moutamani chafik French language lessons

French Language Lessons
by Wikibooks

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Introduction to Studying French
2. Reading French - Lire le français

Lessons
1. Leçon 1 : Se présenter
Lesson 1: Introducing Yourself
2. Leçon 2 : Grammaire de base
Lesson 2: Basic Grammar
3. Leçon 3 : Voyager
Lesson 3: Travelling
4. Leçon 4 : Verbes
Lesson 4: Verbs
5. Leçon 5 : Récréation
Lesson 5: Recreation
6. Leçon 6 : Le passé
Lesson 6: Past Tense
7. Leçon 7 : La famille
Lesson 7: Family
8. Leçon 8 : L'école
Lesson 8: School
9. Leçon 9 : La nourriture et les boissons
Lesson 9: Food and Drink
10.Leçon 10 : Faire des courses
Lesson 10: Shopping
11.Leçon 11 : La maison
Lesson 11: The House
12.Leçon 12 : Le corps

Lesson 12: The Body
13.Leçon 13 : La culture
Lesson 13: Culture

Introduction to Studying French
About French
French is a Romance language, descended from Latin and closely related to Portuguese, Spanish,
Italian, and Romanian. It is the native tongue of over 77 million people and has an additional 68 million
non-native speakers. In medieval times and until the 19th century, it was often the language used in
diplomacy, culture, administration, royal courts across Europe and also in trade, thus appropriately
becoming the lingua franca of its time.
In modern terms, it is still significantly used as a diplomatic language, being an official language of the
United Nations, the Olympic Games, and the European Union. It 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 - notably New Brunswick, which is the only bilingual
province. All consumer product packages in Canada are required by law to have both English and
French labels).
French-speaking people have made incursions upon the British Isles many times in the past, most
noticeably in the Norman Invasion of 1066. For this reason, although English is a Germanic language,
at least a third of the English lexicon is derived from French.

Advice on Studying French
French tends to have a bad reputation amongst 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 to
be 'difficult', and yet we learnt it without the benefit of already knowing a language.
Learning any new language requires some commitment, generally long-term. Remember that, like any
skill, it requires a certain amount of effort. And if you do not practice your French regularly, it is highly
likely that you will begin to forget it. Try to make it a part of your schedule; even if it's not daily, at
least make it regular.
Remember that you are learning a new skill. Try to master the simple stuff before moving on to the
more complex. 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, this is 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, finding a native speaker to help you once you have some skill will help you with these
skills.

The very best way to learn French is to get amnesia in France or another French-speaking country. This
allows you to start with a clean slate, as babies do. However, most of us are unwilling to take that step.
The next best thing is immersion. If you are serious about learning French, a period of immersion
(where you go to live in a Francophone culture) is a good idea once you are moderately studied. Most
countries are in the relative vicinity of a French-speaking country.
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. 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. Again, an excellent source is Google's news page, which links
to French-language news stories, which will enrich your vocabulary.

Reading French - Lire le français

The French alphabet
name in
letter pronunciation
French(in IPA transcription)
Aa like a in father /a/
Bb like b in baby* /be/
before e and i: like c in center
Cc /se/
before a, o, or u: like c in cat
Dd like d in dog /de/
Ee approx. like oo in book** /ə/
Ff like f in fog /ɛf/
before e and i: like s in measure
Gg /ʒe/
before a, o, or u: like g in get
aspirated h: see note below*
Hh /aʃ/
non-aspirated h: not pronounced***
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 /o/

open: like o in nose
Pp like p in pen* /pe/
/ky/ see 'u'
Qq like k in kite
for details
force air through the back of your throat
Rr /ɛʀ/
just as if you were gargling
like s in sister at begining
Ss of word or with two s's /ɛs/
or like z in amazing if only one s
Tt like t in top /te/
Say the English letter e,
Uu /y/
but make your lips say "oo".
Vv like v in violin /ve/
Depending on the derivation of the
Ww word, /dubləve/
like v as in violin, or w in water
either /ks/ in socks,
Xx /iks/
or /gz/ in exit
Yy like ea in leak /igrək/
Zz like z in zebra /zɛd/
Audio: OGG (101KB)

Final consonants and the liaison

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') and x (as in 'paresseux'), are never pronounced at the end of a
word.

b and p

Unlike English, when you pronounce the letters 'b' and 'p' in French, little to no air should be expended
from 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 related to the similarly named concept of 'h' aspiré below,
but is a slight extra puff of air accompanies the stop). Fortunately, in English both aspirated and
unaspirated variants (allophones) actually 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).

EXERCISE 1
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!

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
artcle in front of it, it becomes l'héroïne, and is pronounced as one word.
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
habiter, to live (j'habite...)
j'haïs...)
huit, eight (le huit novembre) harmonie, harmony (l'harmonie)

EXERCISE 2
1. Grab an English-French-English dictionary, and find at least ten aspirated h words, and ten non-
aspirated h words
2. Make a column of the two categories of h-word.
3. Look at it every day and memorize the columns.

