ARTICLES & DETERMINANTS:

Transcription

1 NOUNS: Nouns in French have gender, they are either masculine or feminine. Nouns can be count nouns (such as books or pets) or mass nouns (such as air or sand). You can say, I have a dog but it is incorrect to say, I have a sand in my eye. Nouns are almost never used without an article or another noun marker in front of them. Articles or other noun markers will reflect the gender or number of the noun, but usually not both. Words that can go in front of nouns include the following: Masculine Feminine Singular le, un, du, mon, ton, son, notre, votre, leur, ce, cet la, une, de la, ma, ta, sa, notre, votre, leur, cette Plural les, des, mes, tes, ses, nos, vos, leurs, ces same as above ARTICLES & DETERMINANTS: There are 3 kinds of articles, definite, indefinite and partitive. Each has a specific purpose. LE, LA, LES are definite articles and often translate into the in English. However, since we don t always have to use an article before a noun in English, there are times when the definite article has no meaning, and shouldn t be translated. J aime le T-shirt que tu portes aujourd hui means I like the specific shirt you re wearing today. But J aime les t-shirts just means l like t-shirts in general. UN, UNE, and DES are indefinite articles, and are used with count nouns. These words translate to a or some in English. They are not specific. J ai un chat just means I have a cat, not that I have a specific one. DU and DE LA are partitive articles and are used with mass nouns. They are either not translated or they mean some. J ai du pain et de la confiture means I have (some) bread and jam. Other noun markers include demonstrative adjectives and possessive adjectives. Demonstrative adjectives (ce, cet, cette and ces) point something out, and usually mean this, that, these or those. Cet is only used before a singular masculine noun beginning with a vowel or vowel sound. Ce hôtel is hard to say, so instead, say cet hôtel. Singular Plura Masculine ce (cet before a vowel) ces Feminine cette same as above Possessive adjectives indicate ownership or possession and depend on two things: the gender and number of the thing which is owned, and the person or people who own it. Gender/number of item(s) owned Item(s) owned by one person Item(s) owned by more than one person Masculine mon, ton, son notre, votre leur Feminine ma, ta, sa, notre, votre leur Plural mes, tes, ses nos, vos, leurs

2 Complete each sentence with a logical article or determinant. 1. Nous achetons baguette à la boulangerie. 2. livre de Spock est sur table. 3. chiens de grand-mère sont très mignons. 4. hôtel est magnifique! Il a vue sur tout Paris. 5. Tu achètes fraises au marché. 6. Ils boivent chocolat chaud le matin. 7. J invite mes amis à fête. (party) 8. élèves sont très aimables. Ils aident les autres. CONTRACTIONS: There are just some things that don t go together, so you have to know about contractions No togetherness! à + le à + les de + le de + les Contracted form au aux du des Combine the elements to write logical sentences. Remember to conjugate the verbs. 1. Je / aller / à / le / cinéma. 2. Mes / amis / aimer / le / chat / de / les / voisins. (neighbors) 3. La / boulangerie / être / à côté / de / le / café 4. Qu est-ce que / tu / penser / de / le / film? 5. Prendre / cette / rue / jusqu / à / le / bout / et / puis / tourner / à / gauche.

3 IRREGULAR VERBS: French has a lot of irregular verb, but these four are essential to learning French. If you planning on taking French 2, make sure you know them! être il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles avoir il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles aller il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles faire il/elle/on nous vous Aller is a multi-function irregular verb and it can be used in these 3 ways: In each of the following sentences, choose the logical verb and put it in the correct form. Choose between être, avoir, aller and faire. 1. Nous ne pas de classe au mois de juillet et aôut. 2. Bonjour! Comment - tu? 3. Je ne pas de jeux vidéos. Je préfère les activités sportives vous américains, ou canadiens? 5. On soif dans le desert. 6. Qu est-ce que vous prendre comme boisson? 7. Ma famille assez petite: j deux frères, une mère et un père. 8. Ce weekend mes amis et moi à la plage. 9. Quel âge -vous? 10. Qu est-ce que vous cet été? Vous en vacances?

4 A FEW MORE IRREGULAR VERBS: These are some more awesome verbs. We have seen two of them, but we don t know how to conjugate the third one. Fortunately, this is not a difficult task. Everyone should look them over and do the exercises. If you are going into 2nd year, work on them over the summer. Visit Conjuguemos.com for more practice. These 3 are cool because they can be followed by an infinitive. VOULOIR je veux tu veux il/elle/on veut nous voulons vous voulez ils/elles veulent POUVOIR je peux tu peux il/elle/on peut nous pouvons vous pouvez ils/elles peuvent DEVOIR je dois tu dois il/elle/on doit nous devons vous devez ils/elles doivent One of these verbs means to be able to (can). another means to have to or must, and another means to want. Read the sentences below to determine which is which. VOULOIR: POUVOIR: DEVOIR: Vous voulez visiter la France. Mes parents veulent que j aide mon frère. Spock ne veut pas montrer ses émotions. Mes sœurs ne peuvent pas bien danser. C est le weekend! Tu peux dormir! Dory ne peut pas parler baleine. (whale). Je dois étudier le français avant l examen. Quand il écoute la radio, Spock doit danser! Nous devons parler français en classe. Put the verbs in parenthesis in the correct form. 1. Qu est-ce que (devoir) étudier ce weekend? 2. Elles (vouloir) acheter une baguette. 3. Pour acheter une baguette, on (pouvoir) aller à la boulangerie. 4. À la pâtisserie on (devoir) acheter des gâteaux.

5 Here are some other irregular verbs, mostly for those of you continuing on. You will want to recognize their infinitives and the vous forms, and also know what they mean. See if you can match the infinitives with the vous forms below. 1. écrivez a. prendre - to take 2. voyez b. croire - to believe 3. dites c. voir - to see 4. prenez d. boire - to drink 5. lisez e. dire - to say, to tell 6. croyez f. écrire - to write 7. buvez g. lire - to read INTERROGATIVES Being able to ask and understand questions is essential to language acquisition. You know 3 ways of asking a Yes/No question. Try it here: Find out if the person your talking to has a sister. Ask the SAME question 3 ways. 1.? 2.? 3.? Question words are important! Make sure you can match these with their meanings: où quand comment qui pourquoi combien (de) qu est-ce que avec qui a. why b. with whom c. where d. what e. when f. how much. how many g. how h. who

6 PREPOSITIONS Prepositions help us describe things like location, time and space. If you want to say where someone or something is in relation to another person or thing, you re going to need a preposition. Où est la chouette? La chouette est de la boîte. La chouette est de la boîte. La chouette est de la boîte.