginning of a sentence.
• Tu is informal, whereas vous is formal (see Chapter 1). Vous is also the plural form of tu and in this case, it is neither formal nor informal.
• In French, not only people but also things have gender. That is to say, things are either masculine or feminine. There is no separate pronoun for it. Il is masculine, used for he or masculine it. Elle is feminine, used for she or feminine it.
• On means one and is used in contexts where English speaker might use you informally. In Canadian English, the subject pronoun one (e.g., “Where does one sit at a hockey game?”) sounds stuffy, but its use is extremely common in French. On is also used in spoken French to mean we.
• If there is a mix of masculine and feminine people or objects, French always uses the masculine plural. A group of ten women and one man would use the subject pronoun ils.

Exercice  5 : Subject Pronouns

Identify the French subject in each of the following sentences and give its English equivalent.

Modèle: In the sentence “Elle est américaine,” elle is the French subject, and she is its English equivalent.

1. Ils sont professeurs.
2. On mange beaucoup à Noel.
3. Nous sommes étudiants.
4. Elles dansent bien.
5. Il aime Chantal.
6. Tu es jeune.

Exercice  6 : More Subject Pronouns

Indicate which French subject pronoun you would use to correspond to the subject in each of the following sentences.

Modèle: In the sentence “My sister is tall”, the French subject pronoun that corresponds with sister is elle.

1. I like apples.
2. Teachers are often helpful.
3. Are you coming to class today?
4. George and I are going to the movies tonight.
5. My mother is not strict.
6. He eats a lot of protein.
7. Maria, Caroline, Christina, and John are in my study group.
8. We speak French in class.

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.

The verb être (to be) is an irregular verb in the present tense. In il/elle/on est form, the s is not pronounced. In the vous êtes form, the s is pronounced as a or z to link with the vowel ê in êtes.

Exercice 7 : Être

Part A

Write the proper form of the verb être in each blank. Then write an English translation for each sentence. If you do not know what a word means, make your best guess.

Part B

Now write an English translation for each sentence. If you do not know what a word means, make your best guess.

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to numbers. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 8 : Les Nombres

Write the numbers that correspond to the words.

1. quarante-deux
2. trente-six
3. onze
4. seize
5. vingt et un
6. douze
7. dix-huit
8. trente-quatre
9. treize
10. cinquante-sept
11. vingt-neuf
12. quarante-cinq

Exercice 9 : Les Nombres en Lettres

Write out the following numbers in words.

1. 9
2. 4
3. 23
4. 37
5. 44
6. 15
7. 2
8. 49
9. 58
10. 31
11. 26
12. 57

Exercice 10 : Quel âge as-tu?

Ask five different people in the classroom about their age. Write down their name (prénom) and age (âge).

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Chapter Summary

3.1 La Date
3.2 Adjectives
3.3 The Verb Avoir
3.4 La Famille
3.5 Possessive Adjectives

Days of the Week

In French, the days of the week (le jours de la semaine) are not capitalized, and the week (la semaine) begins on Monday (lundi).

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to days of the week. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Months and Dates

In French, the months (les mois) are also not capitalized. The date (la date) is written in the following manner: le + cardinal number + month. The only exception is the first of the month, which requires the use of an ordinal number (le premier)/the first).

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to months and dates. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. The major differences between adjectives in French and English are agreement and placement. In English, an adjective usually comes before the noun it modifies and it does not change. In French, an adjective is usually placed after the noun it modifies and must agree in gender and number with the noun.

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words that are examples of common adjectives. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Formation

In French, adjectives agree in both number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) with the noun or pronoun they modify. For regular adjectives, the masculine form is the base form to which endings are added.

General Rules

Generally, the feminine adjective is formed by adding an e and the plural adjective is formed by adding s:

If the masculine singular ends in e: do not change feminine, add an s for plural:

If the masculine singular adjective ends in an s, add an e for feminine and s for feminine plural, but do not add an s for masculine plural:

Two other common changes occur with adjectives ending in f and x. If the masculine singular adjective ends in f, then it changes to ve in the feminine:

If the masculine singular adjective ends in x, then it changes to se in the feminine (but remains x in the masculine plural):

Placement

In French, most adjectives come after the noun, unlike in English where the adjective precedes the noun:

However, some adjectives are placed before the noun:

The following are adjectives commonly placed before the noun:

Exercice 1 : Gender and Number in Adjectives

Follow the General Rules on adjective formation outlined above.  For each term below, provide the correct form for the four different types of form: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural and feminine plural.