Accents
There are five different kinds of accent marks used in written French. They are:
accent letters examples

used
acute accent
é only éléphant: elephant
(accent aigu)
grave accent fièvre: fever, là, there
è, à, ù
(accent grave) où: where
gâteau: cake, être: to be, île: island,
circumflex â, ê, î,
chômage: unemployment,
(accent circonflexe) ô, û
dû: past participle of devoir
diaeresis Noël: Christmas, maïs: corn, aigüe:
ë, ï, ü, ÿ**
(tréma) acute(fem)*
cedilla
ç only français: French
(cédille)
• 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 not known in vulgar surrounding, both spellings can be
used interchangeably (you might even get a point knocked off if you write "aigüe" in a text, it
happened to me!)
• Note : The letter ÿ is only used in very rare words, most old town names : L'Haÿ-Les-
Roses (Paris surburb). Pronounced like ï.

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 /ay/.
One use of the accent aigu is to form the past participle or 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:
• Ex.:
• 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.

Grave accent, accent grave

• 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, et al.)
la (definite article for feminine
là (there)
nouns)
ou (conjunction, or) où (where)
• è

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

Leçon 1 : Se présenter - Lesson 1: Introducing Yourself
Dialogue 1
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.

Vocabulary 1

Audio: OGG (353Kb)
bonjour, salut hello (formal), hi (informal)
Comment allez-vous? (formal),comment ça va?/ça
how are you?
va ? (informal)
ça va bien I'm doing well (lit. I'm going well)
merci thank you
et toi ? et vous ? and you? (informal) and you? (formal)
pas mal not bad
bien good

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. not big-thing)
bye (lit. with reseeing, akin to German auf
au revoir
Wiedersehen)
à demain see you tomorrow (lit. at tomorrow)
Au revoir, à demain. Bye, see you tomorrow

Dialogue 2

Audio: Ogg (65 Kb)
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 suis Marc Bernard. Enchanté.
• Monsieur Lambert : Enchanté.

Vocabulary 2

Audio: Ogg (55Kb)
Bonjour Hello; Good day
Comment vous appelez-vous?/Quel est votre What is your name? (formal) (lit. how are you
nom? called)
Tu t'appelles comment? What is your name? (informal)
Je m'appelle... My name is... (lit. I am called...)
Vous You (formal)
Moi Me
Je I
Je suis... I am...
Enchanté(e). Nice to meet you (lit. enchanted)

Vous vs. tu

It is important to know when to use "vous" and when to use "tu" in French.

"Vous" is a plural form of "you". This is somewhat equivalent to "y'all", "youse", "you guys", "all of
you", except that it is much more formal than all but the latter example.
"Vous" is also used to refer to single individuals to show respect, to be polite or to be neutral. It is used
in occasions when talking to someone who is important, someone who is older than you are, or
someone you are unfamiliar with. 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 and a family member, and also used between children or when addressing a
child. If it is used when speaking to a stranger, it signals disrespect.
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 French alphabet

The French alphabet is: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
An approximate pronounciation is: ah bay say day euh eff jhay ash ee zhee kah el em enn oh pay ku
air ess tay ue vay dubl-vay eeks ee-grehk zedh
Audio: OGG (101KB)
In addition, French uses several accents which are worth understanding. These are: à, è, ù, (grave
accents) and é (acute accent) which only applies to e. A circumflex applies to all vowels as well: â, ê, î,
ô, û. And also a tréma (French for diaerasis) for vowels: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ and combined letters: æ and œ

Describing yourself
Now that you have successfully said hello and how are you to your partner, it would be a good idea to
tell them a little about yourself. When stating your nationality or job, it is not necessary to say that you
are 'un(e)' whatever-it-is, only that, for example, "Je suis Australienne". This is an exception to the
normal rule.
Please use the The Nations of the World Appendix to find out what your country is called in French,
and its gender.
Please note that there is both a masculine and feminine form of saying your nationality - for males and
females respectively.
To say where you live now, you use the verb habiter - "to live (somewhere)" and you form it using the
first person "Je" form (I/me) present tense - "Je habite" - which truncates to "J'habite". You then
choose the right gender for the word "in", en, or aux.

Leçon 2 : Grammaire de base - Lesson 2: Basic Grammar

Grammar: Gender of Nouns | Grammaire: Genre des Noms
In French, all nouns have a grammatical gender, that is, they are masculine or feminine for the
purposes of grammar only.
Most nouns that express entities with gender (people and animals) use both a feminine form and a
masculine form, for example, the two words for "actor" in French are acteur (m) and actrice (f).
The nouns that express entities without 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;
l'ordinateur (the computer) can only be masculine.
There are some nouns that express entities with gender for which there is only one form, which is used
regardless of the actual gender of the entity, for example, the word for person; personne; is always
feminine, even if the person is male, and the word for teacher; professeur; is always masculine even if
the teacher is female.
Examples:
Audio: Ogg (113 Kb)
Masculine
le cheval the horse
le chien the dog
le livre the book
le bruit the noise
Some endings that are usually used with masculine nouns are:
-age le fromage the cheese
le
-r the teacher
professeur
-t le chat the cat
le
-isme capitalism
capitalisme
Feminine
la colombe the dove
la chemise the shirt
la maison the house
la liberté liberty
Some endings that are usually used with feminine nouns are:
la
-ie the bakery
boulangerie
-ion la nation the nation
-ite/- la fraternité brotherhood

ité
-nne/- la fille the girl
mme/-
lle l’indienne the Indian
-nce la balance the scales

Unfortunately, there are many exceptions in French which can only be learnt. There are even words
that are spelt the same, but have a different meaning when masculine or feminine; for example, un livre
(m) means a book, but une livre (f) means a pound! Some words that appear to be masculine (like la
photo) 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 write vocabulary lists with the genders and learn the genders
along with the words.

