French 1101

Chapitre préliminaire - Bienvenue

Cognates Train Station Blond(e) Table Film Machine Division Banque Restaurant Université Cours Classe Calme Blond(e) Film Division Client Education Patient Château(x) Personne Zéro Campus

Differences Between French and English Greetings Politeness

Introduction Je m’appelle Jean Je suis de Paris Je suis en 2e année J’étudie la biologie

Alphabet French Alphabet - L'Alphabet français The French alphabet has the same 26 letters as the English alphabet, but they are pronounced differently. You can listen to the entire alphabet by clicking on Alphabet.

Les Accents Les accents 01. L’accent aigu 02. L’accent grave 03. L’accent circonflexe 04.La cédille

Grammaire 1 Pour parler de nos origines Le verbe être / Les pronoms sujets / Les questions

Le verbe être In French, the verb être means to be. One very common use of être is to express one’s place of origin. In this case, it is used with the preposition de + a city, which means from in this particular expression.

Le verbe être Exemples: Céline Dion est de Charlemagne, au Québec. Céline Dion is from Charlemagne, Quebec. Catherine Deneuve est de Paris, en France. Catherine Deneuve is from Paris, France.

Le verbe être Another common use of être is to express one’s occupation. Voici Monsieur Leroux. Il est professeur. Here is Mr. Leroux. He is a professor. Nathan est étudiant. Nathan is a student. Catherine est étudiante. Catherine is a student.

Le verbe être The following are the present tense forms of the verb être and the subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, and they). je suis nous sommes tu es vous êtes il/elle est ils/elles sont

Les pronoms sujets There are formal and informal ways to address people in French. When talking to someone whom you do not know well, who is older, or who is in a position of respect, use vous (formal). When talking to a friend, family member, or a child, use tu (informal). When talking to more than one person, use vous (plural, formal, and informal).

Les pronoms sujets When talking about several persons or a group of people, use elles if everyone is female. Use ils if at least one person is male. Carole et Sarah, elles sont de Paris. Carole and Sarah, they are from Paris. Ahmed et Nourdine, ils sont de Nice. Ahmed and Nourdine, they are from Nice. Antoine et Marie, ils sont de Montréal. Antoine and Marie, they are from Montreal

Les questions To ask a yes/no question in French, you can make a statement and raise the pitch of your voice at the end. This is called rising intonation. Such questions are considered informal. Pauline est étudiante? Is Pauline a student? Oui, elle est étudiante. Yes, she’s a student.

Les questions You can also place est-ce que (est-ce qu’ before a vowel sound) in front of a statement. Your voice also rises at the end of these questions. Est-ce qu’elle est de Chicago? Is she from Chicago? Non, elle est de Cleveland. No, she is from Cleveland.

Pour être précis(e) Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre Grammaire 2 Pour être précis(e) Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre

Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre As in English, French nouns have number (le nombre): singular or plural. Unlike English, French nouns also have grammatical gender (le genre). Every noun (a person, an animal, a place, a thing, or an idea) is classified as being either masculine or feminine.

Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre Sometimes nouns that refer to females are feminine (une femme a woman, une fille a girl) and nouns that refer to males are masculine (un homme a man, un garçon a boy). However, in most cases, especially with inanimate nouns, gender is unpredictable. Therefore, you must learn the gender along with the noun. Gender is often expressed not only in the noun, but also in the article that introduces it.

Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre

Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombr The indefinite articles (les articles indéfinis) mean a, an, or some. Un is used before masculine singular nouns; une is used before feminine singular nouns; and des is used before plural nouns. While some is often omitted in English, des cannot be omitted in French.

Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre In most cases, an s, which is not pronounced, is added to a singular noun to make it plural. Nouns that end in -eau like un tableau and un bureau add an x: des tableaux, des bureaux. Nouns that have been borrowed from the English language are usually masculine: un CD, un iPod®, un DVD.