1. grand (big)
2. rouge (red)
3. sportif (athletic)
4. strict (strict)
5. amusant (funny)
6. nerveux (nervous)
7. content (happy)
8. calme (calm)

Exercice 2 : Adjective Agreement

Each of the following pairs or groups of friends have a lot in common. Use the adjective given  to complete the accompanying sentence; make sure the adjective agrees in gender and number with the people it describes.

Exercise 3 : People

Name people who fit each of the descriptions. Don’t forget to look up any words you don’t recognize.

1. un acteur amusant
2. une actrice sérieuse
3. un homme paresseux
4. un chanteur intelligent
5. une femme ennuyeuse
6. un film intéressant
7. un grand pays
8. une voiture sportive
9. un bon acteur
10. une mauvaise actrice
11. un acteur canadien
12. une jeune chanteuse
13. une belle femme
14. un beau film
15. un petit pays
16. une grosse voiture

This section includes content derived from Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY, Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.

Like être, the verb avoir (to have) is an irregular verb in the present tense. That means that its conjugation does not follow a regular pattern and all its forms must be memorized.

Important Notes

• When the conjugated verb begins with a vowel, je changes to j’. This elision always occurs when je precedes a vowel or silent h. When elision is made between two words, they are pronounced as one word.
• In the plural forms liaison occurs; the “s” of the pronoun is linked to the following vowel sound and pronounced like a [z].

Uses

To show possession:

To talk about age (avoir + number + ans):

To express “there is/there are”:

Exercice 4: Conjugating Avoir

Use the proper form of the verb avoir to write sentences with the information provided below.

1. Je / deux livres et un cahier.
2. Marie / un sandwich.
3. Nous / des photos de notre famille.
4. Christine et Suzanne / des stylos.
5. Vous / des livres?
6. Je / une orange.
7. Le professeur / les devoirs des étudiants.
8. Tu / un dictionnaire?
9. Paul et moi / nos devoirs.

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Vocabulary

Review the following vocabulary words related to the family.

Une Famille Québécoise

Read the following description of Hélène’s family. Use the family tree below to familiarize yourself with each of Hélène’s family members.

A Family Tree

Exercice 5 : La famille d’ Hélène

Based on the description of Hélène’s family, name the following people:

1. Le père de Marc
2. Les sœurs d’Hélène
3. Le mari de Jacqueline
4. Le frère de Caroline
5. Les enfants de Michel et Jacqueline

Exercice 6 : La famille Simpson

Use the following Wikipedia article to research The Simpsons family relationships.

Then use the family vocabulary outlined at the start of section 3.4 to complete the following chart of family relationships. Don’t forget to include definite articles!

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY.

As demonstrated in the previous exercise, in French you can indicate possession by using the preposition de:

You can also indicate possession by using a possessive adjective, the equivalent of “my,” “her,” “our,” etc. Possessive adjectives are used before the noun and must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Thus , if the noun is feminine, the possessive article must be feminine. For example, the feminine noun famille requires a feminine form.

Note  that the possessive adjective sa has three potential translations in English: his, her, or its. To determine which meaning is intended, you must look at the context.

Exercice 7 : Les Adjectifs Possessifs

Select the correct form of the possessive adjective. Don’t forget to make sure that the possessive adjective corresponds to the noun in gender and number.

mon, ma, mes

1. mon/ma/mes père
2. mon/ma/mes mère
3. mon/ma/mes amies
4. mon/ma/mes amis

ton, ta, tes

1. ton/ta/tes parents
2. ton/ta/tes amie
3. ton/ta/tes frère
4. ton/ta/tes soeurs

son, sa, ses

1. son/sa/ses devoirs
2. son/sa/ses professeur
3. son/sa/ses amies
4. son/sa/ses amis

notre, nos

1. notre/nos livres
2. notre/nos fille
3. notre/nos examen
4. notre/nos profs

votre, vos

1. votre/vos cousins
2. votre/vos copines
3. votre/vos tante
4. votre/vos parents

leur, leurs

1. leur/leurs copains
2. leur/leurs camarade
3. leur/leurs mère
4. leur/leurs amis

Exercice 8 : Mes choses

In this exercise, each person has his or her own possessions. Complete the sentence with the correct possessive adjective.

