French For Beginners

Lecture Notes Grammar and Vocabulary

Julien Pierre

2014/2015

MPU3202

La table des matires

Informations pratiques ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Lalphabet ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Les accents ............................................................................................................................................................ 4
La prononciation ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Gender .................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Subject Pronouns .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Les articles ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
Simple expressions................................................................................................................................................ 7
Les salutations .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Hellos and goodbyes ..................................................................................................................................... 7
How are you? ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Simple expressions................................................................................................................................................ 6
Se prsenter Introduce yourself .................................................................................................................... 6
Le nom, the name ......................................................................................................................................... 6
La nationalit, the nationality ....................................................................................................................... 6
Quel, Quelle, Quels ou Quelles? ........................................................................................................................ 7
Les nationalits: .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Les pays, the countries: ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Les nombres, the numbers.................................................................................................................................. 10
La date ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
Les jours de la semaine ................................................................................................................................... 11
Les mois de lanne......................................................................................................................................... 11
Lheure ................................................................................................................................................................ 12
, AU, L, LA, AUX, EN, CHEZ ......................................................................................................................... 13
Masculin, Fminin et Pluriel ............................................................................................................................... 14
General rule: add -s in the spelling ............................................................................................................. 14

Words already ending in -s or -x ................................................................................................................. 14

DE DU DE LA DE L DES ............................................................................................................................ 16
La ngation ......................................................................................................................................................... 16
Les verbes rguliers: -ER ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Limpratif........................................................................................................................................................... 18
Forming the imperative .............................................................................................................................. 18
Negative imperatives .................................................................................................................................. 18
Simple expressions.............................................................................................................................................. 19
Se prsenter (2) Introduce yourself (2) ........................................................................................................ 19
Lge ............................................................................................................................................................ 19
L anniversaire ............................................................................................................................................. 19
La date de naissance ................................................................................................................................... 19
Prsenter quelquun Introduce someone .................................................................................................... 19
Le nom ........................................................................................................................................................ 19
La nationalit .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Lge ............................................................................................................................................................ 20
Le domicile, ladresse .................................................................................................................................. 20
Les professions.................................................................................................................................................... 21
Les couleurs ........................................................................................................................................................ 22
Dcrire quelquun: Le visage............................................................................................................................... 23
Dcrire quelquun : les adjectifs ......................................................................................................................... 24
Les adjectifs......................................................................................................................................................... 26
Feminine ..................................................................................................................................................... 26
Plural ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
Position of the adjective ............................................................................................................................. 26
La Famille ............................................................................................................................................................ 27
Additional vocabulary ................................................................................................................................. 27
Les adjectifs possessifs........................................................................................................................................ 28
Essential French Verbs ........................................................................................................................................ 30

Informations pratiques
Bonjour, je mappelle Julien, je suis votre professeur de franais.
In this coursework booklet, youll find all the necessary tools to improve your French, to learn your
vocabulary and grammar rules.
This set of notes is only one tool that you can use to learn French. In the different chapters of this booklet,
youll find QR codes, by snapping them with your smartphone/tablet or just by clicking on them, it will send
you to a YouTube playlist where youll find videos related to the current lesson.
You can also find more information on the following sites:
http://www.rfi.fr/ RFI stands for Radio France International. There you can listen to its live stream or
access French language resources. You can listen to the Journal en franais facile (The news in
simple French) which is a 10 minutes daily news report. It is rewritten using simple words, you can
download it along with the script. It may help you with your listening skills.
http://www.tv5.org/ TV5MONDE is an international French TV channel. Its website also proposes
many French languages references.
http://www.youtube.com Simply silly, but why dont you give a try?! Tons of videos are available
there, use the search box!
http://www.fb.com/mr.julien.pierre My Facebook page where I usually post references, notices and
fun facts.
@merciprofesseur My twitter handle.
http://www.julienpierre.com My website, grouping all information about French language at MMU

Anything that is not covered here? Give me a holler!

Email: [email protected]
Office: Room ER3043, FCM building (thats on the second floor)
Phone: Out of service at the moment.
Pigeon-hole: by the LIFE admin office (third flood of FCM building)
Consultation hours: follow this Google Calendar link

Lalphabet
French has the same 26-letter alphabet as English, although the importance of each letter
varies.

A
ah
E
euh
I
ee
M
emm
Q
koo
U
oo
Y
ee grek

B
bay
F
eff
J
gee
N
enn
R
air
V
vay
Z
zed

C
say
G
jay
K
car
O
oh
S
ess
W
doobla vay

D
day
H
ash
L
ell
P
pay
T
tay
X
eex

Les accents
French also has 5 different accents:

acute

grave

, ,

circumflex , ,
umlaut

, ,

cedilla

La prononciation
Letter/ Lettre
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

Pronunciation/
Prononciation
[ah]
[bay]
[say]
[day]
[er]
[eff]
[jay]
[ash]
[eeh]
[gee]
[car]
[ell]
[emm]
[enn]
[oh]
[pay]
[koo]
[air]
[ess]
[tay]
[oo]
[vay]
[dooba vay]
[eex]
[ee grek]
[zed]