Grammar: Definite and Indefinite Articles

The Definite Article

In English, the definite article is always “the”.
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.
Audio: Ogg (78Kb)
the
feminine la la fille
singular daughter
masculine le le fils the son
singular, starting with a
l’ l’enfant the child
vowel sound
the
les filles
daughters
plural les les fils the sons
les
the children
enfants

Note: Unlike English, the definate article is used to talk about something in a general sense, a general
statement or feeling about an idea or thing.

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.
Audio: Ogg (55Kb)
feminine une une fille a daughter
singular
masculine un un fils a son
des filles some daughters
plural des
des fils* some sons
• Note : "des fils" does mean "some sons" but is an homograph: it can also mean "some threads".
• Note : des is used in French before plural nouns when no article is used in English. For
example, In the sentence I see people , people would be des gens and not simply gens.
Remember that if you are making a statement about people in general, such as I like people, les
gens would be used.

Grammar: Subject pronouns
French has six different types of pronouns: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and the 1st, 2nd, and
3rd person plural.
Audio: Ogg (61Kb)

1st singular je I
person plural nous we
2nd singular tu you
person plural vous you
il, elle,
singular he, she, one
3rd on
person ils, they (masculine), they
plural
elles (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 lesson 1.
In addition to the nuances between vous and tu, as discussed in lesson 1, 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 beaucoup 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 if there is only one male in a group of thousands of females.

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).

Grammar: 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", which is the only example of English verb
conjugation; (I am; (thou art); you are; he/she is; we are; they are;). Most French verbs will conjugate
into many different forms.

The verb être
Être can be translated to “to be” in English. Here, we will look at the conjugations in the present tense,
or present indicative. There is one conjugation for each of the six subject pronouns.

Être Audio: Ogg (103Kb)
French English French English
1st nous
je suis I am we are
person sommes
you you
2nd
tu es are(famili vous êtes are(polite
person
ar) or plural)
3rd il/elle/o he/she/on ils/elles
they are
person n est e is sont

Examples

Je suis avocat. I am (a) lawyer.
Tu es à la banque. You are at the bank.
Il est beau. He is handsome.

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

Grammar: The verb avoir
"Avoir" can be translated as "to have".

Avoir Audio: Ogg (100Kb)
avoir - to have
1st person j'ai I have nous avons we have
2nd person tu as you have vous avez you have (polite)
3rd person il/elle/on a he/she/one has ils/elles ont they have

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.

Leçon 3 : Voyager - Lesson 3: Travelling

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

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 masculine form
• un garçon intéressant --> des garçons intéressants
• une fille intéressante --> des filles intéressantes

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 Pronuciation: intéressan, amusan, len

• Feminine Pronunciation: intéressant, amusant, lent
For more advanced rules, see the topic: French Adjectives: Describing Nouns in French

Vocabulary: Nationalities
Here is a list of nationalities: Audio: Ogg (300Kb)
Masculine Feminine English
allemand allemande German
américain américaine American
anglais anglaise English
australien australienne Australian
belge belge Belgian
birman birmane Burmese
cambodgien cambodgienne Cambodian
canadien canadienne Canadian
chinois chinoise Chinese
coréen coréenne Korean
espagnol espagnole Spanish
français française French
indien indienne Indian
indonésien indonésienne Indonesian
italien italienne Italian
japonais japonaise Japanese
malaisien malaisienne Malaysian
mauricien mauricienne Mauritian
néerlandais néerlandaise Dutch
philippin philippine Filipino
portugais portugaise Portuguese
singapourien singapourienne Singaporean
suédois suédoise Swedish
suisse suisse Swiss
thaïlandais thaïlandaise Thai
vénézuélien vénézuéliene Venezuelan
vietnamien vietnamienne Vietnamese
Nationalities are not capitalized as often in French as they are in English. If you are referring to a
person, as in an Arab person or a Chinese person, the French equivalent is un Arabe or un Chinois.

However, if you are referring to the Arabic language or Chinese language, the French would not
capitalize: l'arabe; le chinois. If the nationality is used as an adjective, it is normally left uncapitalized;
un livre chinois, un tapis arabe.

Grammar - 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.
Examples
Il est avocat. He is [a] lawyer.

Il n'est pas avocat. He is not [a] lawyer.

Nous faisons nos devoirs. We are doing our homework.

Nous ne faisons pas nos devoirs. We are not doing our homework.

Je joue du piano. I play the piano.

Je ne joue pas du piano. I do not play the piano.

Vous vendez votre voiture. You sell your car.

Vous ne vendez pas votre
You do not sell your car.
voiture.

When negating with the indefinite article (un, une), the indefinite article changes to de.
Examples
Il est belge. He is Belgian.

Il n'est pas belge. He is not Belgian.

