le lapin
Today’s Learn French: Word Of The Day is:
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Learn French - Word Of The Day - le lapin
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Tags: Learn French, word of the day
french.about.com
One of my favorite resources for the French language is french.about.com. Complete with tutorials, audio, and useful tips, this site is great for any student of French. Though the layout is somewhat clumsy and it can be hard to navigate, there is a wealth of useful information to be found here. For a complete French education, it would be wise to check in now and then and make test your abilities against the mountains of vocabulary and on-site tests they provide. A must-have resource for any French student.
Tags: French Resources, Learn French, links
la forêt
Today’s Learn French: Word Of The Day is:
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Learn French - Word Of The Day - la forêt
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Tags: Learn French
l'éclair
Today’s Learn French: Word Of The Day is:
Note: the (m) denotes a masculine noun.
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Learn French - Word Of The Day - l’éclair
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Tags: Learn French
le brouillard
Today’s Learn French: Word Of The Day is:
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Learn French - Word Of The Day - le brouillard
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Tags: Learn French
In this lesson I will cover numbers and present tense verb conjugation. Let’s learn French!
In Lesson 2 you learned how to count from eleven to twenty; now we will learn how to count from 20 to 100! Don’t worry, it is easy.
A quick explanation: in French, just like in English, in order to say 34 you need only say trente-quatre, which is literally just thirty-four. However, not all of the numbers from 0-100 follow this rule. You will find that 80 is called quatre-vingts which is literally just four-twenties. Furthermore, 90 is called quatre-vingts-dix which is literally four-twenties-ten, followed by quatre-vingts-onze, quatre-vingts-douze, etc. I will provide an audio file specifically for 80 to 100, just to be clear.
Follow along with these audio files:
Learn French - Lesson 3 - Numbers 20-30
Learn French - Lesson 3 - Numbers 0 - 100 By 10s
Learn French - Lesson 3 - Numbers 80 - 100 (not shown below)
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- vingt
- vingt et un
- vingt-deux
- vingt-trois
- vingt-quatre
- vingt-cinq
- vingt-six
- vingt-sept
- vingt-huit
- vingt-neuf
- trente
- 0
- 10
- 20
- 30
- 40
- 50
- 60
- 70
- 80
- 90
- 100
- zéro
- dix
- vingt
- trente
- quarante
- cinquante
- soixante
- soixante-dix
- quatre-vingts
- quatre-vingts-dix
- cent
As you can see, all the numbers beyond twenty follow a simple formula just like English numbers. Practice counting to one-hundred once a day to keep these numbers fresh; it only takes a minute.
If you need to brush up on the concept of conjugation, please read this: Learn English: Verb Conjugation.
There are three types of regular verbs in French: -er verbs, -re verbs, and -ir verbs. These verb groups are called regular because they follow a pattern for conjugation. Once we have established the patterns then we will be able to conjugate any regular verb. Let’s get started!
These verbs are the most common and are usually the first ones taught to students. We will start by conjugating etudier; etudier means to study. Please have a look at this table:
- je etudie
- tu etudies
- il/elle/on etudie
- nous etudions
- vous etudiez
- ils/elles/ons etudient
- I study, I do study, I am studying
- You study, you do study, you are studying
- He studies, he does study, he is studying
- We study, we do study, we are studying
- You-all study, you-all do study, you-all are studying
- They study, they do study, they are studying
For these verbs, like all conjugations, you remove the -er suffix and replace it with the correct conjugated ending. These are shown above and they are very simple, but they must be memorized. There’s not much more to say about -er verbs at this time so let’s move on.
The regular -ir verb we’ll look at is courir, meaning to run.
- je cours
- tu cours
- il/elle/on court
- nous courons
- vous courez
- ils/elles/ons courent
- I run, I do run, I am running
- You run, you do run, you are running
- He runs, he does run, he is running
- We run, we do run, we are running
- You-all run, you-all do run, you-all are running
- They run, they do run, they are running
As with the -er verbs above, we have removed the -ir ending and replaced it with the correctly conjugated ending. These endings must also be memorized as we will use them every time we conjugate a regular -ir verb.
For our regular -re verb we will examine rendre, meaning to return.
- je rends
- tu rends
- il/elle/on rend
- nous rendons
- vous rendez
- ils/elles/ons rendent
- I return, I do return, I am returning
- You return, you do return, you are returning
- He returns, he does return, he is returning
- We return, we do return, we are returning
- You-all return, you-all do return, you-all are returning
- They return, they do return, they are returning
That’s it! That is every type of regular verb in French. There are many verbs that do not follow these rules, as well as some other caveats, but we will cover them as we come upon them.
In the next lesson we will be forming sentences; many tutorials start out in this manner, but I think that it will be easier with an established basis of knowledge. As always, comments are welcome. Thanks for reading.
Tags: Learn French
les chaussures
Today’s Learn French: Word Of The Day is:
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Learn French - Word Of The Day - les chaussures
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If you do not know what role articles play in grammar, please read this first: Learn English: Grammatical Articles. Once you solidly understand the concepts then proceed with this article.