Example/ Exemple
Un arbre
Un bb
Un cadeau / une cerise
Un docteur
Une fentre
Une fleur
Un gnral/ un gteau
Un hpital
Une le
Un jouet
Un kangourou
Un lapin
Une maison
Une nuit
Une oreille
Un professeur
Une quantit
Un rsum
Un sac
Une table
Une usine
Une voiture
Un week-end
Un xylophone
Un yaourt
Un zoo

a tree
a baby
a gift/ a cherry
a doctor
a window
a flower
a general/ a cake
an hospital
an island
a toy
a kangaroo
a rabbit
a house
a night
an ear
a teacher
a quantity
a summary
a bag
a table
a factory
a car
a week-end
a xylophone
a yoghourt
a zoo

Gender
French has two genders: all nouns are either masculine or feminine. There is no neutral nouns.
The gender of a noun cant be guessed, you have to memorize the meaning of a noun with its
gender altogether. The best way is to use an indefinite article such as un or une:
e.g. une maison = a house or un sac = a bag

Subject Pronouns
Many of the Romance languages, including Spanish and Italian, are "pro-drop," meaning that
the subject pronoun can be dropped because the verb conjugation is different for each
grammatical person. In other words, if a Spanish speaker says "Voy al mercado," everyone
knows that s/he means "I am going to the store." In contrast, French is not a pro-drop language
- subject pronouns are always required for all verb forms except the imperative.

Les articles
As you can see in the table from the previous page, each word is preceded by an article: un or une.
Now, both of these words have the same translation in English: a.
How can one word in English have two different translations to French?

In French, the article will be different for masculine and feminine noun:
UN marks the masculine for the word that follows
UNE marks the feminine for the word that follows
But both of them are translated by a in English.
For example: a table is feminine in French and will always be: une table
a restaurant is masculine in French and will always be: un restaurant
then

the table becomes la table

the restaurant becomes le restaurant

Now, coming to the plural of things. In French both the noun and the article have to carry the
mark of the plural which is (most of the times) -S.
When it comes to plural, the articles dont take into account the gender anymore, as:
the tables become les tables, and
the restaurants become les restaurants
As for the indefinite articles, they dont have a plural in English, as you would say: a table
becomes (in a plural form) tables. You can notice the absence of article for the plural. In French,
we have an article for the indefinite plural: des.
So that,
and

tables become des tables

restaurants become des restaurants
Singulier
masculin
fminin
un
une
le
la
l (devant a, e, i, o, u, h)

Articles indfinis
Articles dfinis

Pluriel
masculin ou fminin
des
les

Attention: when you use the singular definite article in front of a noun that begins with a vowel
or the letter H, you have to remove the last vowel of that article:
Le oiseau
La amie
Le hpital

loiseau (the bird)

lamie (the female friend)
lhpital (the hospital)

Simple expressions
Les salutations
Hellos and goodbyes
Bonjour

Hello (good morning, good afternoon)

lundi

See you Monday

Bonsoir

Good evening

bientt

See you soon

Salut

Hi, goodbye (informal)

plus tard

See you later

Bonne journe

Have a good day

Bonne soire

Have a good evening

Au revoir

Goodbye

demain

See you tomorrow

How are you?

Comment allez-vous? (Formal)

Je vais bien.

I am fine.

Comment vas-tu? (informal)

Je ne vais pas bien

I am not fine.

Comment a va?

Je suis fatigu.

I am tired.

a va?

a va bien.

Its going ok.

Et toi?

And you? (Informal)

Et vous?

And you? (Formal)

Miscellaneous
Bienvenu

Welcome

Enchant

Nice to meet you (if the person talking is male)

Enchante

Nice to meet you (if the person talking is female)

Sil vous plait Please (formal)

Sil te plait

Please (informal)

Je suis en retard

I am late

Merci

Thank you

Merci beaucoup

Thanks a lot

Madame

Madam

De rien

Youre welcome

Mademoiselle

Miss

Je vous en prie

Youre welcome

Monsieur

Sir

Excusez-moi Excuse me

Oui

Yes

Je suis dsol(e)

Non

No

I am sorry

Simple expressions
Se prsenter Introduce yourself
In French, we have different ways of saying the same thing, so I am giving you different ways to
say the same thing.

Le nom, the name

Comment tu tappelles?

How are you called? (informal)

Comment vous vous appelez?

How are you called? (formal)

Quel est ton nom?

What is your name? (informal)

Quel est votre nom?

What is your name? (formal)

Je mappelle (+your name)

I am called

Mon nom est

My name is

Je suis

I am

La nationalit, the nationality

Quelle est ta nationalit?

What is your nationality? (informal)

Quelle est votre nationalit?

What is your nationality? (formal)

Je suis

franais(e).

I am French.

malaisien(ne).

Malaysian

indonsien(ne).

Indonesian

iranien(ne).

Iranian

botswanais(e).

Motswana/ Botswanan.

Do viens-tu?

Where do you come from? (informal)

Do venez-vous?

Where do you come from? (formal)

Je viens

I come

de France.

from France.

de Malaisie.

from Malaysia.

dIndonsie.

from Indonesia

dIran.

from Iran.

du Botswana.

from Botswana

Ladresse
O habites-tu?
O habitez-vous?