This section includes content derived from Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY, Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.

Exercice 9 : Comment sont-ils?

Describe your family with an adjective for each family member. Make sure you use different adjectives for each person.

Exercice 10 : Un Arbre Généalogique

Draw your family tree (un arbre généalogique) and explain it to a classmate.

This section includes content derived from  Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA.

Chapter Summary

4.1 La Ville
4.2 Aller
4.3 Expressions with Être
4.4 Les Nombres 60-100

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to parts of a city. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 1: Quel place?

What places are associated with the icons/images below?

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to asking for and giving directions / getting your bearings. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 2: Où se trouve?

Translate the following sentences into French.

1. The train station is to the right of the post office.
2. The school is behind the hospital.
3. The stadium is close to the university.
4. The bank is at the end of the street.
5. The pharmacy is on Rue Villeneuve.
6. The school faces the café.
7. The shopping center is far from downtown

This section includes content derived from Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY.

The verb aller is irregular in the present tense. In the nous and vous forms liaison occurs; the “s” of the pronoun is linked to the following vowel sound and pronounced like a [z].

To Go Somewhere

To express that you are going somewhere in French, you must use the correct form of the present tense of the verb aller and the preposition à:

The  preposition à must change form before the masculine definite or plural definite article that accompanies the noun (place). The various combinations of à + aller are as follows:

• aller + à (no definite article) + city

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Être + de

To express a place of origin (where you are from), you can use the verb être and the preposition de (from):

From 60-99, numbers in standard French are counted by 20s instead of by 10s. This means that to say “77,” you say “60-17.”

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to numbers. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA.

Chapter Summary

5.1 Les Passe-Temps et Les Activités
5.2 Regular Verbs
5.3 Les Nombres 100-30 000

The verbs aimer (to like, to love) and jouer (to play) are regular –er verbs in the present tense. This means that when they are conjugated they follow a similar pattern.

Conjugating Regular “er” Verbs

Every verb has two parts: the stem and the ending. The stem is the verb’s main part, it generally remains unchanged as it conveys the meaning. The ending for its part, will change to indicate the subject who is performing the action and the verb tense (past, present or future). For example, in the infinitive (the unconjugated form) the verb aimer is made up of the stem (“aim”) and the ending (“er”).

To conjugate the verb, the first step is to drop the infinitive ending (“er”) and add the ending that is specific to the subject (e, es, e, ons, ez, ent ).

Aimer

The verb aimer (to love, to like) can be used to express preferences or likes and dislikes:

Jouer

The verb jouer (to play) is typically used to talk about playing a sport or an instrument, but in French it requires a preposition, as you will see later on.

Important Notes

• Don’t forget that when the conjugated verb begins with a vowel, je changes to j’. This elision always occurs when je precedes a vowel or silent h. When elision is made between two words, they are pronounced as one word.
• Four of the six forms (je, tu, il, and ils) in “er” verbs are pronounced exactly the same, although they are written differently. This is why the subject noun or pronoun must be used in French.
• In the plural forms liaison occurs: the “s” of the pronoun is linked to the following vowel sound and pronounced like a [z].

Jouer à

To talk about playing certain sports, we use the verb jouer:

Note that that the noun (sport) must be accompanied by a definite article (le, la l’, les) and as a result the preposition à may require a change (à + le = au, à + les = aux).

Jouer de

We can also use the verb jouer (to play) with the preposition de to talk about playing an instrument:

The preposition de requires certain changes when accompanied by a definite article:

• de + la = de la

• de + le = du

• de + les = des

Exercice 2: Aimer et Jouer

Part A

Conjugate the verbs in the brackets using the correct form in the present tense.

1. Nous (aimer) le hockey.
2. Vous (jouer) au badminton.
3. Il (jouer) au football.
4. Tu (aimer) le jazz.
5. Je (aimer) le golf.
6. Je (jouer) aux cartes.
7. Sophie (jouer) au tennis et Jeanne (jouer) au baseball. Elles (aimer) les sports.

Part B

Rewrite the above sentences in the negative. Don’t forget to use ne…pas.