Nous lisons un livre. We read a book.

Nous ne lisons pas de livre. We do not read a book.

Je mange une cerise. I eat a cherry.

Je ne mange pas de cerise. I do not eat a cherry.

When negating in the passé composé, the ne ... pas (in this case, n'... pas) are placed around the
auxillary avoir.
For more, see Negative Expressions

Vocabulary: Traveling
Audio: Ogg (Kb)
il y a there is, there are
l’aéroport (m.) airport
l’autobus (m.) bus
l’avion (m.) aircraft, airplane
les bagages baggage
le billet ticket (for train, airplane)
le métro subway, underground
la poste post office
le taxi taxi
le ticket ticket (for bus, métro)
le train train
la valise suitcase
la voiture car

Vocabulary: Colors
Audio: Ogg (Kb)
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)
brown (except
brun brune for hair = Dark
Haired)
rose rose pink
safran safranne saffron

Vocabulary: Numbers
Audio: Ogg (Kb)
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-
91-99
neuf]
cent 100 une centaine (one hundred)
[deux - neuf] cent 200-900
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,etc) have "et un"; but past this it is simply both words consecutivly
(vingt-six, trente-trois, etc)
• 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.

Vocabulary: Time
Audio: Ogg (Kb)
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.
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 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.

Vocabulary: Days
Quel jour sommes-nous
What day is it?
aujourd’hui ?
Nous sommes... It is...
lundi Monday
mardi Tuesday
mercredi Wednesday
jeudi Thursday
vendredi Friday
samedi Saturday
dimanche Sunday
avant-hier the day before yesterday
hier yesterday
aujourd’hui today
demain tomorrow
après-demain the day after tomorrow
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.

Leçon 4 : Verbes - Lesson 4: Verbs

Grammar - Regular Verbs
French has three different types of regular verbs: -er, -ir, and -re verbs. To conjugate, drop the -er, -ir,
or -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. Conjugations for jouer (to play), finir (to finish), and
attendre (to wait) are shown as examples.
-er verbs; jouer - to play
pronoun ending verb
je -e joue
tu -es joues
il/elle -e joue
nous -ons jouons
vous -ez jouez
ils/elles -ent jouent
-ir verbs; finir - to finish
pronoun ending verb
je -is finis
tu -is finis
il/elle -it finit
nous -issons finissons
vous -issez finissez
ils/elles -issent finissent
-re verbs; attendre – to wait
pronoun ending verb
je (j') -s attends
tu -s attends
il/elle - attend
nous -ons attendons
vous -ez attendez
ils/elles -ent attendent
Note: In all conjugations, je changes to j ' when followed by a vowel. Example: J'attends. Also, as a
rule of thumb: "h" is considered a vowel; as in "J'habite...".

Grammar - Irregular Verbs

Grammar - 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) as follows:
faire - to do, to make
1st person je fais I do nous faisons we do
2nd person tu fais you do vous faites you do (polite)
3rd person il/elle fait he/she/it does ils/elles font they do

Grammar - Avoir

The verb avoir translates to to have. It is not a regular -ir verb; it is irregularly conjugated.
avoir - to have
1st person j'ai I have nous avons we have
2nd person tu as you have vous avez you have (polite)
3rd person il/elle a he/she/it has ils/elles ont they have
For a list of all irregular verbs, see Irregular Verb Conjugations

Leçon 5 : Récréation - Lesson 5: Recreation

Example Dialog
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.

Vocabulary for Dialog
Qu'est-ce que vous faîtes? What are you doing?
faire to do
jouer to play
finir to finish
(mes) devoirs (my) homework
attendre to wait (for)
(mon) ami(e) (my) friend
aller to go
le parc park
venir to come
le stade stadium

Grammar - 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.

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

aller
je vais
tu vas
il va
nous allons
vous allez
ils vont

Aller is used with the preposition à. Example: Je vais au stade.

Grammar - Venir
The verb venir is translated to to come. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -ir
verb) as follows:

venir
je viens
tu viens
il vient
nous venons
vous venez
ils viennent
When it means to come from, venir is used with the preposition de. Example: Nous venons du stade.
You can also use venir with a verb to state that you have recently accomplished an action. Example: Je
viens de finir mes devoirs (I've just finished my homework).

Vocabulary - Places
la bibliothèque library (caution: a librairie is a bookshop)
le parc park
la piscine swimming pool
la plage beach
le restaurant restaurant
salle de concert concert hall
le stade stadium
le théâtre theater

Grammar - 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.

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

Leçon 6 : Le passé - Lesson 6: Past Tense

Grammar - Past Tense
Passé composé, passé simple, imparfait and plus-que-parfait are the four most common past tenses in
French, though passé simple is used in writing only.

Passé composé

It is a compound tense--it has two parts. The first is the auxiliary verb, the second is the past participle.
Every verb has one past participle that does not change (there are some exceptions, as one will learn
later).
There are two auxiliary verbs: avoir and être. One must only conjugate the proper auxiliary, and then
merely add on the past participle.
To find the past participle, the stem of the infinitive must be determined. To do so, drop the -er, -ir, -oir
or -re, as usual. Then, add an ending as shown in the following table:

word Example Verb Remove Ending Add Ending Example P. Part

jouer -er -é joué

finir -ir -i fini

vouloir -oir -u voulu

attendre -re -u attendu

However, the verbs avoir, être, and faire have irregular past participles.
verb P. Part.

avoir eu

être été

faire fait

Most verbs form the passé composé with avoir, however there are a small number of verbs that are
always conjugated with être. The most common are:
verb example

aller Je suis allé au cinéma. I went to the cinema.

venir I came to France.
Je suis venu en 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.

