Français I – Leçon 7B Structures 1. Les Adverbes 2. L’Imparfait 3. Les verbes: dire, lire, et écrire

Les Adverbes Adverbs describe how, when and where actions take place. They modify verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. You’ve already learned some adverbs such as bien, déjà, surtout and très.

To form an adverb from an adjective that ends in a consonant, take the feminine singular form and add –ment. This ending is equivalent to the English –ly. mas. sing. adj. fem. sing. adj. adverb actif active activement (actively)

If the masculine singular form of an adjective ands in a vowel, just add –ment to the end. mas. sing. adj adverb (absolutely) absolu absolument

To form an adverb from an adjective that ends in –ant or –ent in the masculine singular, replace the ending with –amment or –emment. (Both ending are pronounced the same.) mas. sing. adj adverb différent différemment (differently)

Here is a list of adverbs that follow the previously mentioned rules. franchement = frankly, honestly heureusement = fortunately malheureusement = unfortunately vraiment = really constamment = constantly couramment = fluently évidemment = obviously

Some adverbs are irregular bon  bien = well gentil  gentiment = nicely mauvais  mal = badly Adverbs of frequency de temps en temps = from time to time en général = in general quelquefois = sometimes jamais = never parfois = sometimes rarement = rarely souvent = often

Where to place adverbs: Place an adverb that modifies an adjective or another adverb before the word it modifies. La chambre est vraiment grande. (The bedroom is really big.) Place an adverb that modifies a verb immediately after the verb. Elles parlent constamment! (They talk constantly!)

L’imparfait In English, the imperfect tense refers to actions or conditions in the past that were ongoing, that occurred regularly, or that were going on when another event occurred. (Remember that passé composé was used when talking about specific events that occurred with a definite start and finish)

In English, you say that an action or event occurred regularly in the past by using the words use to or would. During the week, she would get up at 7:00. My brother and I used to call each other often.

In French, you use the imperfect tense or l’imparfait for the following reasons: To describe an ongoing past action with no reference to its beginning or end. To express habitual or repeated past actions and events. To describe mental, physical, and emotional states or conditions.

How to form the imparfait To form the stem of the imperfect tense, drop the –ons ending from the nous form of the verb in the present tense. The imperfect stems of regular –er, -re, and –ir verbs are as follows: chanter: nous chantons  chant- attendre: nous attendons  attend- choisir: nous choisissons  choisiss-

Irregular verbs The imperfect stems of irregular verbs also come from the nous form of the verb in present tense. avoir: nous avons  av- aller: nous allons  all- faire: nous faisons  fais- prendre: nous prenons  pren- *Notice that the imperfect stem of the verb être is not based on the nous form. être: nous sommes  ét-

To the stems, you add the following imparfait endings Je -ais nous -ions Tu -ais vous -iez Il -ait ils -aient Elle -ait elles -aient On -ait

Example sentences with l’imparfait Quand j’étais jeune, j’étais petite. Quand tu étais jeune, tu étais petit aussi. Il habitait avec ses parents. Elle avait un chien. Nous parlions tous le temps. Vous faisiez les devoirs après le dîner. Ils avaient mal à la tête. Elles allaient à l’école chaque jour.

dire = to say je dis nous disons tu dis vous dites ils/elles disent il/elle/on dit passé composé: avoir + dit (Nous avons dit que il est amusant.) imparfait: dis + correct imparfait ending (Je le disais.)

lire = to read je lis nous lisons tu lis vous lisez ils/elles lisent il/elle/on lit ils/elles lisent passé composé: avoir + lu imparfait: lis + correct imparfait ending

écrire = to write j’écris nous écrivons tu écris vous écrivez il/elle/on écrit ils/elles écrivent passé composé: avoir + écrit imparfait: écriv + correct imparfait ending **décrire (to describe) is conjugated just like écrire.