Where do you live? (informal)

Where do you live? (formal)

Jhabite Cyberjaya.
Jhabite en Malaisie.
Jhabite dans une maison.
Jhabite dans un appartement.
Jhabite 25, rue de Lyon Paris.

I live in Cyberjaya.
I live in Malaysia.
I live in a house.
I live in a flat.
I live at 25 Lyons street in Paris.

You can also use:

- Quelle est ton adresse?
- Mon adresse est 25, rue de Lyon Paris.

Quel, Quelle, Quels ou Quelles?

To ask "what is ...?" or "what are ...?" use quel, quelle, quels or quelles followed by the
appropriate conjugation of tre:
Quel est ton nom ?

Quelle est ta nationalit ?

nom is masculine and singular

nationalit is feminine and singular

Quels sont tes loisirs ?

Quelles sont tes passions ?

loisirs is masculine and plural

passions is feminine and plural

Les nationalits:
In French, according to the person you are talking about, you have to adapt the words
you use.
If you are a man, and you are talking about yourself, you will use the masculine form of
the words; the same will happen if you are talking about another man.
If you are a woman, and you are talking about yourself, you need to use the feminine
form of the words; the same will happen if you are talking about another woman.
This work for a lot of situations, here we will just go through the nationalities.

Name of the country

(in French)

Nationality
Masculine

Nationality Feminine

Nationality
English

Most of the nationality will follow one of these patterns: -AIS -AISE
La France

Franais

Franaise

French

LAngleterre (fem.)

Anglais

Anglaise

English

Le Japon

Japonais

Japonaise

Japanese

Le Soudan

Soudanais

Soudanaise

Sudanese

Le Botswana

Botswanais

Botswanaise

Botswanan

La Thalande

Thalandais

Thalandaise

Thai

-IEN -ENNE
La Malaisie

Malaisien

Malaisienne

Malaysian

LIndonsie (fem.)

Indonsien

Indonsienne

Indonesian

Le Brsil

Brsilien

Brsilienne

Brazilian

Le Vietnam

Vietnamien

Vietnamienne

Vietnamese

LInde (fem.)

Indien

Indienne

Indian

Singapour

Singapourien

Singapourienne

Singaporean

LAustralie (fem.)

Australien

Australienne

Australian

(Contd)

Some nationalities will follow the normal transformation to feminine :

add an extra -E
La Chine

Chinois

Chinoise

Chinese

LAmrique (fem.)

Amricain

Amricaine

American

La Jamaque

Jamacain

Jamacaine

Jamaican

Le Maroc

Marocain

Marocaine

Moroccan

LAllemagne (fem.)

Allemand

Allemande

German

LEspagne (fem.)

Espagnol

Espagnole

Spanish

La Mongolie

Mongol

Mongole

Mongolian

Le Nigria

Nigrian

Nigriane

Nigerian

Some nationalities will be the same for masculine and feminine

(when the masculine already ends with E)
La Belgique

Belge

Belge

Belgian

La Suisse

Suisse

Suisse

Swiss

Les pays, the countries:

In the chart above, you also have the names of countries. Most of them are quite similar to the
English versions, but you have to be careful with the spelling.
You can notice that the countries also have genders : All countries ending with E are feminine
(except 6 of them : le Mexique, le Cambodge, le Belize, le Mozambique, le Zare et le Zimbabwe).
All countries ending with a different letter than E are masculine.
This will lead to some changes in the way you use the names of countries in sentences.
There will be two major moments when you need to take the gender into account:
1. You will say:
And
2. You will say :
And

Jhabite en France.

(La France being a feminine country)

Jhabite au Japon.

(Le Japon being a masculine country)

Je viens de France.
Je viens du Japon.

Attention: Singapour, Cuba or Taiwan are special cases in French: An island name will be considered as
a name of a town, therefore, you will use it the way you use the name of a town:
Jhabite Singapour.

Jhabite Cuba

Jhabite Taiwan

Je viens de Singapour.

Je viens de Cuba

Je viens de Taiwan

Les nombres, the numbers

In French, most of the numbers will work on a regular basis.
Nevertheless, the numbers below 17 are irregular. You have to make sure you learn
them very carefully.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

un
deux
trois
quatre
cinq
six
sept
huit
neuf
dix

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

onze
douze
treize
quatorze
quinze
seize
dix-sept
dix-huit
dix-neuf
vingt

Here are a few interesting questions that

will need numbers as answers:

- Quel est ton numro de tlphone?
- Quel est ton numro de passeport ?
- Combien a coute ?
- Quelle est ta taille/ ta pointure ?