Other Regular -ER Verbs

To conjugate other regular verbs that end in “er”, you follow the same pattern: using the verb stem (after dropping the infinitive ending “er”), you need to add the ending that corresponds to the subject.

For example, ils + danser (they + to dance) becomes ils dansent (they dance).

Exercice 3: Regular Verbs

Review the following list of activities.

* Please note, the e in the last syllable of the acheter stem changes to è for all the conjugations, except nous and vous (j’achète, tu achètes, il/elle/on achète, nous achetons, vous achetez, ils/elles achètent).

Several of the activities are depicted in the pictures below. Write a sentence describing what each person is the pictures below is doing. Don’t forget to conjugate the verb!

*

This section includes content derived from Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.

Numbers from 100-999 simply combine the different numbers you have already learned.

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to numbers. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Important notes

• The Académie française’s 1990 French spelling reforms (rectifications orthographiques) suggest that it is good practice to use a hyphen to separate each number element, including “et-un”. For example, 2 422 is written as deux-mille-quatre-cent-vingt-deux.
• When writing out numbers higher than 999, a space separates three-digit groups of numbers. For example: 1 250.
• When vingt or cent are followed by a number, the s is dropped.

Chapter Summary

6.1 Le Temps
6.2 Les Saisons
6.3 The Verb Faire

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to the weather Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

This section includes content derived from Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY.

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to the seasons. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 1: Quelle saison?

In what season do you do the activities below? Ask a neighbour and report back!

1. aller à la plage
2. faire du ski
3. aller à Paris
4. aller au cinéma
5. jouer au foot
6. planter des tulipes
7. manger un sorbet
8. acheter des livres scolaires

Exercice 2 : Quel temps fait -il?

Paying attention to the season and the location, determine what the weather is like in each of the places below.

Quel temps fait-il à Paris en été? A Paris en été, il fait très chaud et il y a du soleil.

1. à Los Angeles au printemps?
2. à Montréal en hiver?
3. au Mexique en été?
4. en Italie au printemps?
5. à Moscou en hiver?
6. à Costa Rica en été?
7. en Toronto en automne?
8. en Côte d’Ivoire en decembre?

Exercice 3: Quel temps fait-il en Canada aujourd’hui?

Using the weather map of Canada, complete the following chart.

A map of weather conditions across Canada.

The verb faire (to do or to make) is an irregular verb, used both literally, meaning to do or to make, and in many expressions. For example, as you have just learned, for certain weather expressions we use faire. When we talk about sports, we can also use faire:

You can use the verb faire to ask a question: “Qu’est-ce que vous faites?” (“What are you doing?”). Usually you will reply not with the verb faire itself, but with the verb that describes the activity you are doing.

Chapter Summary

7.1 Sur La table
7.2 Les Aliments
7.3 Partitive Articles
7.4 Les Magasins D’alimentation

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to items found at the dinner table. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to foods. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 1: Quels sont vos goûts (tastes)?

Make a list of the foods you like and don’t like to eat.

J’aime (I love)…

Je déteste (I hate)…

Partitive articles are used both in English and in French to express quantities that cannot be counted. While the indefinite article (un, une, des) is used with countable quantities (un oeuf, deux oeufs, etc.), the partitive article is used before nouns that are indivisible or uncountable. In English, we use the article “some” to that end, but it is often omitted.

There are three partitive articles in French:

Definite Articles vs Partitive Articles

While the definite article designates something in its totality or as a whole, the partitive article designates a part of the whole. Depending on what you want to say, the same noun may be introduced by a definite, an indefinite, or a partitive article. Compare these examples:

1. Vous prenez du vin, n’est-ce pas? You are having (some) wine, aren’t you?
2. Le vin rouge est bon pour la santé! Red wine is healthy!
3. Nous avons un Beaujolais nouveau ou un Chambertin. We have a Beaujolais nouveau, or a Chamberti.

After the Negative

In negative sentences, partitive articles (du, de la, des, de l’) change to de:

This section includes content derived from Francais Interactif, originally released under CC-BY and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC-BY 3.0.

Vocabulary

Use the table below to review the vocabulary words related to specialty food shops. Listen to the French pronunciations using the following audio recording.

Exercice 2: Les magasins d’alimentation

Complete the table below by writing in the items that you can buy at each of the specialty food shops. Don’t forget to include the correct partitive article.