Unit 6 Notes Nom 6.A Notes The verb venir The verb is irregular. It means. je tu il/elle/on venir nous vous ils/elles Vous ne venez pas demain? Si, je viens à 16 heures. De + Definite Articles The preposition means or. De does not change when placed in front of the definite articles or. C est l ordinateur de la fille. Où est le cahier de l élève? De changes when placed in front of the definite articles or. De in front of le becomes and de in front of les becomes. Je viens du Mexique. José vient des États-Unis. de + le from the, of the de + la from the, of the de + l from the, of the de + les from the, of the
Talking about where someone comes from The preposition you use to say that someone comes from a place will change, depending on the place. If a person comes from a country, use. o Tu viens de France? If a person comes from a country, use. o Nous venons du Japon. If a person comes from a country that, use. o Elle vient d Italie. If a person comes from a country, use. o Je viens des États-Units. If a person comes from a, use or. o Je suis de Chicago. o With a city, use a form of, not venir Forming Questions In spoken French there are basic ways to ask a question that can be answered with yes or no. 1. Intonation Make your of voice at the of a sentence. (It rises at the end of all yes or no questions.) Write a question mark at the end. C est ta famille sur la photo? 2. Est-ce que Put the expression est-ce que right before the of the sentence. Est-ce que has no meaning by ; it serves only to change a statement into a question. Before a word beginning with a sound, est-ce que becomes est-ce qu. Est-ce que Normand est canadien? Est-ce qu il est de Montréal? 3. n est-ce pas? Add the expression n est-ce pas to the of a sentence. N estce pas basically means isn t that right? and may be interpreted in various ways, depending on context. C est ta sœur, n est-ce pas? Vous venez du Mexique, n est-ce pas?
Question Words In spoken French you form a question that asks for information (not a yes/no question) by using a specific question word followed by est-ce que, a subject, then a verb. Some question words you have already seen are listed below: comment qui avec qui pourquoi combien où Où est-ce que tu vas? Avec qui est-ce que tu joues au tennis? 6.B Notes Indefinite Articles in Negative Sentences The indefinite articles,, and become or (a, an, any) in a sentence. Affirmative: Negative: J ai un frère. Je n ai pas de frère. Elle a une sœur. Elle n a pas de sœur. M. Rondeau a des enfants? Non, il n a pas d enfants. Exception : Un, une, and des DO NOT change after a form of the verb in a negative sentence. Example: Ce sont des photos de mes parents; ce ne sont pas des photos de mes profs.
Quel The adjective quel means or and is used to ask questions. Quel always comes the noun it describes. This means it must agree with the noun. When the noun is masculine and singular masculine and plural feminine and singular feminine and plural Use Tu préfères quel coiffeur? Quelle femme d affaires voyage beaucoup? Sometimes forms of quel may come directly the verb être. In this case, quel agrees with the noun être. Example: Quelle est la profession de tes parents? C est vs. Il/Elle est Both and can mean he is or she is as well as it is. Use il/elle est (or ils/elles sont) when the following word is a Elle est italienne. a Elle est dentiste. a personality Elle est bavarde. Elle est très intelligente. (it s okay if an adverb is inserted in the sentence) Use c est (or ce sont) when the following word is a with an and/or adjective in front of it C est ma dentiste. C est un bon infirmier. Ce n est pas un médecin. C est une Italienne.
Note that a noun of nationality is, but an adjective of nationality is not. Noun: C est un Japonais. [we know it s a noun because it has an article in front of it] Adjective: Il est japonais. [it s an adjective since there is no article] 6.C Notes The verb faire The verb is irregular. It means, but has other meanings as well. je tu il/elle/on faire nous vous ils/elles Qu est-ce que tu fais? Nous faisons des omelettes. Like the irregular verbs aller and avoir, faire is used in many expressions where a different verb is used in English, for example, when talking about participating in various : o faire du footing Je fais du footing. o faire du roller Tu fais du roller. o faire du shopping Elle fait du shopping. o faire les devoirs Nous faisons les devoirs. o faire du vélo Vous faites du vélo. o faire du sport Ils font du sport. o Ça fait combien? o Ça fait 30 euros. what the is like o Quel temps fait-il? o Il fait beau. o other weather expressions listed on p. 205
Forming Questions with Inversion A more way of asking questions in French, particularly in written French, is to, or reverse, the order of the verb and its subject pronoun. The order is usually: verb subject pronoun. Quelle heure est-il? Avez-vous faim? - Note that a hyphen connects the verb and its subject pronoun. The subject pronoun does not typically get inverted. Instead, use intonation or est-ce que with questions with je in them. In the il, elle, and on forms, if the verb form does not end in a or a, you must add a between the verb and the subject pronoun. This t will have a on either side of it, and it will be pronounced. Ressemble-t-il à ses parents? A-t-il les cheveux blonds? If the subject of the sentence is a, inversion is formed by adding the appropriate subject pronoun after the verb. You cannot invert a! Les filles font-elles du sport? (Les filles = elles, so we invert elles and font) Valérie joue-t-elle au basket? (Valérie = elle, so we invert elle and joue. Because joue doesn t end in t or d, we must add the t.)