Now from 20 to 69, things are quite easy and regular

21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

vingt-et-un
vingt-deux
vingt-trois
vingt-quatre
vingt-cinq
vingt-six
vingt-sept
vingt-huit
vingt-neuf
trente

31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

trente-et-un
trente-deux
trente-trois
trente-quatre
trente-cinq
trente-six
trente-sept
trente-huit
trente-neuf
quarante

50 cinquante
60 soixante

100 cent
1000 mille

Now when we come to 70 +, there are some changes to follow:

70 soixante-dix
71 soixante-et-onze
72 soixante-douze
73 soixante-treize
74 soixante-quatorze
75 soixante-quinze
76 soixante-seize
77 soixante-dix-sept
78 soixante-dix-huit
79 soixante-dix-neuf

80 quatre-vingt
81 quatre-vingt-un
82 quatre-vingt-deux
83 quatre-vingt-trois
84 quatre-vingt-quatre
85 quatre-vingt-cinq
86 quatre-vingt-six
87 quatre-vingt-sept
88 quatre-vingt-huit
89 quatre-vingt-neuf

90 quatre-vingt-dix
91 quatre-vingt-onze
92 quatre-vingt-douze
93 quatre-vingt-treize
94 quatre-vingt-quatorze
95 quatre-vingt-quinze
96 quatre-vingt-seize
97 quatre-vingt-dix-sept
98 quatre-vingt-dix-huit
99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf

10

La date
Les jours de la semaine
LUNDI
Monday

MARDI
Tuesday

MERCREDI
Wednesday

JEUDI
Thursday

VENDREDI
Friday

SAMEDI
Saturday

DIMANCHE
Sunday

Une semaine

Les mois de lanne

Questions:

Une anne

January
JANVIER
February
FVRIER
March
MARS
April
AVRIL
May
MAI
June
JUIN
July
JUILLET
August
AOT
September
SEPTEMBRE
October
OCTOBRE
NOVEMBRE November
DCEMBRE December

- Quelle est la date aujourdhui?

- Quand vas-tu la maison ?
- Quel jour tu as rendez-vous avec le docteur ?

VOCABULAIRE

La frquence:
une (deux/ trois...) fois par jour (semaine/ mois/anne...)
one (two / three...) time per day (week / month/ year...)
Tous les lundis
Chaque lundi

every Monday
each Monday

Du lundi au vendredi
Le lundi
Lundi dernier
La semaine dernire

from Monday till Friday

on Mondays
last Monday
last week

Lundi prochain
La semaine prochaine

next Monday
next week

Un jour

a day

Une semaine

a week

Un mois

a month

Un an

a year

Le matin

the morning

Le midi

noon

Laprs midi

the afternoon

Le soir

the evening

La nuit

the night

Avant

before

Aprs

after

Hier

yesterday

Aujourdhui

today

Demain

tomorrow

Un rendez-vous an appointment

11

Lheure

Vocabulaire:
tre en avance
tre lheure
tre en retard

Questions:
- Quelle heure est-il?
- quelle heure tu as rendez-vous avec Joseph ?
- quelle heure tu vas luniversit ?
- quelle heure commence le film ?

to be early
to be on time
to be late

You have 2 different ways to tell the time.

1.

You can use a 12 hours clock in which case you have to give the time with a specification such as am or pm. In
French, we do not use these, instead we use the moment of the day.
For example, 7am will be 7 in the morning (du matin) and 7 pm will be 7 in the evening (du soir).
When you use a 12 hours clock you can give the time using quarters and half.
For example, 7.30pm could be half past seven or 7.45 pm could be quarter to eight.

2.

You can use a 24 hours clock which is an official one (train schedules, important appointments...) in which
case 7 pm will become 19.00. If you use a 24hrs clock, you will give the time with numbers only.
For example 7.45 pm (quarter to eight) will become 19.45 (nineteen forty-five)

12

, AU, L, LA, AUX, EN, CHEZ

Aller Rester - tre

+ nom de ville

CHEZ + nom de personne

Paris
Londres

chez Jacques
chez le mdecin

EN / AU / AUX + nom de pays

AU / LA / AUX + autres noms de

lieux

en France (la France)

au Portugal (le Portugal)
aux tats-Unis (les tats-Unis)

au cinma (le cinma)

la piscine (la piscine)
aux toilettes (les toilettes)

Lets look at some examples that demonstrate this.

English
I am going to the doctor
She is going to the clinic
We are going to the swimming pool
They are coming to the games

French
Je vais chez le mdecin
Elle va la clinique
Nous allons la piscine
Ils viennent aux matchs

Also in French there is a useful word (chez) for when you are referring
to a seeing a specific person at a place.
For example: I am going to the dentist - Je vais chez le dentiste.

English
I am going to my place
She is going to her house
We are coming from our place
They are coming from their place

French
Je vais chez moi
Elle va chez elle
Nous venons de chez nous
Ils viennent de chez eux

Personal pronouns after a

preposition
(avec, sans, pour, sur)
Moi

Me

Toi

You

Lui

Him

Elle

Her

Nous

Us

Vous

You

Eux

Them (m.)

Elles

Them (f.)