Je suis entré dans ma
entrer I entered my room.
chambre.

rentre Il est rentré tôt de l'école. He came back early from school.

(I recommend adding this, and don't know how to put in the circumflex). Also, reflexive or pronomial
verbs must be conjugated with être under most circumstances. For example, the verb "se reflechir" is
conjugated in the first person singular by je me suis reflechi.
The verbs that take être can be easily remebered by the Acronym MRS. RD VANDERTRAMP:
• M:monté
• R:resté
• S:sorti
• R:revenu
• D:devenu
• V:venu
• A:arrivé
• N:né
• D:descendu
• E:entré
• R:rentré
• T:tombé
• R:retourné
• A:allé
• M:mort
• P:parti
However, 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 baggages" becomes:
• J'ai descendu mes baggages

Another example:

• Je suis monté with the direct object "mes baggages" becomes:
• J'ai monté mes baggages

Yet another example but with ils instead of Je:

• Ils sont sortis with direct object "leur passport" becomes:
• Ils ont sorti leur passport

Passé simple

Unlike English, there is a literary past tense, used when writing formally. This past tense is named the
passé simple. It is relatively simple to predict when to use this tense; for every occurrence of the passé
composé in conversational French, one simply uses the passé simple in literary French.
To conjugate in this tense, one finds the stem and appends the following, as according to the table:
Subject Add Ending Conjugated Verb

Je -ai dansai

Tu -as dansas

Il / Elle / On -a dansa

Nous -âmes dansâmes

Vous -âtes dansâtes

Ils / Elles -èrent dansèrent

It should be noted that être, along with a few other verbs are consistent in their irregularities in the
passé simple as well.

Imperfect - Imparfait

The imparfait is used to "set the tone" of a past situation. An example in English being: "We were
singing when Dad came home." It tells what was going on when a particular action or event occured. In
French, the above example would be: "Nous chantions quand papa est rentré."
In order to conjugate the imperfect,
• take the 1st person plural of the verb you want to conjugate:
jouer (to play)

singular plural
1st person je joue nous jouons
2nd person tu joues vous jouez
3rd person il joue ils jouent
• Remove the -ons ending to find the stem, and add these endings:

subject ending jouer (nous jouons) finir (nous finissons) attendre (nous attendons)
je -ais jouais finissais attendais
tu -ais jouais finissais attendais
il/elle/on -ait jouait finissait attendait
nous -ions jouions finissions attendions
vous -iez jouiez finissiez attendiez
ils/elles/ -aient jouaient finissaient attendaient
• Note: The only verb that has an irregular stem (one not derived from the nous form of the
present idicative) is être. The imperfect ending are added to ét___. Every other verb uses the
nous form of the present indicative as its root.
• Note: For more information, see Imperfect (French)

Plus-que-parfait

The plus-que-parfait is used when there are two occurrences in the past and one wants to symbolise
that one occurrence happened before the other. In English, this is used in a phrase like "I had given him
the toy before he went to sleep." In this example, there are two past tenses, but they occur at different
times. The plus-que-parfait can be used to indicate the occurrence of one before the other. Essentially,
the past before the past.
In French, the plus-que-parfait is formed by conjugating the auxiliary verb in the imparfait and adding
the past participle. So to conjugate je mange (I eat) in the plus-que-parfait, one finds the appropriate
auxiliary verb (avoir), conjugates it (avais) and finds the past participle of manger (mangé). So, the
conjugation of Je mange in the plus-que-parfait becomes j'avais mangé or, in English, I had eaten.

Examples

J'ai parlé français. I spoke French (on one particular occasion).

I spoke French (during a period of time, and I don't speak French any
Je parlais français.
more).

Nous avons réussi
We passed the test.
l'examen.

Il a été mon ami. He was my friend (and he is not my friend any more)

Il était mon ami lorsque... He was my friend when . . .

Ils ont fait leurs devoirs. They did their homework.

Il est venu. He came (and I don't need to say when)

Il vint le lendemain. He came the day after.

Il venait tous les jours. He came/used to come every day.

Il était déjà venu. He had already come.

It should be noted that these examples are making use of all the possible past tenses; not just the plus-
que-parfait.

Grammar - Object Pronouns

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 mange du
Pierre eats some bread.
pain.

Pierre le mange. Pierre eats it.

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:
me/ m' me

te/ t' you

le/ l' he, it

la/ l' she, it

nous us

vous you

les them

Notes:
• 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 te
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.

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:
L'homme donne du pain à
The man gives some bread to Pierre.
Pierre.

Il lui donne du pain. He gives bread to him.

The following table shows the various types of direct object pronouns:
me/ m' me

te/ t' you

lui he, she, it

nous us

vous you

leur them

Notes:
• 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.
The bread is given by the man (direct). Pierre gets the given apple (indirect).