Le genre et le nombre Some nouns that refer to people can be changed from masculine to feminine by adding an e. un étudiant (m.) a student une étudiante (f.) a student un ami (m.) a friend une amie (f.) a friend un Français a French man une Française a French woman

C’est vs. Ce sont To identify objects or people, use c’est (this is) followed by a singular article and noun and ce sont (these are) followed by a plural article and noun. Qu’est-ce que c’est? What is this? C’est un stylo Montblanc. This is a Montblanc pen. Ce sont des classeurs. These are folders.

Les articles définis / Les adjectifs qualificatifs Grammaire 3 Pour décrire Les articles définis / Les adjectifs qualificatifs

Les articles définis As you saw in Vocabulaire 3, French has four definite articles: le (m., sing.), la (f., sing.), l’ (sing. before a vowel sound), and les (m. pl. and f. pl.). They are often used to refer to nouns that were previously mentioned or to talk about specific nouns. In this usage, the definite article is equivalent to the in English.

Les articles définis C’est qui? C’est le professeur. Who is that? C’est le professeur. That’s the professor. Voici l’agrafeuse. Here’s the stapler. J’aime le stylo rouge. I like the red pen (as opposed to the blue pen).

Les articles définis Another use of definite articles is to designate nouns in a general sense. In this case, no article is used in English. J’étudie les langues. I study languages. Ma spécialisation est le chinois. My major is Chinese.

Les articles définis Definite articles are also used to indicate possession with the preposition de and the name of a person. When the person’s name begins with a vowel sound, de becomes d’. C’est le professeur de Paul. This is Paul’s professor. Ce sont les stylos de Paul et de Guy. These are Paul and Guy’s pens. Voici la table d’Anne. Here is Anne’s table.

Communication Reactions: Words often evoke positive, negative, or neutral feelings. Using the scale, indicate your attitudes toward each of the following words. Exemples: J’aime bien le cinéma. J’adore les vacances. Je déteste J’aime bien J’aime beaucoup J’adore 1. le football 6. les sports 2. le cinéma 7. les vacances 3. le chocolat 8. la politique 4. la nature 9. la télévision 5. la musique 10. la solitude

Les adjectifs qualificatifs Adjectives are words used to describe people, places, things, and ideas: serious student, intelligent young woman. In French, adjectives must agree with the noun or pronoun they modify. This means that they must agree in gender and number, just as articles (le, la, les, un, une, des) do. Descriptive adjectives (les adjectifs qualificatifs) normally follow the nouns they modify.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs For most adjectives, an e is added to the masculine form to create the feminine form. Add an s to the masculine and feminine forms to make them plural.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs Tom est intelligent. Sylvie est intelligente. Ils sont charmants. Elles sont charmantes.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs When an adjective of this type describes a group of males and females or objects that are both masculine and feminine in grammatical gender, use the masculine plural form. Tom et Sylvie sont intelligents. L’art (m.) et la musique sont importants.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs In the masculine singular form of adjectives of this type, the final consonant is silent. In the feminine singular form, the final consonant is pronounced. The final s of the plural forms is silent. Pierre est intelligent. Claire est intelligente. Ils sont intelligents. Elles sont intelligentes.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs Some adjectives have the same feminine and masculine forms. Most adjectives of this type end in e.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs Le journalisme est utile. La biologie est difficile. Mon professeur est dynamique. Norah Jones est célèbre.

Les adjectifs qualificatifs Examples: Je suis optimiste. Et vous? Moi, Je suis pessimiste. Est-ce que le prof est sympa? Non, il est sévère. Vous êtes très modeste(s). Monsieur Gate est très riche et célèbre. Les sales de classe sont modernes. La vie n’est pas facile.

Using the following adjectives tell where you fit on the scale from never “jamais” to always “toujours” Exemples: Je suis toujours honnête. Je suis rarement injuste. jamais rarement quelquefois toujours 1. optimiste 6. pessimiste 2. désagréable 7. honnête 3. modeste 8. triste 4. injuste 9. irrésistible 5. Sévère 10. sympathique