13

Masculin, Fminin et Pluriel

How to form the plural (of nouns and adjectives) in French
Plural forms are forms that refer to "more than one" of something. In English, nouns are usually
marked as being plural by adding -s or -es: one book, two books; this blue box, these blue boxes.
Notice that in English, adjectives like blue don't change between singular and plural. But in
French, adjectives are also marked as being singular or plural. There are a few other types of
words that mark a difference between singular and plural. For example, we changed this to
these. However, on this page, we will be concerned with the plural of nouns and adjectives.
The most common rule for forming the plural of nouns and adjectives in French is actually very
simple:

add a final -s in the spelling to mark a noun or adjective as plural

General rule: add -s in the spelling

Usually, the plural form of nouns and adjectives is straightforward in French: you just need to remember to
add an -s to both the noun and any adjective(s) that might be alongside it. For example, recalling that les (as
opposed to le or la) is the French for "the" in the plural:

Singular

Plural

un livre
a book

des livres
books

une photo
a picture

des photos
pictures

un joli livre
a nice book

des jolis livres

nice books

une jolie photo des jolies photos

a nice picture nice pictures

Words already ending in -s or -x

In the examples above, we slipped in the word gros ("big", "bulky") which actually already ends in -s in the
singular. Where a noun or adjective ends in -s in the singular, no further -s is added in the plural. The same is
true of words ending in -x, for example:
le prix the price/prize

la voix the voice

les prix the prices/prizes

les voix the voices

14

DE DU DE LA DE L DES
To show possession of a noun, use de + the definite article

LE
LA
DE +
L'
LES

=
=
=
=

DU
DE LA
DE L'
DES

Cest un livre. Cest le livre de Sylvie

Cest une rue. Cest la rue du cinma Rex
Le stylo de la secrtaire
les cahiers de ltudiant
la photo des enfants

La ngation
A negative sentence is not a sentence that says something bad!
Here is an example of the transformation to a negative sentence in English:
I am tall. I am not tall.
In French, the negative form works in two parts: Ne.. Pas
The rule is that you have to put NePas on each side of the verb.
So, of course the first thing that you need to do is to find the verb (the action word) in the sentence.

For example:
Je
suis
Subj. Verb

grande.
Adjective

Je
Subj.

ne
ne

suis
Verb

pas
pas

grande.
Adjective

Now, if it was that simple, it wouldnt be fun! Sometimes, you will have to be careful when
building a negative sentence. Problems happen when you are using the verb avoir
Jai une maison. Je nai pas de maison.
Tu as un chien. Tu nas pas de chien.
Nous avons des voitures. Nous navons pas de voitures.
So you can notice here that the articles un , une and des when put into a negative sentence are
transformed into de

Attention!
Il y a Il ny a pas (de)

Les verbes rguliers: -ER

In French, the verbs are divided into three groups. The verbs from the first 2 groups are to be conjugated
in a regular way. The third group is filled with all the irregular verbs.
The verbs from the 1st group are the verbs with the infinitive ending
with: -ER.

A lot of verbs in French are from the first group:

Danser (to dance), chanter (to sing), regarder (to look at), travailler
(to work), voyager (to travel), manger (to eat), jouer (to play), aimer
(to like), dtester (to hate), appeler (to call), acheter (to buy), parler
(to speak), habiter (to live)
These verbs are composed of 2 parts:
- First the beginning (or the stem), which is the part that will not
change at the beginning of the word.
- Second is the ending which will change according to which
pronoun you are using.
For example: Jouer is composed of jou as the beginning and er
as ending.
If we conjugate the verb, jou will not change, only the ending er
will, as you can see in the example.

Jouer to play
Je joue
Tu joues
Il/elle/on joue
Nous jouons
Vous jouez
Ils/elles jouent

The infinitive of a verb is its base

In English, you can recognize the
infinitive because it comes as the
following form:
-to eat
-to work
-to dance
-to travel
to is the mark of the infinitive.
e.g.: To be is the infinitive, I am is
its conjugation.
In French, the mark of the
infinitive is the ending of the verb:
-manger
-travailler
-danser
-voyager
You can see that the to part is
not translated in French, but you
can find its equivalent in the
ending of the verb.

As you can see, you just have to change the ending of the verb, according to the subject. You
replace the infinitive ending -ER with the proper ending. Therefore, you mostly need to learn the
endings that will be used for all those verbs, which are:

-E

-ES

-E

-ONS

-EZ

-ENT

Be careful! In French, there is only one present tense. See note page 10

17

Limpratif
Forming the imperative
To form the imperative, drop the tu, vous or nous and keep the verb in the present tense:
Aller : Nous allons allons ! (lets go !)
Faire : vous faites faites ! (do !)
With -er verbs, take the final -s off the tu form of the verb:
Regarder : tu regardes regarde! (look!)

Negative imperatives
The imperative is often used in the negative. Just place the negative forms around the verb:
Ne regarde pas la tl! (Don't watch TV!)
Ne mangez pas a! (Don't eat that!)
Ne viens plus chez moi! (Don't come to my place anymore!)
N'allez plus au parc! (Don't go to the park anymore!)
If you want to suggest doing something, use the imperative form of nous:
Allons la piscine! (Let's go to the swimming pool!)
Prenons un taxi! (Let's take a taxi!)

18

Simple expressions
Se prsenter (2) Introduce yourself (2)
Lge
Quel ge as-tu?

How old are you? (informal)

Quel ge avez-vous?

How old are you? (formal)

Jai _____ ans.

I am _____ years old

Be careful!
In French, you cannot
use the verb tre (to be)
when giving your age.
You must use avoir (to
have).

L anniversaire
Quand est ton anniversaire?
Quand est votre anniversaire?

When is your birthday? (informal)

When is your birthday? (formal)

Mon anniversaire est le 5 janvier.

My birthday is the 5th of January.