Leçon 7 : La famille - Lesson 7: Family

Vocabulary - The Family
les parents parents
le père father
la mère mother
le frère brother
la soeur sister
les enfants children
le fils son
la fille daughter
les grand-parents grandparents
le grand-père grandfather
la grand-mère grandmother
les petits-enfants grandchildren
le petit-fils grandson
la petite-fille granddaughter
l'oncle uncle
la tante aunt
le neveu nephew
la nièce niece
le cousin cousin (m)
la cousine cousin (f)
le mari husband
la femme wife
ma famille
my extended family
éloignée

Leçon 8 : L'école - Lesson 8: School

Vocabulary - School
le professeur teacher
l'étudiant student (m)
l'étudiante student (f)
le stylo pen
le crayon pencil
la calculatrice calculator
le pupitre desk
le tableau chalkboard
la craie chalk
le livre book
le bouquin book
le cahier notebook
le papier paper
la feuille de papier sheet of paper

l'école (f) school
le collège high school (grades 6-9)
le lycée high school (grades 10-12)
l'université (f) university
la fac(ulté) university
la bibliothèque library
la bourse scholarship

l'examen (m) test
les devoirs homework
la classe class

intelligent(e) intelligent
stupide stupid
Note:
• 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 Subjunctive Mood - Le subjonctif
The subjunctive mood is rarely used in English. It is used in French, we conjugate the verb differently
to express:
• doubt (Je doute que...)
• emotion (Je crois[believe] que...)
• desire (Je veux[want] que...)
• other 'subjective' expression. (Il faut que...)
An example expression that uses the subjunctive: Je veux que tu viennes. meaning "I want you to
come" (literally: "I want that you come").
Another common example is the "Il faut que..." phrase, meaning "It is nesesary that".
The conjugation of the present subjunctive (the present tense in the subjunctive mood) is not that
difficult. Simply remove the 'ent' from the 'ils/elles' form of the verb and add the appropriate endings.
MANGER - Ils/Elles mangent - Stem mang
Que je mange
Que tu manges
Que il/elle/on mange
Que nous mangions
Que vous mangiez
Que ils/elles mangent

The ending are the same for most irregular verbs as well as 'ir' and 're' verbs.
FINIR - Ils/Elles finissent - Stem finiss'
Que je finisse
Que tu finisses
Que il/elle/on finisse
Que nous finissions
Que vous finissiez
Que ils/elles finissent

Unfortunately there are many verbs which are irregular in the subjunctive mood.
Our good friends être and avoir are irregular in the present subjunctive as well. These are important
because in the past subjunctive (the passé composé in subjunctive) what is needed is the auxiliary verbs
in the subjunctive.
ETRE
Que je sois
Que tu sois
Qu'il/elle/on soit
Que nous soyons
Que vous soyez
Qu'ils/elles soient

AVOIR
Que j'aie
Que tu aies
Qu'il/elle/on ait
Que nous ayons
Que vous ayez
Qu'ils/elles aient

Other irregular verbs in the subjunctive

ALLER
Que je aille
Que tu ailles
Qu'il/elle/on aille
Que nous allions
Que vous alliez
Qu'ils/elles allient

FAIRE
Que je fasse
Que tu fasses
Qu'il/elle/on fasse
Que nous fassions
Que vous fassiez
Qu'ils/elles fassent

Phrases

Present
• Il faut que vous fassies votres devoirs.
• Il faut que vous alliez à l'école.
• Il faut écouter la prof. - It's nesesary to listen to the teacher
-To make a general statement using "Il faut que..." that does not have a subject, you may use the
infinive.
• Je crois que tu aies lu le livre. (I believe that you have read the book)
-This statement is in the Passé Subjonctif. Notice how the "helping verb" is conjugated in the
subjonctif, but the Passé Composé participle is used for the verb. -Lu is the past participle for Lire, to
read.
• Note: For more informatiion see the topic.

Leçon 9 : La nourriture et les boissons - Lesson 9: Food
and Drink

Vocabulary - Food and Drink

General

la cuisine kitchen
la salle à manger dining room
le restaurant restaurant

avoir faim to be hungry
avoir soif to be thirsty
manger to eat
boire to drink
prendre to take
vouloir to want

le repas the meal
le petit-déjeuner breakfast
le déjeuner lunch
le dîner dinner
Canadian and Belgian French has an off-by-one behaviour with meals : breakfast is called déjeuner,
lunch is called dîner and dinner is souper.