French has three types of articles: definite, indefinite, and partitive. I will cover each one below, but first I will discuss noun gender as it is important to understand the concept of gender before learning about the articles.
Every noun in french has a grammatical gender; this is not to be confused with the actual gender. For example, the French word for dog, le chien, is masculine, whereas the French word for wristwatch, la montre, is feminine. The roots of these genders are very old, and so there is often no rhyme or reason to them; they must be memorized along with the noun. To draw a comparison, it is common in English to refer to a boat as she even though the boat cannot actually be female. The actual gender of the object, if applicable, is not decided by the gender of the noun. For example, while le chien means dog, it means neither male nor female dog.
In French, l’article défini (the definite article) is akin to English’s definite article the. In French, however, there are four different ways a definite article can be expressed. Please examine this table:
Masculine Feminine Begins With Vowel Sound Plural le, as in le chien la, as in la montre l’, as in l’heure les, as in les chiens (dogs)
As you can see above, our English word the becomes le for masculine nouns, la for feminine nouns, l’ for masculine or feminine nouns beginning with a vowel sound, or les for masculine or feminine nouns that are plural. Here are some more examples:
La cloche sonne.
The above sentence reads, “The bell rings.” In that sentence, la cloche means the bell; it is a feminine noun and so it will always be accompanied by the definite article la.Le pont est grand.
The above sentence reads, “The bridge is large.” In that sentence, le pont means the bridge; it is a masculine noun and so it will always be accompanied by the definite article le.L’heure est venue.
The above sentence reads, “The hour has come.” In that sentence, l’heure means the hour; it is a feminine noun, but because it begins with a vowel-sound, it begins with l’.J’aime les étoiles.
The above sentence reads, “I love the stars.” In that sentence, les étoiles means the stars; it is a feminine noun, but because I have used it plurally, it begins with les, otherwise it would begin with l’h as it begins with a vowel-sound.
That finishes the lesson on definite articles in French; if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment. Now, let’s move on to indefinite articles.
Much like definite articles, indefinite articles depend on the gender of the noun. Please examine this chart to get a feel for indefinite articles:
Masculine Feminine Plural un une des
The table above lists three different indefinite articles: un, une,anddes. Please have a look at these examples:
Je voudrais une voiture.
That means, “I would like a car.” The noun une voiture means a car or one car. Because voiture is feminine and not plural, we must use une.J’ai un livre.
That means, “I have one book”, or, “I have a book.” The noun un livre means a book or one book. Since livre is a masculine noun, we use un for its indefinite article.Est-ce que vous voulez des pommes?
That means, “Do you want some apples?” The noun des pommes means some apples. Even though pomme is feminine, it is also plural so it uses des instead of une.
Hopefully that clears up any questions about indefinite articles in French. Next is a brief lesson on partitive articles.
Partitive articles in French are used to describe uncountable objects or an unspecific amount of a given object. In English, this is akin to the words “some” or “any”. However, partitive articles in French are a bit more confusing as they have a couple rules. Have a look at this table:
Masculine Feminine Begins With Vowel Sound Plural du lait (some milk) de la nourriture (some food) de l’eau (some water) des haricots (some beans)
Masculine nouns will use du, feminine nouns will use de la, nouns that begin with a vowel sound will use de l’, and plural nouns will use des. Here are some examples:
Je voudrais du lait
That reads, “I would like some milk.” A partitive article is appropriate here because milk is uncountable as a liquid. Since lait is masculine, we use the form du.Est-ce que vous voulez de la nourriture?
That means, “Would you like some food?” Again, food in this context is uncountable. Since nourriture is feminine, we use the form de la.Je veux de l’eau!
The above says, “I want some water!” The word for water, eau is feminine, but because it begins with a vowel sound we use de l’.Nous mangeons des haricots
The sentence reads, “We are eating some beans.” Beans, in French, is haricots; because we are eating multiple beans, it is plural. Thus, we use des for the partitive article.
Exceptions
There are some exceptions to the above rules for partitive articles, but they are simple to understand. Here are the exceptions and some examples:
- After adverbs of quantity (ex: a lot, much, many), the partitive article is always de. Example:
“Je bois beaucoup de lait.”
This means “I’m drinking a lot of milk.” Even though lait is masculine, because beaucoup (meaning much) comes first and is an adverb of quantity, the partitive article becomes de.- In a negative phrase, the partitive article becomes de and means any. Example:
“Je ne mange pas de nourriture!”
That means, “I’m not eating any food!” Despite the fact that nourriture is feminine, because the phrase is negative the partitive article changes from de la to de.
That’s it for the exceptions!
While this is only a tiny glimpse into French grammar, it will be pertinent for the entire time you are using the language. Make sure to review this from time to time in order to solidify the information.
As always, comments are welcome; I would like to make this website the best resource for you, so your input is invaluable. Thanks for reading.
Tags: Learn French