La date de naissance
Quand es-tu n? (masculine)
Quand es-tu ne? (feminine)

When were you born? (If you ask a boy)

When were you born? (If you ask a girl)

Je suis n le 5 janvier 1989. (masc.)

Je suis ne le 5 janvier 1989. (fem.)

I was born on the 5th of january.

I was born on the 5th of january.

You can also use another set of questions, such as:

-Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?
-Quelle est ta date de naissance ?

Prsenter quelquun Introduce someone

Le nom
Comment il sappelle?
Comment elle sappelle?
Quel est son nom?

Il sappelle
Elle sappelle(+Nom)
Son nom est.

La nationalit
Quelle est sa nationalit?

Il est/ Elle est (+Nationalit)

Do vient-il?
Do vient-elle?

Il vient de
(+Pays)
Elle vient de

19

Lge
Quel est son ge?

Il a ans./ Elle a ans.

Quand est son anniversaire?

Son anniversaire est le

Quand est-il n ?
Quand est-elle ne ?

Il est n le (+Date)
Elle est ne le

Le domicile, ladresse
O habite-t-il?
O habite-t-elle?
Quelle est son adresse ?

Il habite
Elle habite
Son adresse est...

20

Les professions
Usually, when you are referring to a man you will use the masculine and the feminine when you refer to a woman.
In French, the professions will usually have the 2 forms, masculine and feminine. So the spelling of the word will
depend on who you are referring to.
The basic transformation from masculine to feminine is to add -e at the end, but there will be some exceptions...

For example: Un avocat is a male lawyer.

Une avocate is a female lawyer.

Here are a few examples of other transformations into feminine:

Un tudiant

une tudiante

a student

Un employ

une employe

an employee

Un infirmier

une infirmire

a nurse

Un policier

une policire

a policeman / woman

Un serveur

une serveuse

a waiter/a waitress

Un coiffeur

une coiffeuse

a hairdresser

Un vendeur

une vendeuse

a salesman/saleswoman

Un acteur

une actrice

an actor/an actress

Un agriculteur

une agricultrice

a farmer

Un musicien

une musicienne

a musician

Un lectricien

une lectricienne

an electrician

Some are irregular ones:

Un chanteur

une chanteuse

a singer

Some dont change whether they are used to refer to masculine or to feminine, because the masculine form already
ends with an E:

Un comptable

une comptable

an accountant

Un journaliste

une journaliste

a journalist

Un dentiste

une dentiste

a dentist

Un pilote

une pilote

a pilot

And some exception words are only used in masculine (even if you are talking about a woman!):

Un professeur

un mdecin

un crivain

A teacher

a doctor

a writer

We also have some special ones:

Un homme daffaire

une femme daffaire

a businessman / woman

Un homme au foyer

une femme au foyer

a house husband(?) / wife

21

Les couleurs
In French, the colors, like any adjective, must match the gender of the object they are related to.
If the color refers to a masculine object, the color will also be masculine. If the color refers to a feminine
object, the color will have to take the feminine form. You will also have to match the number.

masc. sing

fem. sing

masc. plu.

fem. plu

purple

violet

violette

violets

violettes

blue

bleu

bleue

bleus

bleues

green

vert

verte

verts

vertes

yellow

jaune

jaune

jaunes

jaunes

orange

orange

orange

orange

orange

red

rouge

rouge

rouges

rouges

black

noir

noire

noirs

noires

white

blanc

blanche

blancs

blanches

grey

gris

grise

gris

grises

brown

marron

marron

marron

marron

pink

rose

rose

roses

roses

In French, like most adjectives, the color will come after the object it refers to.

A white bag
The purple flower

Un sac blanc
La fleur violette

22

Dcrire quelquun: Le visage

When you want to describe someone, you would want to talk about the color of the eyes, of the hair, the size
of the nose maybe, or even if he or she has a big mouth! Here is some vocabulary to help you.
If you want to say that your friend has a black moustache, the color (here, black) will go afterthe object
Example:

He has a black moustache.

Il a une moustache noire.

The color will take the sign of the feminine, if it refers to a feminine object (Here, une moustache, une barbe,
une bouche) and the sign of the plural if it refers to a plural object (Here, les cheveux, les yeux, des lunettes).
Example:

She has black eyes.

Elle a les yeux noirs.

For the hair, you will have extra colors: blond, brun, roux. These are used only when you refer to the hair. To
describe the hair, you can use: longs (long), courts (short), raides (straight), friss (curly)...
Normally the adjectives come before the word they refer to, but for the hair it comes after.
Examples:

She has long hair.

Elle a les cheveux longs.

We have long black hair.

Nous avons les cheveux longs et noirs

Avoir:
Les cheveux:

courts/ longs
noirs / blonds/ marron/ roux
raides (straight) / friss (curly)

Les yeux :

noirs, marron, verts, bleus, gris

Des lunettes, une moustache, une barbe.