Fruits and Vegetables

les fruits fruits
la banane banana
la cerise cherry
le citron lemon
la fraise strawberry
l'orange (f) orange
la pomme apple
le raisin grape
les légumes vegetables

la carotte carrot
les épinards spinach
l'oignon (m) onion
les petits pois peas
la pomme de terre potato
la tomate tomato

Meat and Seafood

la viande meat
l'agneau (m) lamb
la dinde turkey
le jambon ham
le porc pork
le poulet chicken
le boeuf beef
la saucisse sausage
les fruits de mer (m pl) shellfish, seafood
La coquille Saint-
scallop
Jacques(f)
le poisson fish
les anchois (m pl) anchovies
le saumon salmon
l'anguille (f) eel

Dairy Products

les produits laitiers - dairy products
le beurre butter
le fromage cheese
le lait milk
le yaourt/le
yogurt
yoghurt

Drinks

les boissons - drinks
la bière beer
le café coffee
le chocolat chaud hot chocolate
la limonade 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

Desserts

le dessert - dessert
le bonbon candy
le chocolat chocolate
le gâteau cake
la glace ice cream
la mousse mousse
la tarte pie

Other Foods

la confiture jam
les frites "French fries"
la mayonnaise mayonnaise
la moutarde mustard
le pain bread
le poivre pepper
le riz rice

le sel salt
le sucre sugar

Silverware, Etc.

l'assiette (f) plate
le bol bowl
le couteau knife
la cuillère spoon
la fourchette fork
la serviette napkin
la tasse cup
le verre glass

Grammar - Manger
The verb manger is translated to to eat. It is a regular -er verb that is stem changing. Stem changing
verbs have slight changes in the stem, but use endings employed in conjugating other regular verbs.
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.
manger - to eat
je mange
tu manges
il mange
nous mangeons
vous mangez
ils mangent

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

tu bois
il boit
nous buvons
vous buvez
ils boivent
The irregular past participle for boire is bu.

Grammar - Vouloir
The verb vouloir is translated to to want. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -ir
verb) as follows:
vouloir - to want
je veux
tu veux
il veut
nous voulons
vous voulez
ils veulent

Grammar - Partitive Article
The partitive article de indicates, among other things, the word some. As learnt 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.
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 learnt 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.
We did not eat some pie/ We did not eat any
Nous n'avons pas mangé de tarte.
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?)

Grammar - En & Y
Note how we say Je veux du pain to say 'I want some bread' ? But what happens when we want to say 'I
want some' without specifying what we want? In these cases, we use the pronoun 'en'. As well, 'en' can
mean 'of it' when 'it' is not specified. For instance, instead of saying J'ai besoin de l'argent, if the idea
of money has already been raised, we can just say 'J'en ai besoin'. This is because what en does is
replace du, de la or des when there is nothing after it.
Like with 'me', 'te' and other pronouns, en (meaning 'some') comes before the verb.
Tu joue 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 Did you order some water? Yes, we ordered
commandé. some.

The other pronoun that works like this is 'y'. Just as en replaces du, de la, and des when there is no noun
specified, 'y' replaces au, à, and aux when there is no noun specified. It mostly means there.
Tu vas à l'école? Oui, j'y vais. Do you go to school? Yes, I go there.
Vous êtes allées au nouveau café? Non, nous n'y Did you go to the new cafe? No, we didn't go
sommes pas allées. there.
Ils jouent au foot? Oui, ils y jouent. Do they play football/soccer? Yes, they play it.
She thinks about boys. Yes, I think about it
Elle pense aux garçons. Oui, j'y pense aussi.
(them) as well.
For more detailed information, see French Pronouns

Leçon 10 : Faire des courses - Lesson 10: Shopping

Vocabulary - Shopping
French English
faire des courses; faire du shopping to go shopping
faire du lèche-vitrine to go window shopping
acheter to buy
payer to pay
vendre to sell

le magasin shop; store
le supermarché supermarket
le hypermarché hypermarket; big supermarket
le grand magasin department store
la boucherie butcher shop 1
la boulangerie bakery 2
le dépôt de pain a place that sells bread 2
la charcuterie delicatessen 3
l'épicerie grocery 4
le marché outdoor market
la pâtisserie pastry shop
la pharmacie pharmacy; chemist
1. French butchers do not sell pork, pork products, nor horsemeat. For these products, go to a
charcuterie.
2. In France, bakeries only sell fresh bread. Places where they sell bread that is not fresh are called
dépôt de pain.
3. 'Charcuteries' sell things besides pork products, including pâte, salami, cold meats, salads,
quiches and pizzas.
4. An alternative to an 'épicerie' is an alimentation générale (a general foodstore).

Grammar - Acheter
The verb acheter translates to to buy. It is a regular -er verb, but, like manger, it is stem changing.
Unlike manger, the stem change applies to all forms except nous and vous. The stem change, which
applies in all verbs with an e in the second-to-last syllable, involves adding a grave accent ( ` ) over the
e in the stem, as shown in the following table:
acheter - to buy
1st person j'achète I buy nous achetons we buy

2nd person tu achètes you buy vous achetez you buy (polite)
he/she/it
3rd person il/elle achète ils/elles achètent they buy
buys
[edit]

Grammar - Payer
The verb payer translates to to pay. It is a regular -er verb, but, it is also stem changing. Like acheter,
the stem change applies to all forms except nous and vous. The stem change, which applies in all verbs
ending in -yer, involves changing the y to an i, as shown in the following table:
payer - to pay
1st person je paie I pay nous payons we pay
2nd person tu paies you pay vous payez you pay (polite)
3rd person il/elle paie he/she/it pay ils/elles paient they pay

Grammar - Vendre
The verb vendre is a regular -re verb:
vendre - to sell
1st person je vends I sell nous vendons we sell
2nd person tu vends you sell vous vendez you sell (polite)
he/she/it
3rd person il/elle vend ils/elles vendent they sell
sells

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 : Qu'est-ce que vous voulez ?
Camille : Je voudrais acheter une baguette, s'il vous plaît
Bernard : C'est tout ?
Camille : Non, je voudrais deux croissants aussi

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

Useful vocabulary here:
"Qu'est-ce que vous voulez ?" - What would you like?
"Je voudrais..." - I would like . . .
"C'est tout ?" - Is that all?
"Ça fait deux euros" - That'll be two euros
Remember your verb - acheter (to buy).

