You too can learn French !
Created by Jacques Léon Page design by Roberth Andersson
You too can learn French !Created by Jacques Léon Page design by Roberth Andersson
Some sound files of this lesson are not available yet but I thought that it was worth releasing this lesson because I know how eager to learn French you are. The missing sound files will be added very soon.
Lesson plan :
Noms (Nouns)
Verbes (Verbs)
Adjectifs (Adjectives)
Prépositions (Prepositions)
Conjonctions (Conjunctions)
Monsieur Dupont rencontre un collègue de travail au restaurant.
Mister Dupont meets a colleague in a restaurant.
M. Dupont :
J'ai envie d'acheter une nouvelle voiture.
M. Dupont : I'd like to buy a new car.
Le collègue : Pourquoi ?
The colleague : Why ?
M. Dupont : Parce que ma voiture est trop vieille.
Je dois la changer.
M. Dupont : Because my car is too old. I must replace it.
Le collègue : Est-ce que tu as une idée
de ce que tu veux acheter ?
The colleague : Do you have an idea of what you want to buy
?
M. Dupont : Oui. J'aimerais acheter la nouvelle
Renault. Elle est superbe.
M. Dupont : Yes. I'd like to buy the new Renault. It is superb.
Le collègue : Oui, mais elle doit coûter
cher, n'est-ce pas ?.
The colleague : Yes but it must be expensive, isn't it ?
M. Dupont : En effet, elle coûte cher, mais elle
est moins cher que la nouvelle Peugeot. C'est la
plus performante et elle a la meilleure garantie.
M. Dupont : Indeed it is expensive but is less expensive than
the new Peugeot. It is the most performant and it has the best
warranty.
Le collègue : Combien consomme-t-elle ?
The colleague : How much gas does it consume ?
M. Dupont : Sept litres au cent. Ce n'est pas beaucoup.
C'est beaucoup moins que ma voiture actuelle. En plus,
elle est plus puissante.
M. Dupont : Seven litres every one hundred kilometers. It is
. It is far less than my current car. In addition, it is more
powerful.
Le collègue : Tu as raison. Tu fais une bonne
affaire.
The colleague : You're right.
The French counterparts of the English to be right and to be wrong are avoir raison and avoir tort. While in English one uses the verb to be in French one uses avoir (to have).
Consider the following question : Is this car expensive ? You ask this question because you don't have any idea of the price of the car being considered. You expect that the person we are talking to tells you the price of the car. Now, imagine you already know the price of the car, and it is really expensive. You surely don't ask your question the same way. You would probably say : This car is expensive. Isn't it ?
In French it is possible to emphasize your questions the same way. The normal interrogative form is : Est-ce que cette voiture est chère ? But, if you already know that it is expensive and emphasize the fact that it is expensive you could say : Cette voiture est chère. N'est-ce pas ? In the latter sentence, n'est-ce pas plays exactly the same role as the English isn't it. There is, however, a difference between the English and the French form.
The expression it is is translated in French by Cela est or more currently by the contracted form C'est. To some extent, cela or c' plays a similar role as it. However, cela must not be considered as the impersonal pronoun. There is no impersonal pronoun in French (it in English) because things and animals are either masculine or feminine.
Examples :
Comparatives are used to compare things. A comparison can express a superiority, an inferiority or an equality relationship. In English the comparisons are expressed as follows :
Superiority
My car is more performant than yours.
My car is nicer than yours.
Inferiority
Your car is less performant than mine.
Your car is less nice than mine.
Equality
Your car is as performant as mine.
My car is as nice as yours.
In French, there is only one superiority comparison form built as follows, regardless the length of the adjective :
plus + adjective + que
As we can notice, plus is equivalent to more, and que is equivalent to than.
Examples :
The inferiority form is composed like this :
moins + adjective + que
where moins plays the same role as less and que the same role as than.
Examples :
The equality comparison is formed as follows :
assi + adjective + que
where assi plays the same role as as and que the same role as as.
Examples :
Note that, the adjectuve must respect the concordance rules with the gender and the number.
Superlatives are used to denote the highest degree of an adjective (or an adverb). In English, superlatives are built up by appending an adjective with the termination -est or by adding most before. In French, the superlaive form of an adjective is derived by adding plus before. Note that plus plays a similar role as most in English. However, while in English, the superlative is preceded by the definte article the, in French, the definte article must be in accordance with the gender and the number of the noun(s) it refers to.
Examples :
Examples :
These rules are very simple and apply to almost every adjective. Unfortunately there are a few exceptions, as in English !
In French, people express a wish by using the conditional tense. It is pretty the same as in English.
The conditional present conjugation for aimer (to like) and vouloir (to want) is listed below.
Aimer
J'aimerais
Tu aimerais
Il/elle aimerait
Nous aimerions
Vous aimeriez
Ils/elles aimeraient
Vouloir
Je voudrais
Tu voudrais
Il/elle voudrait
Nous voudrions
Vous voudriez
Ils/elles voudraient
Conjugation Pattern :
-ais
-ais
-ait
-ions
-iez
-aient
Vouloir (to want)
Je veux
Tu veux
Il/elle veut
Nous voulons
Vous voulez
Ils/elles veulent
Devoir (must)
Je dois
Tu dois
Il/elle doit
Nous devons
Vous devez
Ils/elles doivent
Vendre(to sell)
Je vends
Tu vends
Il/elle vend
Nous vendons
Vous vendez
Ils/elles vendent
M. Dupont : J'ai envie d'acheter une nouvelle voiture.
Le collègue : Pourquoi ?
M. Dupont : Parce que ma voiture est trop vieille. Je dois la changer.
Le collègue : Est-ce que tu as un_ idée de ce que tu veux acheter ?
M. Dupont : Oui. J'aimerais acheter la nouvelle Renault. Elle est superbe.
Le collègue : Oui, mais_elle doit coûter cher, n'est-ce pas ?.
M. Dupont : En effet elle coûte cher, mais_elle est moins cher que la nouvelle Peugeot et je la trouve plus belle.
Le collègue : Combien consomme-t-elle ?
M. Dupont : Sept litres au cent. Ce n'est pas beaucoup. C'est beaucoup moins que ma voiture_actuelle. En plus, elle est plus puissante.
Le collègue : Tu as raison. Tu fais une bonne_affaire.
In French, ordinal numbers are directly derived from the numbers by appending ième. There is only one exception : the French counterpart of first is not unième but premier.
Notes
The abbreviated notation of the ordinal numbers is : 1er (1st), 2ième (2nd), 3ième (3rd), 4ième (4th), 21ième (21st), 31ième (31st), 100ième (100th), 101ième (101st), etc.
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