23

Dcrire quelquun : les adjectifs

Masculine

Feminine

English

agrable
amoureux
amusant
bavard
beau
blond
brun
clbre
courageux
dangereux
difficile
lgant
embtant
nerv
ennuyeux
trange
facile
gentil
grand
gros
heureux
honnte

agrable
amoureuse
amusante
bavarde
belle
blonde
brune
clbre
courageuse
dangereuse
difficile
lgante
embtante
nerve
ennuyeuse
trange
facile
gentille
grande
grosse
heureuse
honnte

Nice
In love
Funny
Talkative
Beautiful / handsome
Blond-haired
Dark-haired
Famous
Brave
Dangerous
Difficult
Smart (well-dressed)
Annoying (for someone)
Irritated / angry
Boring
Strange
Easy
Kind
(for someone) / big (for something)
Fat
Happy
Honest

impatient
intelligent
intressant
jaloux
jeune
joli
joyeux
laid
malheureux
marrant
mince
paresseux
patient
petit

impatiente
intelligente
intressante
jalouse
jeune
jolie
joyeuse
laide
malheureuse
marrante
mince
paresseuse
patiente
petite

Impatient
Clever
Interesting
Jealous
Young
Cute
Glad
Ugly
Unhappy
Funny
Thin
Lazy
Patient
Small / short (height)

24

peureux
poli
roux
srieux
simple
sportif
surpris
sympathique
timide
travailleur
triste
vieux

peureuse
polie
rousse
srieuse
simple
sportive
surprise
sympathique
timide
travailleuse
triste
vieille

Fearful
Polite
Red-haired
Serious
Simple
Athletic
Surprised
Friendly
Shy
Hard-working
Sad
Old

Remember: If you are talking about a man, you should use the masculine of the adjectives. If
you are talking about a woman, you should use the feminine.
Example:

He is tall.

Il est grand.

She is tall.

Elle est grande.

25

Les adjectifs
Feminine
The adjectives are the words that you use when you want to describe someone or something. For example
when you say:
Jean has a big grey house.
big is an adjective. grey is also an adjective. They both are used to describe the house, meaning that both
of them are in relation to the word house.
Now, as you know, in French all nouns, objects have a gender (masculine or feminine).
Here, a house, in French, is feminine: une maison. Well, the adjectives will have to follow the gender of
the object/ person they are describing. Therefore, here, big and grey, as they are referring to the
house, will have to be used in their feminine forms, which give us: grande and grise
Another important point is, in French, the colors will always be placed after the noun they are describing.
Therefore, if we translate this sentence it will give us:
Jean a une grande maison grise.

Plural
Now lets take another example, if I say:
Jonathan and Daniel are tall.
What is the adjective in this sentence? ... It is tall. And who is tall? In other words, to which words refers
tall in that sentence? Well, Jonathan and Daniel are the ones who are tall, agreed? So, as we modify
the adjective when it refers to a feminine noun, we will also modify it when it refers to a plural.
Therefore, here, we will have:
Jonathan et Daniel sont grands.

Position of the adjective

Most of the time, any adjective in French will come after the noun it describes, but there is an exceptions.
Try to remember those exceptions using the following acronym: BAGS
beauty

beau, belle, joli(e)

age

jeune, vieux, vieille

Exemples :

Pierre a une petite voiture bleue.

Katy est une jeune fille franaise.
Jai une grande maison rouge Melaka.

good/bad

bon(ne), mauvais(e)

size

grand(e), petit(e)

26

La Famille
English
A father
A brother
A son
A husband
A grandfather
A grandson
A cousin male
An uncle
A nephew

French
un pre
un frre
un fils
un mari
un grand-pre
un petit-fils
un cousin
un oncle
un neveu

English
A mother
A sister
A daughter
A wife
A grandmother
A granddaughter
A cousin female
An aunt
A niece

French
une mre
une sur
une fille
une femme
une grand-mre
une petite-fille
une cousine
une tante
une nice

Additional vocabulary
maman
papa
mamie / mm
papy / pp

mum (mummy)
dad (daddy)
granny
granddad

une sur ane

une sur cadette
une sur jumelle
des surs jumelles

an older sister
a younger sister
a twin sister
twin sisters

une belle-sur
un beau-frre
des beaux-parents
une belle-mre
un beau-pre
une demi-sur
un demi-frre
lamie de mon pre
lami de ma mre
mari(e)
Ils sont maris.
fianc(e)

un frre an
un frre cadet
un frre jumeau
des frres jumeaux

an older brother
a younger brother
a twin brother
twin brothers

a sister-in-law
a brother-in-law
parents-in-law
a step-mother / a mother-in-law
a step-father / a father-in-law
a step-sister / a half-sister
a step-brother / a half-brother
my fathers girl friend
my mothers boyfriend
married
They are married.
engaged

clibataire
divorc(e)
spar(e)

single
divorced
separated

27

Les adjectifs possessifs

English
my
your (tu form)
his, her, its
our
your (vous form)
their

Masculine
mon
ton
son
notre
votre
leur

Singular
Feminine
ma
ta
sa
notre
votre
leur

Plural
Before vowel
mon
ton
son
notre
votre
leur

mes
tes
ses
nos
vos
leurs

As you can see, all the men in the family vocabulary are masculine words (UN pre, UN oncle...). It
means that even if you are a woman, your father is still a man and therefore the word pre will always
remain a masculine word. That is to say that you will always have a masculine article preceding the
word.
un pre (a father) / mon pre (my father) / ton pre (your father) / son pre (his/her father)
The same goes for the women in the family. The words will always be feminine (UNE mre, UNE
sur...). That is why these words will always be preceded by a feminine article.
une mre (a mother)/ ma mre (my mother) / ta mre (your mother) / sa mre (his/her mother)
As for plurals, you will also have to use a different possessive adjective
mon pre, ma mre BUT mes parents
And this can be applied to any possession.
mon livre, ma maison, mes livres, mes maisons
If the possessive adjective is followed by a vowel, use the masculine form in any singular case.
mon ami, mon amie, mes amis, mes amies