Note of a frenchman :
"Qu'est-ce que vous voulez ?" is a little abrupt. We use mostly "Que voulez-vous ?" or "Que désirez-
vous ?".
Same for "C'est tout ?", we use most of the time "Ce sera tout ?" (future tense) or "Et avec ceci ?" (and
with this?).

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 here:
"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
Remember your verbs - vendre (to sell) and payer (to pay).

Leçon 11 : La maison - Lesson 11: The House

Vocabulary - the Household
French English
La maison House/Home
L'appartement(m) Flat/Apartment
La pièce Room
Le plafond Ceiling
Le sol Ground
La cave Basement
Le grenier Attic
La cuisine Kitchen
La salle à manger Dining room
La salle de bain Bathroom
La chambre à coucher Bedroom
Les toilettes (f) (no
Water-closet
singular)
La porte Door
La fenêtre Window
Le toit Roof
Le mur Wall
L'escalier (m) Stair
L'étage (m) Level
Le rideau Curtain
La chaise Chair
La table Table
L'armoire (f) Cupboard
Le lit Bed
Le tapis Carpet

Vocabulary - Housework
le ménage the housework

faire la cuisine to do the cooking
faire la lessive/le
to do the laundry
linge
faire le jardin to do the gardening
faire le lit to make the bed
faire le ménage to do the housework
faire la vaiselle 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
mettre le couvert to set the table
préparer un repas to prepare a meal

Future and Conditional Tenses
There are three versions of the futur tense in French, the futur simple the futur composé, and the futur
antérieur(future perfect). The futur composé is formed by inserting the present form of aller before the
infinitive, e.g. elle va réussir (she will pass, or she is going to pass) is the futur composé of elle réussit
To conjugate a verb in the futur simple, one takes the infinitive and appends the following, as
according to the table:

Je -ai réussirai

Tu -as réussiras

Il / Elle / On -a réussira

Nous -ons réussirons

Vous -ez réussirez

Ils / Elles -ont réussiront

To conjugate a verb in the Conditional, one takes the infinitive and appends the following, as according
to the table:

Je -ais réussirais

Tu -ais réussirais

Il / Elle / On -ait réussirait

Nous -ions réussirions

Vous -iez réussiriez

Ils / Elles -aient réussiraient

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.

Leçon 12 : Le corps - Lesson 12: The Body

Body parts
Here is the vocabulary to speak about body parts :
French English
La tête Head
Le corps Body
Le bras Arm
La jambe Leg
La poitrine Chest
Le ventre Belly
L'épaule (f) Shoulder
Le coude Elbow
Le poignet Wrist
La main Hand
Le doigt Finger

Le genou Knee
Le pied Foot
L'orteil (m) Toe
L'oeil (m) (pl. les
Eye
yeux)
La bouche Mouth
La dent Tooth
Le nez Nose
L'oreille (f) Ear
Le cou Neck
La langue Tongue
Les cheveux Hair
L'ongle (m) Nail
Le poumon Lung
L'estomac (m) Stomach
Le coeur Heart
Le foie Liver
L'instestin (m) Intestine
L'os (m) Bone
Le crâne Skull
Le muscle Muscle
Le cerveau Brain
La rate Spleen
L'utérus Womb
Le nombril Navel, belly button

Body position
And here is the vocabulary for body positions :
French English
Debout Standing
Assis Seating
Couché Laying down
À genoux Kneeling

Accroupi Squatted

Common sentencies
When you 'catch a cold' you 'attrapes un rhume'. When you're sick, tu es malade. When you wish to say
that parts of your body are sore, you say "J'ai mal à [body part] ...". Example: J'ai mal à la tete. (I have
a headache); J'ai mal aux dents (My teeth hurt).

Exercises
• Point to different parts of the body and recite its name in French par cœur.

Leçon 13 : La culture - Lesson 13: Culture

Vocabulary - Culture

French Life

la religion religion
le musulman Muslim
Chrétien Christian
L'Islam Islam
l'athée (m.) athiest
Le Père noël Santa Clause
lr 14 june Bastille Day
la langue language
le fromage cheese
l'agglomération (f.) urban area
'Hexagone France (borders)

News and Current Events

un quotidien a daily newspaper

un hebdomadaire a weekly magazine
l'actualité news, current events
les nouvelles news
les faits divers local news items
se tenir informé(e) to stay informed
la une the frontpage

French Social Problems

le cambrioleur burglar
un voleur a thief
l'incendie (f.) fire
le vanalisme vandalism
l'acte de terrorisme (m.) terrorism
la criminalité crime

Les loisirs - Leisure Activites

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) television
téléspectateur(trice) viewer
le sport sport

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