28

La maison
Vocabulaire
lappartement
la maison
lentre (fem.)
le salon
la cuisine
le bureau
la salle manger
la salle de bains
la salle de jeux
la chambre
les toilettes (fem.plur.)
la douche
la cave
le garage
le jardin
le balcon
le couloir
le grenier

the apartment
the house
the entrance (hall)
the living room
the kitchen
the office / study
the dining room
the bathroom
the games room
the bedroom
the toilet
the shower
the cellar
the garage
the garden
the balcony
the corridor
the attic

Tu habites o?
- Jhabite en ville
- Jhabite la campagne
To describe:
chez
il y a
il ny a pas de
Au sous-sol
Au rez-de-chausse
Au premier tage
Au deuxime tage

I live in town
I live in the countryside

at (someones place)
there is / there are
there is not/ there are not
in the basement
on the ground floor
on the first floor
on the second floor

Nombres ordinaux
Ordinal numbers are used to express rank or position - in other words, ordinal numbers are used for
ordering, as opposed to cardinal numbers which are used for counting.
first

premier
premire

1st

1er
1re

second

deuxime 2nd

2e

third

troisime

3rd

3e

fourth

quatrime 4th

4e

fifth

cinquime 5th

sixth

sixime

All ordinal numbers (except first) are created from their

corresponding cardinal number:
number

drop the final e (if any)

add -ime

six

six

sixime

5e

onze

onz

onzime

6th

6e

vingt et un

vingt et un

vingt et unime

seventh septime

7th

7e

"First" is the only ordinal number that doesn't follow the above rule:

eighth

huitime

8th

8e

premier (masculine) and premire (feminine). Note that twenty-first,

ninth

neuvime 9th

9e

thirty-first, etc. do follow it.

tenth

dixime

10th 10e

Watch out for the spelling changes in cinquime and neuvime

Ordinal numbers are not used to talk about dates in French,
except for premier

29

Essential French Verbs

Here are a few very important verbs that you should know.
We have a few differences in French in using the verbs:
We have 2 you, tu is informal and singular, vous is formal and plural (formal and informal plural).
We have of 2 they, ils is used to refer to a masculine group or a mixed group.
elles is used to refer a female group.

The French verbs avoir (to have), tre (to be), and faire (to do/make) are the most important
French verbs. They are used in some of the ways that we use them in English as well as in many
expressions. Conjugations for all three of these verbs are irregular.

Avoir - to have

tre - to be

Faire - to do, make

J'ai un livre.
I have a book.
Nous avons une voiture.
We have a car.

Je suis Paris.
I am in Paris.
Nous sommes trs contents.
We are very happy.

Je fais mon lit.

I'm making my bed.
Nous faisons nos devoirs.
We do our homework.

Jai1
Tu as
Il/Elle a
Nous avons
Vous avez
Ils/Elles ont

Je suis
Tu es
Il/Elle est
Nous sommes
Vous tes
Ils/Elles sont

Je fais
Tu fais
Il/Elle fait
Nous faisons
Vous faites
Ils/Elles font

In French, we only have one present tense; that is why je fais can be translated into either I do or I am
doing
ATTENTION: As French only have one present tense, you cant say Je suis fais mes devoirs to say Im
doing my homework but instead say Je fais mes devoirs. If you want to use a continuous present, use
the following structure:
TRE + EN TRAIN DE + INFINITIVE
E.g. Je suis en train de faire mes devoirs
Elle est en train de faire ses devoirs

If a verb starts with a vowel or the letter H, then Je will be spelled as J

30

Aller - to go

Habiter - to live

Je vais
Tu vas
Il/Elle va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils/Elles vont

Jhabite
Tu habites
Il/Elle habite
Nous habitons
Vous habitez
Ils/Elles habitent

Vouloir to want

Pouvoir to be able to

Je veux
Tu veux
Il/elle/on veut
Nous voulons
Vous voulez
Ils/elles veulent

Je peux
Tu peux
Il/elle/on peut
Nous pouvons
Vous pouvez
Ils/elles peuvent
Savoir et Connaitre

Savoir and connatre are used in different contexts or to describe different degrees of knowledge.
Savoir is used for facts, things known by heart, or abilities. When followed by an infinitive, savoir
indicates knowing how to do something. (Je sais jouer de la guitare.) Connatre is used for people and
places and represents a personal acquaintance or familiarity.

Savoir to know

Connaitre to know

Je sais
Tu sais
Il/elle/on sait
Nous savons
Vous savez
Ils/elles savent

Je connais
Tu connais
Il/elle/on connait
Nous connaissons
Vous connaissez
Ils / elles connaissent

danser, parler franais

je sais

lItalie
je connais

comment il sappelle

Nicolas Legrand
un bon mdecin

31